Pub 210 – Seohyeon

Wednesday is wing night for me and my excuse to overeat my favorite bar food. The anticipation of the binge is the best way I’ve found to get through the first half of the week.

My favorite spot to grab my hump day celebratory reward is Pub 210 – it’s a small, English-friendly bar located on the third floor on the main walking street of Seohyeon near AK Plaza. They have darts and pool, and for all you crazy kids, a beer pong table. For my fellow nerds, they have Monday showings of Game of Thrones. During the week, it’s an unassuming atmosphere where you can relax, watch some hockey and chat with the friendly staff. On the weekend, it can be loud and packed and fun. In short, it’s a nice neighborhood spot.

Creamy Buffalo

These wings are crispy, fresh, and piping hot. Done in a variation of the classic bar style you’d expect from an American or Canadian pub, they easily leave your hands sticky and your appetite satiated. A small (around 8) and a large (around 16) order is usually enough for Eric and me. If you can’t pick just one flavor, a large order can be split between two sauces for a small fee. The creamy buffalo is the most delicious, but all the sauces I’ve tried have been pretty tasty.

Spicy Barbecue and Thai Chili

In addition to wing Wednesdays, they also have 10,000W burger Thursdays. This particular Thursday, it was two nicely seasoned patties, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato on a soft bun served with a side of steaming hot potato wedges.

Their regular menu also features a bunch of finger food to keep you upright while you take advantage of every day happy hour or the Wednesday night bottomless draft. Pepperoni fries, pulled pork sandwiches, and other offerings make good snacking to share while playing pool or darts. Word is, they’re also coming out with a brand new menu that is supposed to widen their offerings.

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On the Table – Seohyeon

One should never live too far from a decent food court. Fortunately in Korea, that’s not something you have to worry about. I love On the Table for nights where we’re feeling indecisive or when the group can’t agree on a type of cuisine.

I guess I also like being able to get a side of wings and an oatmeal stout with my pad thai.

Korean, spare ribs, bibimbap

The veggie bibimbap was excellent and the spare ribs were incredibly spicy and tender.

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Burgers, Fries, Wings

Really good burgers. Seasoned patty, spicy sauce, plenty of cheese, salty bacon and a soft fresh bun. Eric thinks that out of all the burgers in the area, Brooklyn has the best quality meat and the some of the better topping options.

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Sandwiches, salads, fresh fruit juice, tea

Try the camembert panini. Decent bread and great cheese topped with honey and sliced almonds – almost more of a dessert than a meal.

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Korean, stir fry

I have yet to try this place. The spicy stir fry looks tasty.

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BATTERY PARK

Pasta, Sangria

The pasta’s pre-cooked, but the sauces are good. The sangria is very sweet.

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Chinese, fried rice, sweet & sour

Yummy Korean-style Chinese food – the fried rice was fresh and the sweet and sour pork was crunchy and a bit more sour than sweet, but still quite enjoyable.

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Japanese, donkatsu

Another I haven’t yet tried – this place is mostly donkatsu.

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Japanese, udon, donkatsu

The udon is just ok, but the bento boxes are a good deal for the price. The beef was cooked very well.

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Pancakes, waffles, omelettes

The pancakes had a re-heated texture, but the toppings were good – syrup, strawberry sauce, and extra sweet cream.

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Fruit bingsu

I haven’t tried this yet either, but looks to be pretty straight-forward version of the popular dessert.

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Steak sandwiches, wings, fries

I love their cheese steak with provolone – tasty beef, melty cheese, and sauteed onions, mushrooms and peppers on a soft Italian bread bun. The wings are also pretty decent.

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Tempura, fried food

I haven’t gotten to this place yet, either. The window is full of pre-fried tempura style offerings.

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Burritos, nachos, tacos, margaritas

Mediocre Mexican food – light on meat, heavy on lettuce, and everything seems to be served colder than it should be. Ok for a burrito fix, but don’t expect greatness.

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Fried rice, noodles

Perfect take-out level noodles and rice. If the menu says spicy, they really mean it – my favorite is the delicious burn-your-mouth Thai rice. Don’t let the gimicky box presentation fool you – the food is much better than the serving vessel would imply.

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Most, if not all these places are chains, but don’t let that deter you. Despite the cafeteria style seating, you can find some really good food here.

Thali – Seohyeon

Despite the fact that Thali was a bit hard to find, the restaurant was almost full when we arrived on Saturday night. The small dining room was steeped with the smell of garlic and curry, which is always a promising start.

All four of us settled on the set menu for 16,000 Won each. The four courses began with a samosa for each of us.

The next dish was a choice between Tangri kabab and Tandoori chicken. The kebab was marinated and tender. The tandoori chicken had slightly charred skin with moist meat and a spiced yogurt sauce drizzle.

Clockwise from top left – chicken masala, chicken makhani, palek paneer, lamb curry

For our main dishes, we chose the chicken makhani, chicken masala, palek paneer, and lamb curry. Each of us also received our own order of garlic naan. Most of the curry was much milder than we usually prefer, but the paneer stood out from the four. Though not quite the perfect archetype of the dish, this vegetarian option was the most complex and enjoyable of the quartet. The tomato based curries were very sweet, and while I enjoyed most of the sauces, I would have liked to see more meat in each. As it was, the portion was a bit on the small side, but adding a little more body with some additional chicken and lamb would have helped quite a bit. The kitchen sent over an additional two curries to try – one was a very spicy version with hot Korean peppers which ended up my other top pick of the night.

The last dish almost resembled a plain lassi in a chilled copper bowl – it was very simple, but the cool sweetened yogurt finished the meal nicely.

Thali is on the second floor of this building – right next to the Outback Steakhouse.

The set menu was a good way to sample what Thali had to offer. They’re located on the second floor of the building with the Outback Steakhouse, just a short walk from AK Plaza.

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Yutaro & Sushi And Sushi – Seohyeon

Our recent cravings for Japanese food led us to the neighborhood of Seoheyon and a little Izakaya place called Yutaro. There are quite a few Japanese inspired places around this corner of the neighborhood offering familiar quick eats dishes like ramen, udon, and gyoza.

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The best thing about Yutaro’s ramen is their noodles – you can see the noodle-making station to the left as you enter the small establishment.

The classic-style broth was a bit boring and a little heavy on the onion, but their spicy ramen was delicious. The gyoza weren’t in my top ten, but they were at least made with nice thin dough instead of the thick version to which I’ve grown so accustomed.

The quality of the noodles goes a long way in my book. Yutaro is located right next to the CGV in Seohyeon, and I would definitely repeat visit this place for a quick post-movie meal or to satisfy my ramen fix on a cold night.

After we were finished sharing a few bowls of noodles, my friends and I moved on to a little conveyor belt sushi to finish stuffing ourselves. A couple streets over from Yutaro, there are two seemingly rival conveyor belt places located across the street from one another, complete with door men attempting to usher you inside.

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If you’ve never been to conveyor belt sushi, pricing is based on plate color and design. Chefs feed the belt constantly with new temptations, and you simply grab what you like off the line. Sushi And Sushi’s prices range from 1500-16,000 Won. Look at the price before you grab – I found some of the quintuple digit dishes not worth the price.

We chose Sushi And Sushi over its neighbor due to the availability of booths located on the conveyor belt. If you have kids or a group of people who want to be able to talk to one another across the table, the booth makes the visit a bit more enjoyable compared to counter seating. The restaurant is full of attentive waitresses constantly refreshing your miso soup.

The variety of the sushi was a bit limited, but no more so than any other sushi restaurant I’ve tried in Seoul. The quality of the pieces I had were decent. I don’t always find eel, my favorite, and I was pleased to find a few hearty and enjoyable pieces. The fatty tuna, while it did not come around very often, was tasty when you could find a plate and better prepared than some of the other sushi I’ve tried in the local area.

The bill at Sushi And Sushi, like most conveyor belt places, can add up quite quickly. If your goal is to gorge on sushi until you hate yourself, you may be better served by one of the all-you-can-eat-for-two-hours places. If you want a half dozen plates to top off a night of eating, you’d be perfectly satisfied here.

Yutaro

 

Sushi and Sushi