Guillaume le Pain Veritable, Seoul, South Korea
There are a few options to getting around Seoul, there's the bus, subway and taxis. If you're like us and can't speak or read Korean hangul, it's best to hop into a cab. Most, if not all, taxis have a free translation service, and all you have to do is say "free translation" and the cab driver will immediately call the translator over the phone, who acts as the intermediary and inform the driver where you want to go. Or else, before you hop into a cab, get your hotel concierge to write down on a piece of paper, in Korean hangul, the address and name of the place you wish to go to and show that to the cab driver. Cab fares are really affordable in Seoul, because there's no such thing as peak hour surcharges or ERP. In fact, the entire time we were in Seoul, we never encountered a single surcharge fare.
The subway is the next easiest form of transportation to navigate, according to Ernie who was there in Seoul as well. We didn't take the subway, choosing to spend a little more money on the comfort of a taxi ride.
Forget about taking the bus, the bus stops and signs are all written in Korean hangul so there's no way to know what route the bus takes unless you can read and speak the language.
The lack of any ERP-like surcharges may explain the number of cars on the roads, at all times of the day and night. The traffic on the road at 3am in the morning looks like the traffic in our CBD area at 3pm in the afternoon. Seriously. There seems to be an excessively overwhelming number of cars on the roads in Seoul. We were caught in traffic jams for every single trip.
We were in the Cheongdam-dong area, an upscale neighbourhood, very much like our Holland Village, which is a few districts away from where we were staying, doing some shopping when we stopped by this really charming French bakery, cafe and restaurant, for tea.
We had the Pan-fried Seabass (23,000 Won) with sauce beurre blanc which was brilliantly done. The seabass had a crisp golden crust, and moist clear flesh, layered on a bed of paprika-spiced tomato fried rice. A few silver pickled onions balanced out the creamy rich sauce with its piquant tang.
The Onion Gratin Soup (11,000 Won) was easily one of the best I've had. The soup managed to stay delicate and light despite the use of hearty beef stock. Onions were nicely caramelized and the melted cheese bed was a heavenly touch.
Look at that calorie-laden layer of melted browned cheese. It's so good and bad at the same time.
The obligatory bread basket, this was done classically French, with warm, soft, and fragrant bread, both wholewheat and white, and so good it was yummy on its own.
The butter was a little unusual in that it was a lot whiter than the versions we're used to, this was a lot lighter and more refined in taste.
Guillaume
Le Pain Veritable
Cheongdam-dong
Gangnam-gu
Seoul
South Korea
Tel: 02-512-6701
http://lefrenchcafe.blog.me
The subway is the next easiest form of transportation to navigate, according to Ernie who was there in Seoul as well. We didn't take the subway, choosing to spend a little more money on the comfort of a taxi ride.
Forget about taking the bus, the bus stops and signs are all written in Korean hangul so there's no way to know what route the bus takes unless you can read and speak the language.
The lack of any ERP-like surcharges may explain the number of cars on the roads, at all times of the day and night. The traffic on the road at 3am in the morning looks like the traffic in our CBD area at 3pm in the afternoon. Seriously. There seems to be an excessively overwhelming number of cars on the roads in Seoul. We were caught in traffic jams for every single trip.
We were in the Cheongdam-dong area, an upscale neighbourhood, very much like our Holland Village, which is a few districts away from where we were staying, doing some shopping when we stopped by this really charming French bakery, cafe and restaurant, for tea.
We had the Pan-fried Seabass (23,000 Won) with sauce beurre blanc which was brilliantly done. The seabass had a crisp golden crust, and moist clear flesh, layered on a bed of paprika-spiced tomato fried rice. A few silver pickled onions balanced out the creamy rich sauce with its piquant tang.
The Onion Gratin Soup (11,000 Won) was easily one of the best I've had. The soup managed to stay delicate and light despite the use of hearty beef stock. Onions were nicely caramelized and the melted cheese bed was a heavenly touch.
Look at that calorie-laden layer of melted browned cheese. It's so good and bad at the same time.
The obligatory bread basket, this was done classically French, with warm, soft, and fragrant bread, both wholewheat and white, and so good it was yummy on its own.
The butter was a little unusual in that it was a lot whiter than the versions we're used to, this was a lot lighter and more refined in taste.
Guillaume
Le Pain Veritable
Cheongdam-dong
Gangnam-gu
Seoul
South Korea
Tel: 02-512-6701
http://lefrenchcafe.blog.me
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