Oz's Kitchen, pizza and pasta, Seoul

In my opinion, the last thing we need in Seoul is another pizza and pasta joint. Everwhere I go, whether a French restaurant or Italian restaurant, all I see on the menu are pasta. They are usually the predictable menu like carbonara, alio e olio, vongole, etc. I am honestly sick of them. I mean, I can cook them at home better than most of them. So I was a little skeptical about going to Oz's Kitchen, a pizza and pasta place in Samcheongdong. But since the review I read on the internet - "good food, but the portion is small for the price"-, I decided to give it a go. And I was surprised that the food was actually very good.

With my colleague - the other female in my office, my partner in crime-, we popped in there for lunch today. We ordered tomato and home-made ricotta salad, conchiglie in home-made pesto and musrhoom and ricotta calzone.

During lunch, a complimentary small salad and coffee are served.




A complimentary salad - romaine, cruton, parmagiano reggiano




Tomato was very sweet, ricottao so smooth and dressing was refreshing without being too sharp. Speckles of black pepper on the cheese were nice compliment. The portion is very small though. But I am glad it is, because I don't eat much. (I eat little but often)




I think it is one of the best pasta I ever had. It was very fragarant without overpowering bitterness which is a trap that a lot of pesto fall into. The conchiglie was cooked to perfection and just the right amount of pesto covered the pasta.






Mushroom calzone...the dough was so perfect. The best I had in Seoul. The filling was creamy. Although I would have liked more filling inside, the dough was thin enough. I think it would go very nice with wine.




The owner is a photographer/cook who also runs cookery classes. I am so happy to have found this place. The food was simple yet perfect. The only minus for some people is the portion. I have no problem with it, but some people may find it too small.

Tomato and ricotta salad: 9,500KRW (£4.75)
Conchiglie in pesto: 14,500 KRW (£7.25)
Mushroom calzone: 20,500KRW (£10.25)

Seoul suh dool jae ro jal ha neun jip (The Second Best House in Seoul), redbean porridge, Seoul

Autumn is here! Trees turned yellow and red, and it gets quite chily in the morning and in the evening. I am lucky to work in Samcheongdong, which is surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Since it is quite chily today, I decided to treat myself to a bowl of sweet red bean porridge. In my neighbourhood, there is a place called 서울에서 두번째로 잘하는 집, Seoul ae suh dool jae ro jal ha neun jip, which literally means the Second Best House in Seoul. It is known for traditional herbal teas and red bean porridge. In fact, the red bean porridge served here is Japanese style porridge, which is sweet and made of purreed red bean paste, as oppsed to Korean style which leaves most beans whole. It has been there for over 30 years I think, long before Samcheong-dong became 'hip'. I remember, as a little girl, stopping by there with my mom for a take-out. I did not appreciate the taste of red bean porridge then, but I remember the quiet place filled with smell of Korean herbs. It has very old-fashioned area for customers who decided to eat in. The place was rennovated, but I am glad that the owner decided to keep the original retro deco.

As you can see in the pic, the chairs remind me of da-bang, 茶房, an old-fashioned and kitch tea room where instant coffees are served. Those da-bangs are near-extinct as people prefer cafes that serve proper coffee these days. I don't remember ever going there, but I find these da-bang style very nostalgic.

The lady in the pic above are preparing my porridge. Red bean porridge is prepared en masse, then boiled in small batches again with glutinous rice ball (ddeok, mai-chi, mochi) when order is placed.

My colleague ordered SooJeongGwa, (left, served cold) sweet cinamon tea with boiled dried perssimon, and I ordered a bowl of sweet red bean porridge (right).

The porridge is served with ddeok (rice cake), boiled chest nut pieces, wooltari beans, gingko and cinamon powder on top.

It looks messy but to give you a closer look......

On the way back to the office...

Seoul suh dool jae ro jal ha neun jip (A real challenge to pronounce)

Adress : 28-21, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Tel)02-734-5302

서울서 둘째로 잘하는 집

주소 : 서울시 종로구 삼청동 28-21

전화번호 : 02-734-5302

Kraze Burger, Seoul

There are times when all you want to do is wolfing down a mean burger, preferably with a tall glass of thick milkshake. And a basket of steaming hot fries.

I think there is something primitive about eating burger.

Sauce and juice of the meat dripping between your fingers as you take a big bite of the burger, and extra sauce around your mouth.

Definitely not a first-date meal.:P

The burger place I go when I get craving is Kraze Burger (pronounced k-ra-zay).

It is a chain of Korean burger joints that serve quality burger in a clean, airy restaurant unlike other fast food chains. They claim they use quality Australian beef, not American.

As for the autheneticity of burgers......to me, they are not too Koreaznied, but they taste lighter than the ones I tried in the States. That is a good thing, right? KG Burger is Koreaznied though, as it is served with bulgogi sauce.

A wide range of burgers are available here as you can see in the pictures below.

Moi and my friends ordered KO Burger and two K Onion Burgers and tomato and fresh mozzarella salad.

KO Burger is served on wheat bread with tom, onion, swiss cheese, lettuce, chili-balsamic sauce, fried jalapenos.K Onion Burger is also served on whweat bread with tom, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, bbq sauce and fried onion ring.

Although I did not order today, chili fries are very good too. Kraze uses the recipe that won a competition in Texas. But I find the fries a bit too salty. So order chili fries without salt on the fries.

No milkshake today. I am not sure whether shakes are available here or not.

When the burger arrived, I was so eager to eat that I forgot to take pic of the whole burger.

One on the left if KO Burger and one on the right is K Onion Burger.

Closer look at the KOnion Burger....yum...

KO Burger: 7900KRW (£3.80)

K Onion Burger: 7900KRW (£3.80)

Tom & Mozzarella Salad: 12000KRW (£6.00)(paid for by my friend's coupon)

+ 10% VAT

You can get a little coupon stamped for every burger. After 10 burgers, you can get a free salad, burger or sandwich.

There are many branches all over Korea. The one I went to is SamCheong Dong branch.

11:00am-11:00pm
Tel)02-3147-1536,7

Jongno-gu Samcheong-Dong 35-251

Website) http://www.kraze.co.kr/ In the top right corner, you can change language of the website. Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese are available. Apprently, there is a branch in Shanghai, China.

8 Steps. In search of home-cooked European food?

If there is a restaurant that I go back again and again, it would be 8 Steps in Samcheongdong. I love having lunch there on a sunny day, maybe outside on the porch or inside the restaurant, looking over the people walking by.

This restaurant is run by a lady who used to teach my mom Italian cooking, and 15 years later, me. She made herself name by introducing Italian home cooking when no one else was doing it, and also by sharing her Scandinavian-influenced interior design in various magazines. She is married to a Swedish, so it is easy to see where she got her inspiration from. Her Swedish-inspired style permeates the restaurant, too, from simple wood tables and chairs to lighting.

The building itself is traditional Korean as you can see from the ceiling. She seems to have retained as much as she could. The building itself is shaped ㄷ, which is a common style. The kitchen is in the middle and one wing is used for guets, and another wing works as her studio where she teaches people how to cook.

(ok, not really how to cook. Rather, a very delightful cooking show, where guests are given recipes afterwards)

A view from where I sat.

Across the garden is the wing where the cooking show is held.

Home-made lemonade topped with tonic water

I ordered a tapas platter and a beetroot salad, as the weather was warm and I did not want to feel bloated afterwards.

The tapas platter changes daily. Today's were melon topped with parma ham, grilled aubergine and octopus.

My favourite part of tapas platter...

Grilled aubergine is always there because, in my opinion, aubergine is available all the time. Besides, it is so simple but delicious. It is grilled till it becomes caramelized, and it topped with reduced balsamic vinegar.

Octopus...boiled and dressed in lemon juice and maybe some oil...

lemon zest added some nice kick, and shiso (I think it was shiso) was very refreshing.

Beetroot salad-rocket, beetroot leaves, beetroot, cheese and parma ham.

Isn't it so pretty?




I ordered an Americano to finish off, but I was given a complimentary chocolate mousse. It was a dense mousse, but not as dense as chocolate pots. The portion was small so I did not feel so guilty. A nice contrast to the bitterness of coffee.

Would you like a bite? =)

Tapas: 13,000KRW(￡6.5)

Coffee: 4000KRW (￡2)

Lemonade: 8000KRW(￡4)

Beetroot salad: 18000KRW (￡9)

You have to walk up 10 or 11 stairs to get to the restaurant, not 8 steps. The lady said in a magazine that the name of her restaurant reflects her desire to step forward to the top. You might ask why not 9 steps? Because 9 steps seem a bit too complete as it is near 10 but 8, it is nearly there, but you still have to work for it.

One of the reason I come here often is that many items on the menu are hard to find elsewhere. Not necessarily fancy, but not many Western restaurants here offer them. All the food are home-cooked style which I like. I feel very at home here.

Although pastas are on the menu, it is not an Italian restaurant. I don't know how to categorize the place. -0-

8 Steps
02-738-5838
Samcheongdong, opposite Woori Bank

8Steps
02-738-5838
삼청동, 우리은행 건너편

Ohnmaeul, Korean, Seoul

The beauty of bab-jip* is that you can get a hearty meal at a good price. Usually it costs 5000-6000KRW (￡2.5-￡3)for a soondooboo jjigae (soft tofu in spicy soup. usually served in very hot stone bowl), a bowl of rice, 5-10 banchans**. It is a very good deal given that a cup of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf latte costs 4300KRW (￡2.15). These bapjips are a permanent feature in Korean salarymen's life.

Unfortunately, finding a decent bap-jip is hard to gety by. Banchan, no matter how simple they seem, is hard to master. That is why I was glad to discover Ohnmaeul in my neighbouring Samcheong-dong, an area that is becoming more trendy every day. The resturant was very satisfactory that I kept wondering why I did not come here any sooner.

*bap-jip : literaly translated, rice house.Usually serves rice, soup and various banchan.

**banchan: side dishes, commonly put in the middle of table to be shared. Kimchi is a type of banchan.

Ohnmaeul specialises in tofu dishes and they even make their own tofu on premise. Tofu is made of 100% Korean soybeans that they source specially from a certain farm. As you can see on the rice spatual-turned-menu (if you can read Korean, that is) the prices are set at a very reasonable range. Soondoobu jjigae, dooboo jeotgook (dooboo soup seasoned with shrimp sauce), begee jjigae (ground soybean stew) are all 6000KRW, all served with a bowl of rice, and assroted banchans. Other stews (jeongol) that you cook on the miniature stove(as you can see in the picture below )cost 8000-9000KRW. (￡4-￡4.5)

We ordered a haemul pajeon (seafood spring onion pancake). Spring onions were sweet despite not being in season, squid and shrimps were scattered around the top. The batter was very crispy like any nice pajeon should be. It was served with sweet and sour soy sauce. It was nice but wished it was slightly heavier on seafood.

I was told that jaeyook bokkeum (stir fried sliced pork in sweet and spicy sauce) id also good.

This is their selection of banchan. Clockwise from left, kimchi, myulchi bokkeum, moosanegchae, sesame leaf namul, kong-namul.

Baechu kimchi was not a mature variety. It was good. Very good in fact, given that a lot of restaurants serve industrially manufactured ones to cut cost. My colleague raved about how cripsy myulchi bokkeum (dried anchovies fried and then candied) was but on the day I visited, it was not crispy. I blame the hot and humid summer in Korea. But it tasted good nonetheless.

Moo saenchae (ribbon cut radishes semi-pickled in sweet, sour, spicy seasoning) was OK,

sesame leaves namul (seasoned cooked sesame leaves) was good. Kong-namul (seasoned soy bean sporut) I did not touch because I am not a fan of the vegetable.

Rice was served in traditional brass bowl. Not only was it beautiful but also kept the rice warm longer. One more thing I liked about Ohnmaeul is that they don't use plastic plates. They are all earthware. I really hate it when restaurants use plastic plates. I understand that they are cheaper and lighter, but the sight of some people putting hot food on plastic dish horrifies me. I have come to terms with these places, but still I get annoyed.

I ordered Kimchi and dooboo stew. Kimchi and dooboo are sitting in a spicy soup with Korean leeks, sliced chili, spicy paste, mushrooms and a bit of pork. You let it boil for a while until it is bubbling away. You take a ladle out of the pot to your individual plate and you eat it. The restaurant claims not to use any MSG in the food, but in the soup, I tasted a little bit of it. Still, it is a lot les than some restaurants I have been too.

I am very happy with this restaurant. I will keep coming back.

Dooboo kimchi jeongol : 8000KRW/person (￡4.0)

FYI, more menus.

haemul pajeon (seafood spring onion pancake) : 10000KRW (￡5.0)

jaeyook bokkeum (stir fried sliced pork in sweet and spicy sauce) : 10000KRW (￡5.0)

Dooboo busut jeongol (Tofu and mushroom stew) : 9000KRW/person (￡4.5)

Saengdooboo (sliced plane tofu served with sauce) : 7000KRW (￡3.5)

Seoreetae dooboo (tofu made of black bean) : 9000KRW (￡4.5)

온마을

서울시 종로구 삼청동 123번지

02)738-4231

Ohnmaeul

Jongrogu Samcheongdong 123

02)738-4231