Seattle: Capitol Hill: Dino's Tomato Pie

Hello again, my dear blog and any readers who may have found their way here! I know, it's been an age and a half since I'd last written, and for that, I'm truly very sorry. It's been a wild ride here at 710 Headquarters, AKA my life, and I've been dashing all around with hardly any time left to plop my butt down and get to writing. On the upside, I certainly have ample new material to share with everyone! All this roaming in Seattle (and various areas nearby) has afforded me a rapid familiarity with the area, and some incredible sights along the way. Did you know there's a park here with a giant pair of cowboy boots? Apparently! It's especially surprising to spot from your peripheral as you wind your way through unfamiliar streets for the first time. This post, however, is about another location, one in Capitol Hill that we found ourselves standing in front of on a cold, hungry night. It's a little grungy, a little divey, with brilliant buzzing fluorescent red lights beaming through the night, guiding you like a moth to the warmth. 

I tend to spend a fair amount of time in and around Capitol Hill, whether I'm taking in the farmer's market on Broadway, drooling over the restaurants (and often bookmarking ones like Top Pot Doughnuts, Momiji, The Wandering Goose, Dao Tai House, or Bakery Nouveau), there's generally a buzz of activity and lots to see and do. Naturally, parking can be a bit difficult, which is why we tend to favor finding a spot we can leave our vehicle and go about our adventures walking, biking, or using ride-share. On this particular outing, we'd gone all the way down to MoPOP to take in their limited run Marvel exhibition while it was still going on, and then walked our way back up and then along much of Denny Hill. It was during this uphill slog that we happened upon Dino's Tomato Pie, a dimly lit bar and restaurant slinging up round or square pies in a variety of different topping arrangements. Our tummies grumbling in hunger, and our glutes barking, we opted to take a brief load off and refuel. Our timing was fortuitous, as it was happy hour and we were able to grab a couple of cold brews and some garlic knots along with our slices at a reasonable price. Costs in Capitol Hill haven't exactly remained low over the years, so it's always nice to know there's a place to grab a good meal without breaking the bank. If you want to hop in a time machine, I highly recommend checking out their website, which is a shrine to a bygone era in internet aesthetics. So many blinking items and all the scrolling text! The gifs! It's a site to behold, friends. 

You'll have to go up to the bar and flag the attention of one of the employees to place your order, but there's a handy sign to guide you in the darkness. The food was delicious, and we totally enjoyed the dive bar vibe. The crew seemed to have a good banter going, and their menu was pretty extensive, with a lot of different choices for everyone. We kept it simple with our happy hour brewskies, but they had a pretty impressive cocktail menu with some creative offerings if that's more your thing. 

Seattle: Dog in the park

Dog in the park is a small, unpretentious food stall nestled in to a corner of a park just around the corner from Pike's Place Market. That means it's in a primo location, surrounded by luxury names and high-end products, endless swarms of milling, often quite hungry, tourists. Like I said, it's a pretty primo spot for a place that sells food, especially at such reasonable prices (considering it's in such a high-traffic, high-end area). The food is not going to be overwhelmingly fancy; there's no foie gras to be found, no flourishing of the plate, nay, there aren't even plates. Your food is wrapped in paper and meant to be eaten, now, before it gets cold. The premise, like most street food stalls, is pretty simple: after examining the menu and deciding what you want, you tell the friendly fellow manning the grill and he'll heat it up for you, fresh, so your food is steaming hot when handed to you. A novel touch, for us, was that he sliced the weiners in half, but this is genius in that it gives you even more of those delicious crispy seared edges of sausage. Yum. I opted for the Seattle dog, because it seemed appropriate and I like cream cheese, so it was an easy choice. I don't recall what style Antho ordered, but he prefers to keep his dogs clean and simple, so it was something classic without too many additions or toppings. We were both quite happy with our choices and devoured our hot dogs in glee, hardly wasting any time on photos or erroneous conversation. You know the food is good when it gets notorious chatterbugs to quiet down and focus.    

If I remember correctly, we ended up paying about $12 for our two hotdogs. Yeah, that's a lot when you consider the hot dogs at Costco that retail for only $1.50, but tourist tax is a real thing, and this is definitely one of the more affordable options in that particular corner. When you're hungry and need something quick, hot, and delicious, this isn't the worst sausage you could find going into your mouth on a street corner... 

 

Was that too much? I know, sometimes I just can't help myself. Anyway, it was a gorgeous, albeit slightly chilly, day when we were visiting the stand. It had a pretty regular turn over in our short time of waiting and then eating, and most people seemed to get their food in short order. I imagine that at peek tourist traffic times of year there may be something of a line to wade through to get your fix, especially if they've garnered any awards recently. 

 

Japan: Yurakucho Food Alley in Tokyo

Throughout most of Tokyo, as is the case for probably most of urban Japan as well, you're rarely ever more than a stone's throw away from something delicious to eat. There's a lot of people living in Tokyo, like, around 38 million or so people these days. That's a lot of people needing something to nosh after a long day, yeah? My hometown of Las Vegas only comes in as averaging around 2 million residents, while my second-home in Seattle has roughly 7 and a half million residents and my beloved third home of Seoul clocks in with roughly 25.6 million residents. Suffice to say, Tokyo has a lot of residents, and those people are going to need food. Ideally, they're going to want good food, because anyone can just pop into a 711 and grab an onigiri or bento if they want low-cost sustenance.  Where, pray tell, does the average salaryman find himself stopping for a bite after an arduous day of, uh, salary-manning? One popular location is going to be Yurakucho food alley, a narrow street tucked under the tracks of the Yamanote line is teeming with restaurants on either side offering delicious bites and something to sip on, too. The typical solution to this need-to-feed (and drink) is an izakaya, where small plates are served alongside lots of booze, to help take the edge off while facilitating your buzz. If you need something a little more nourishing, there are plenty more restaurants to fill that niche, too!

On this particular outing, my friend A-chan and I opted for a grilled beef restaurant, though other dishes were, of course, available, like that big plate of gooey cod fish-sperm goodness shown above on the right known as shirako (which, yes, I absolutely ate). There were also places to pop in for yakitori, or grilled chicken, along with a restaurant serving horse, a coffee shop, and several other options tucked away into the narrow space so your options aren't limited to be sure. Most of the restaurants had a shared restroom, found not far from our seating spot at the beef place, and most of the restaurants are enclosed by sliding plastic barriers, a common trend throughout the region (as I've seen it in Hong Kong and Seoul, too). Suffice to say, if you need a tasty meal, you can't go wrong by following the hard-working salarymen who's tireless efforts keep the economy of Tokyo churning along into the narrow space of Yurakucho alleyway. Where better to literally rub elbows with the local people? 

Vegas: Sushi Twister

When it's time to #TREATYOSELF, to pick out one of your utmost favorite, most luxurious and decadent choices to eat, what would you choose? For me, there's no doubt I'd veer hard into the seafood section, especially towards things like sea urchin, sweet shrimp, salmon, and salmon roe. I'm a sucker for sushi, what can I say? I won't say it's the penultimately perfect food, though it's bite-size portions with their perfectly balanced balls of tender seasoned rice and meticulously sliced servings of succulent fish are definitely getting pretty close to what might entail perfection. Each bite of rich, creamy sea urchin gunkan (or battleship) style sushi floods your palette with that briny essence of the sea and deep umami flavor that makes sea urchin such a decisively loved or hated food for many, much like raw oysters who's texture and flavor I find absolutely enjoyable, despite their resemblance to some kind of awful lung-lump you might hock up during a particularly bad chest infection. Maybe I'm the weird one here, but Antho loves many of the same oddities I do, so perhaps they're not so odd after all.

If the gonads of sea urchin and roe of salmon are too freaky-deaky for you baby, you can always opt for the warm, flaky, oily goodness of grilled eel smothered in a sweet and sticky sauce that compliments its flavor. Not only is the eel cooked, for those who struggle to stick cold slices of raw fish into their maw, but it's also served warm fresh from the grill so it's extra-enjoyable! There's also a ton of different side dishes available, along with "hidden" extras like the fried sweet shrimp heads, which a chef may politely inquire about your interest in prior to dishing it up. I recommend the crispy little craniums, but I've also mowed them down in raw, living form while living in Korea, so it's safe to say I love all things shrimpy. What I'm trying to say here, though, is that Sushi Twister has long been a staple restaurant of mine for sushi in Vegas for a very good reason: their food is good, very good! And consistently, at that! That's a wonderful thing, because there aren't that many restaurants on this side of the Strip offering sushi, let alone quality sushi, so Sushi Twister is a unicorn of sorts. They were the first decent sushi restaurant I ever encountered this side of Eastern, and the chefs have always been extremely pleasant, or at least polite when I interacted with them. This place is a gem, and while I no longer reside within a reasonable distance to visit them, I hope they are able to prosper and dish up these delicious dishes for years to come!

Korea: 설렁탕 Seolleongtang, again, because it's delicious AF

South Korea is something of a wonderland when it comes to delicious food, regardless of your preferences! Are you a total carbohydrate fiend who can't get enough of the starchy stuff? You'll be pleased to learn that there's not only the spicy noodles you've probably heard about or seen on places like Youtube (or even here on my own little blog *blush*), delicious things like steamy jjampong loaded with seafood and vegetables in a warming red broth or chilled mixed noodles like bibimguksu, but there's plenty of non-spicy options to get your fill, too! One of my favorite hot noodle dishes combines a rich and milky beef broth with ultra-tender pieces of beef, chunks of aromatic vegetables and silky mushrooms with thin wheat noodles to slurp it all up with. This delicious, warming, soothing cauldron of goodness is known as 설렁탕 Seolleongtang, which can be found throughout much of Seoul as well as in any community stateside with a large enough Korean population. If you're out somewhere where you're unable to find this delight served in a restaurant, you can always opt to make it yourself! It's a labor of love more than anything else, as the ingredients used aren't especially scarce or rare for the most part, they just require a long cooking time to extract all their goodness into that unctuous, ridiculously-good broth. A point of note is that in many recipes for seolleongtang salt is added at the very end, as in by you at the table, so don't be surprised if you eagerly dip your spoon in and ladle up a big unseasoned slurp of soup! It's okay, my dears, don't fear. Happens to the best of us sometimes when we get over-eager about our tasty treats, right? Once you regain your composure and whereabouts, you should find a small bowl with a salt and pepper mixture to add seasoning to your preference. This is pretty ingenious, really, as it prevents the dish from being overly salty when reduced further and allows salt sensitive patrons to limit their sodium intake, or for those without any sensitivity what-so-ever there's the freedom to go as hog-wild with your salt as your heart desires. You do you, booboo. 

Korea: 부대찌개 Budaejigae and snacks in Insadong

In the magical and mysterious, far-flung land of Seoul, South Korea, there are a seemingly insurmountable variety of selections available for your culinary delight. You can grab a steaming hot cup of Americano from your local train station or Starbucks, then mow through some fresh-off-the-griddle gyerrangpang, these addictive little sweet breads with a fresh egg on top, then stop for sushi for lunch and Italian for dinner...or switch out the different variables for whatever combinations of foods you personally enjoy, whether it's thai, slow-cooked American-South style barbeque, tacos... This was not always the case, though- the Korean peninsula has gone through a lot over its many centuries of civilization, and a hearty resiliency and ingenuity have become a point of pride in the people. After the Americans began to occupy the country during the height of the Korean war, then lingered after the tentative ceasefire took hold, their culinary presence spread, from dishes to canned goods ready to use, and were adopted by the locals. The continued presence and popularity of American fast food chains, like McDonald's and Taco Bell, demonstrate this fact to this day, but subtler influences remain, like the almost perverse love of Spam that can be found from Seoul to Okinawa, Manila to Hawaii... all places where a strong American army presence has lead to the introduction, and then infiltration and acceptance of processed tinned meats and other Americanized foodstuffs into the local cuisines. 

Budaejigae, or Army Base Stew, is a self-aware epitome of this phenomena, utilizing ubiquitous Korean foods like kimchi, gochujang, and local vegetables tossed into the pot with hot dogs, baked beans, spam, ramen, and maybe a slice (or three) of good old American processed sliced cheese for good measure. There are a billion different ways to make budaejigae and nearly as many different restaurants to choose from when trying to find a place to try it. You can also buy it in premade instant ramen form, heavily leaning into the popular role instant ramen noodles typically serve in soaking up the flavorful broth left in the pot at the end of the meal. It's a satisfying hodgepodge of sweet, savory, spicy and creamy, and this particular vat of goodness was enjoyed with a coworker during our lunch break, not far from Ssamziegil in Insadong area of Seoul. It was a delicious and filling lunch, and budaejigae combines comfortingly familiar flavors with Korean seasonings in a way that I think most any American could enjoy, were they brave enough to try it. 

Be brave, my friends. Try all the things!

Vegas: Dining at Ichiza restaurant

In the city of Las Vegas, the only predictable constant seems to be perpetual change itself. Celebrity chefs rise to the pinnacle of their careers and open their namesake restaurants along the glistening Las Vegas Strip, where they either rise to become a towering success or crumble into mediocrity. While there may not be as much drama surrounding the restaurant reviews, openings, and closings, as in say, New York City, there's still plenty of drama to take in. Take, for example, the recently opened Hell's Kitchen restaurant, which rumor claims was booked up to capacity within moments of opening for business, not to mention the show's own egregiously theatrical turns on the television. You can find everyone from Guy Fieri to Nobu, Bobby Flay to Wolfgang Puck... a veritable who's who of famous cheffing, and even Anthony Bourdain stopped to sip the brewskies at the Huntridge Tavern on his own show. The Strip itself, the hub of Las Vegas's goings-on, is in a perpetual state of flux, as namesake casinos are imploded and replaced, new structures seek to dominate the skyline and old try to cling to relevancy with new thrill rides and attractions. This endless churning  of change makes it all the more satisfying and surprising when a small restaurant, without any big names attached, manages to hold on for a long haul. Ichiza is one of these small joints, an unassuming little restaurant tucked into the second story of a Chinatown shopping center, that has been a staple of my restaurant outings for the better part of the last decade. I don't know when they opened, nor do I consider it especially relevant... The important thing here is that Ichiza is good, and their longevity is a testament to this fact. 

While it is entirely possible to spend a couple Benjamins at dinner here, it's not really a high-end restaurant. If you're looking more for luxury, try Raku on the opposite side of the road. Both restaurants share a similar approach; delicious small plates of Japanese food, high in quality and small in portion. Raku, however, is where you go if you want your salt to be laced with meticulously sourced and extracted green tea leaves and the same approach is applied to each individual ingredient and its preparation, whereas Ichiza is the place to go for a pitcher of Sapporo and some reliably good grub from yakitori skewers to ramen. It's a build your own adventure in meal form, whether you stick to the small paper menus they provide or wander the restaurant to select from the additional "secret" menu that winds through the entire space. Don't miss their daily specials, where some of the best dishes reside! The grilled salmon belly or collar is always a hit, but they can sell out fast. We managed to secure the last grilled salmon collar on this outing, a cut that's basically the bacon of the fish it's succulent flesh so studded with layers of unctuous fat and juice you almost wouldn't believe it's a fish. Our neighbors at the bar tried to order it as well, prior to our's being served and were disappointed then audibly jealous and annoyed when it arrived. Sorry fellas, them's the breaks.  

Whatever you decide to order, know that it's going to be delicious. We were celebrating my birthday with this meal, and between the two of us our bill ran about $100, which isn't terrible, all things considered. I'm always happy when I eat here, whether it's the authentic izakaya vibe bringing on the nostalgia from my time living in Japan or the delicious food filling my belly, I love Ichiza!

Korea: 부대찌개 Budae Jjigae, aka Army Base Stew

With October now firmly upon us (holy crap), it seems especially fitting to bring bubbling hot cauldrons of brightly colored potions to the blog! For any witchy-woman or magical-maiden in training, few things can bring comfort like the percolations of bubbles through your own personal little pot of goodness, stewed to perfection over the long, steamy hours. Korean stone pot dishes, called 돌솥 or dolsot, make this dream a reality, though not everything served in them need be toiled over for hours. The stoneware bowls allow you to cook your food in the same dish you serve it in, so long as you remember to watch your hands (they get hot) when it's time to move things from stovetop to slurping station. If, like me, you're not about to go out and load up on all the ingredients necessary to make budaejjigae, or Army Base Stew, don't worry! Whether you're in South Korea or somewhere Stateside, chances are you'll be able to find a restaurant offering what has become a prodigious comfort food for Koreans, ex-pats or even visitors. It's an odd dish for this when you break down its constituent parts- typically there's some form of spam or processed tubular meat stuff, and along with the familiar (to Korean palates) kimchi there's often the addition of sweet and savory baked beans to liven things up and add an unexpected texture to the medley. Other ingredients, familiar to Koreans but not so much to outsiders, make their appearance too- sweet and spicy chili paste in the form of gochujang often lends the familiar smokey depth and gentle heat, while tofu and hearty vegetables often join the pot for a hint of texture or color. It has a warming, soothing sweet and savory, sometimes fiery (depends on the cook and the variant you're trying) flavor that's both familiar and homey while being uniquely Korean- and there's a very good reason for this! The dish originated out of necessity when the Korean war had slowed and the slaughter began to recoil from the land, but many Koreans were still left in incredible poverty and unfortunately, starvation was not uncommon. A lot of native Koreans did what they had to in order to survive, whether it was black market trading for American food rations from the soldiers or worse... the presence of many American soldiers lingered on after the war, meaning that their food rations often stuck around, too. Hence, we find the introduction of foreign foods (in the form of hot dogs, spam, baked beans and/or slices of processed cheese) into a traditional Korean means of cooking- 찌개, chigae. It's a bit of a kitchen sink food stuff, with ingredients from both Korea and America,  and it's good, guys. 

It's really good!

It was difficult to dine out and not be subjected to news reports on the drama hitting the nation, what with the president being found to have ties to a cult and all. Crazy stuff. But from here out, it's just good old fashioned food porn, guys. Enjoy!

Korea: 설렁탕 Seolleongtang

I've mentioned on the blog before that soup is, perhaps weirdly, one of my all-time favorite foods to eat. It's an endlessly versatile food delivery mechanism that is often warming, filling and soothing while also providing a nourishing boost of vegetables and protein in an easy to digest format. The endless customization and variety available means that every region, every culture, and every cuisine, have their own variations and takes on the staple food. One of Korea's most simple and straightforward seeming of soups is 설렁탕 or seolleongtang, a clean and milky white beef bone broth base that arrives at your table unseasoned. This trend towards under seasoning early on, familiar for those who have seen my post on or sampled Samgyetang, seems peculiar to Korean cooking (or anyone who's sampled my mother-in-law's cuisine). Given that the broth comes to the table in it's purest, nude form, you're given several different options for adding flavoring at your discretion; pungent, funky kimchi (in this case to be cut with scissors at the table), kkaktugi (pickled radish kimchi), and an assortment of other banchan and sauces. In this restaurant, this particular time, I was given pickled onions and a deeply umami seasoned squid side. Seolleongtang, despite its deceptively simple base, is one of those foods that I find myself craving time and time again after thoroughly underestimating it prior to trying it. After all, I grew up on tinned chicken noodle soup, with the soup absolutely saturated in salt, and the soggy noodles barely able to maintain their shapes after being pasteurized for safety, so I expected to be severely underwhelmed in the flavor department... to the contrary! The milky beef broth is unctuous and coats your mouth in rich beefy goodness, a light sheen of grease adding weight to the liquid. Brought to the table boiling hot and steaming, it's especially good at warming your body (and soul) after navigating the bone-chilling cold of Seoul's fierce winters. I wasn't even there for the worst of their winters, but I found myself going for seolleongtang multiple times a week. The bits of beef floating in the soup are absolutely tender, and the warm, slurpable noodles add a hearty boost of carbohydrate for energy and density. 

Warms you right up, regardless of the chill outside!

Korea: 짬뽕 Jjampong

짬뽕, or Jjampong is one of those delicious soul-warming foods you never knew you were missing until you try it and realize in shocked horror that you've been sorely lacking something in your life all this time. Typically served with a bright, fiery red broth based on pork or seafood and loaded with a variety of delicious goodies foraged from the waves, it'll cure what ails you whether it's a hangover or homesickness. There are endless varieties and iterations on the dish, some with a white or light colored broth, some with more or less seafoods, some with oysters and some without. As with most foods, the variations tend to be regional as tastes change from region to region, and these differences are highly esteemed and valued in their communities. The dish itself isn't even of Korean origin, it's one of their Korean-Chinese fusion dishes, much like jjajangmyun or tangsuyuk. The Japanese version is Nagasaki-champon, for those familiar with the dish. I was definitely introduced to Champon first, in Japan, by my friend Yuka, but I never associated the two dishes as being one in the same due to the strong differences between the first versions I tried and those I had later on in the US or Korea. Given that's it's one of their Chinese fusion dishes, you can find it at restaurants that cater to that genre of foodstuffs, and it's often exceptionally affordable to boot. For example, I had this meal in Dongdaemun, only a short walk from the train station, and paid less than $5 US for the heaping bowl of sea-filled goodness. Not only did it warm my tired, hungry, homesick soul, but it didn't break the bank, either! Koreans seem to have a pretty good handle on how to make really good food at reasonable prices, and jjampong is a shining example of this ethos. Delicious, full of vegetables, noodles and plenty of healthy protein- but don't mistake this as a health dish, there's tons of fat and sodium to give it all that flavor, too!

 

You don't have to book a trip to Seoul to enjoy jjampong, there's plenty of restaurants that serve it stateside too! You can even find instant noodle versions if you're really craving for it. I definitely recommend trying it fresh, at least once in your life!

I may have been doing some research for my impending return to Vegas... lol!

Korea: Galbitang 갈비탕 and Ssamziegil snacks

Undoubtedly, one of the best things about living and working in Seoul is the ready accessibility of delicious, affordable food at any turn. Whether you're in need of a robust, hearty meal with a rainbow of banchan to whet your palate and satisfy your hunger, or simply an easy, light, quick snack to tide you over, you'll never have to go far to find it. The Fun Caricature location I spent a significant portion of my work days at in Seoul's historic arts and crafts district of Insadong, near Anguk station, was especially well-endowed in terms of delicious options- from food carts to sit down breweries, high or low end, it was all there. We could even get food delivered to us right at the location, fresh and steaming hot, should the need or desire arise (it did). Korean food delivery systems are among some of the best in the world, though America is desperately trying to catch up these days with Ubereats and Doordash and whatever other silly-named services have since come out offering to ferry your food directly to you to save you the hassle of going to get it. 

While I frequently opted for the cheap, quick snack from a vendor or the convenience stores, there was no denying the bounty of restaurants available to choose from near the caricature location. At first I was too anxious to go and try to fend for myself in a restaurant where the language is something I sorely struggle to comprehend, but once I started to pick up on reading Hangul (it's really a lot easier than you think it is) and could deduce the items on the menu it was a lot less intimidating. The meal pictured above, a delicious and warming bowl of beef rib soup (aka Galbitang) and ample banchan was reasonably priced, even for being in a nicer restaurant in a tourist-heavy area, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a change of pace from the usual hard boiled eggs and mysterious sausage-shaped-fish-based-food. My coworkers would sometimes join me on these lunch outings, but this was a solo mission. It was peaceful. If there's a lesson here, my friends, it's to be brave and get out there and try. Believe it or not, most people are actually quite kind at heart, at least in my experience out in the world. 

And who knows, maybe you'll make friends with the sweet lady at the dongppang (poop bread) shop!

Korea: Ewha university district

 Along with being nearly impossible for me to spell correctly, Ewha university district is an excellent destination for anyone looking to soak up some of Seoul's prodigious youth culture. Ewha Women's University happened to be the private educational institution where my good friend Carmen happened to be teaching English at the time of my stay in Korea, so her apartment was in the area, naturally. We had met up in different neighborhoods throughout my stay, but given her familiarity with the area we decided to explore it together on a chilly early-winter evening. The energy of the area is palpable, though, almost immediately after departing the train or bus station. Rich, densely scented plumes of steam billow from multiple street food vendor's carts, a heady mix of odors perfuming the air and young students and residents bustle buy in their quest for cheap sustenance and a safe, quiet place to study. Luckily, Seoul was pretty safe in my experience of it, but that doesn't mean it's an entirely idyllic location free of troubles...

Once your stomach is sufficiently satiated, you have a plethora of options to choose from when it comes to entertainment. Maybe you feel like dipping into a noraebang for Korean-style karaoke, or maybe you want to drop a few thousand won at the flagship Line Friends store and get your photo with the giant teddybear that resides inside. I mean, I didn't get my photo with the bear, because I'm a cynical bastard., but don't let me stop you from living your best life. There are endless shops throughout the area catering to the needs of all the students (and their professors) living near the campus, whether you need some cheap fresh fruit straight from the farmer or some fast fashion to keep up with the endlessly evolving fashion parading through the streets. One thing South Koreans seem quite good at is staying on top of the trends, as you'll quickly notice a very strong color palette present on most train rides through the city, or simply by walking through the crowded alleys of Hongdae and Ewha, where the color du jour will dominate the scene.  

Whether you're looking for a primo-photo opportunity or want to stock up on the latest skincare and fashion trends, Ewha is worth checking out on any visit to Seoul!