The Beastro (Brunch) – Hongdae

It’s easy for me to get carried away when I talk about this place to friends – Eric often reminds me not to be hyperbolic about how much I love the food, but I can never help myself. Beastro has comfort food down to an art, and adding brunch to an already outstanding menu makes me grumpy that I live so far from Hongdae.

Our friend started things off with the salmon eggs Benedict on homemade biscuits, smothered in thick Hollandaise – what’s not to love? The fish was great quality and the sauce was the perfect consistency. The home fries were understated, but seasoned nicely.

Our other friend ordered the biscuits and gravy. I miss the white, peppery Alabama style southern gravy to which I’d grown accustomed while living there, so I was a bit bummed to find the brown variant instead. The biscuits were the definite highlight of the dish – I would eat any kind of gravy if it was smothered on these babies.

Beastro knows how to prepare meat – even when it’s in a cocktail. I love this concoction with breakfast. The bacon garnish isn’t just kitsch and actually tastes delicious dipped in the mixture of  whipped egg whites, whiskey, maple syrup and cream.

In keeping with the Southern comfort theme, Eric ordered the fried chicken. While it’s not necessarily a brunch dish, I would still recommend it for any visit. The batter is perfectly crispy, the chicken tender and moist, and the garnish and sauce a perfect compliment to a scaled-up version of the classic. It doesn’t hurt that they give you another biscuit as a side either.

Lastly, I sampled the breakfast sandwich, served with house-made potato chips. Everything from the bacon to the bread to the fresh pico de gallo was spot on. I can’t remember ever having a breakfast sandwich this good – the balance of ingredients and expert preparation of the toppings made this dish a star. It’s another example of how you don’t need to be heavy handed with complicated preparation or presentation to make a stellar dish – you just need to pay attention to the quality, freshness and combination of ingredients to create an instant favorite.

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Phillies Pub – Itaewon/HBC

As soon as I walked into Phillies Pub, I felt like I was back on the American east coast. Between the hockey highlights playing in the background and the jersey-clad staff, I immediately liked the place – I would have preferred a Bruins jersey, though I suppose the Flyers are a more appropriate choice for a place called Phillies. All hockey aside, the small pub is an obvious neighborhood favorite, and the welcoming atmosphere is filled with the smell of bacon and the banter of regulars.

You can get your eggs Benedict three ways – with standard breakfast bacon, real Canadian back bacon, or salmon. The Hollandaise was thick and tasty and the eggs were poached sous-vide, ensuring each egg was perfection. The flavor of the runny yolk on the slab of Canadian bacon and toasted English muffin was close to flawless. The salad was a nice addition to the plate – dark greens topped with red onions, walnuts and pomegranate seeds.

The peach Bellini I ordered was fruity and generous. Those and the Mimosas were very popular with the brunch crowd. In addition to the sparkling beverages, Phillies also offers two varieties of bloody Mary and, of course, beer.

White ladies be loving their pumpkin

The pumpkin waffle was stellar. It was light and almost yummy enough to eat on its own. The amaretto whipped cream was fresh and sweet, and along with the walnuts, the whole thing made me feel like they had somehow transformed a pie into a waffle. I mean that in the most complimentary way possible – if pie were a person, I would marry it. It was delicious.

Phillies is a comfortable pub and a surprisingly good brunch spot. They may just serve the best waffle in Seoul, and while the brunch menu looks short, the food is delicious and fresh. Next time you’re craving breakfast and American sports highlights, you know where to go.

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Cafe Chez Moi – Unjung/West Pangyo

There’s a reason they label the walk near the stream in Unjung a cafe street – the neighborhood is steeped in coffee shops. Cafe Chez Moi is one of these cafes, but they also advertise brunch – a surefire way to get me in the door. Every five minutes or so as we sat waiting for our food, we saw locals popping in to grab loaves of fresh baked bread. This is an uncommon sight on this side of Unjung-Ro – you see plenty of locals sitting for hours at these coffee shops, sipping on a series of Americanos, but far fewer establishments where people come in specifically to buy just bread.

In traditional Korean style, Cafe Chez Moi doesn’t just serve a simple ham and cheese, they garnish it with pesto and olives, use  multiple types of cheese and add sauteed sweet onions. The set is completed by a mixed greens salad and a cup of creamy pumpkin soup topped with pepitas. The soup was a real winner – seasoned and sweet with just the right amount of crunch from the pumpkin seeds.

We also sampled the German pancake. I’d never had this soft buttery version of the classic, and I was happy to get to know it – served with lemon curd, ice cream, and honey banana compote as choices for toppings, it pleased my short attention span and my taste buds.

I also had to order Cafe Chez Moi’s affogato – how can I resist honeyed ice cream for breakfast, especially when when served with such an adorable cup of espresso. It was a tasty and, at 6,000 Won, a less expensive version of the treat.

Bottom line – a comfortable cafe with great people watching windows and tasty German pancakes, Cafe Chez Moi is a good choice for brunch on a cold winter weekend.

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Daily King’s Brown Sugar – Jeongja

Some of you may be familiar with the Daily King’s Diner – they advertise as the “Original American Diner”. Many don’t know that Daily King’s also runs a more brunch oriented location named Brown Sugar in Jeongja.

When you first enter, you’ll encounter a bakery counter filled with little pastry puffs called chou. The small baked goods resemble French cream puffs. The pastry is nice and light, the cream filling slightly heavier than expected but very delicious. A good bite of sweet to end a meal, or as I saw a couple Korean parents do, a nice treat to buy to keep an impatient child from running around while waiting for a table.

Brown Sugar subtitles its restaurant “Beans and Brunch” due to their focus on breakfast and coffee. They do have pretty good coffee, but I was all about the affogato. For the uninitiated, take a shot of dark espresso, pour it over a healthy scoop of vanilla gelato, and then feel your eyes roll back from pure joy.

Eric got one the Daily King’s Brunch. Eggs over easy were sufficiently runny. The sausages weren’t typical American sausage, but they were spicy and tasty with a crisp casing. The bacon was passable and the potatoes were pretty good – just a little seasoning and slight crisp to the skin. The pancakes were on par with any we’ve had in Seoul, and the syrup, oddly enough, was of a better quality than we’ve had at other establishments.

Along with breakfast foods, Brown Sugar also has burgers, pasta, panini, and other dishes straight off their Diner menu. I went with the spinach pasta with chicken and cream sauce. Though not an Italian restaurant, all the pasta dishes I have sampled here have been pretty darn good. This trip, the wide spinach linguine was cooked correctly and carried the sauce nicely. While it was served boiling hot, the sauce was creamy without any of the oiliness that can so easily ruin anything cream based. The chicken was a bit mediocre and left something to be desired, but the multiple type of mushrooms that finished out the dish were quite tasty.

If you’re a pancake lover like me and constantly looking for a new place to catch brunch on the weekend, you won’t be disappointed. Even picky eaters should be able to find something on this menu – if you don’t want breakfast, you can order anything from steak salad to chicken sandwiches.

Their menu can be found here.