Tote Bag Wanderer · 30 stories

Spare Tote, Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon

Writes about restaurants, cafes, beauty spots, bars, and shops across Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon. · Writes about: Restaurants · Cafés · Shopping · Hair & beauty salons · Bars

PlaceGimpo, GyeonggiRestaurants

Gimpo BBQ holiday lunch, fire-seared beef rib for 2: Donpu The Grill

Donpu The Grill is a fire-grill Korean BBQ restaurant in the Janggi Station eatery alley in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, and it also serves a lunch menu. On a first visit for lunch on a public holiday, the writer ordered the fire-seared whole beef rib meat for 2 and was delighted by the included stone-pot kimchi rice, cold boiled pork, steamed egg and 6 sauces. With beef rib that staff cut and grill at the table and generous free sides, Donpu The Grill is a Janggi-dong BBQ spot worth a return visit.

Written Oct 10, 2026Sponsored
PlaceYeongdeungpo, SeoulRestaurants

Yeouido Station tteokbokki bar: sundae dipped in broth, Hyeonseonine

Hyeonseonine Premium IFC Mall Branch (현선이네 프리미엄 IFC몰점) is a tteokbokki snack bar in the underground passage from Yeouido Station to The Hyundai Seoul and IFC Mall in Yeouido, Seoul. For dinner, the writer had the Hyeonseonine set (tteokbokki, fried snacks, sundae and gimbap) at the not-spicy level; a seaweed mayo rice ball came instead of gimbap, but the sundae (Korean blood sausage) dipped in tteokbokki broth made it a satisfying meal. If you want a full Korean snack spread in one go in Yeouido, the Hyeonseonine set is a safe choice.

Written Jul 21, 2026Sponsored
PlaceSeocho, SeoulCafés

Sinnonhyeon study café: 2-hour outlet seat & early dinner, Selecto

Selecto Coffee Sinnonhyeon Branch 24 Auto Brew Cafe is a 24-hour auto-brew bakery café near Sinnonhyeon Station in Seocho, Seoul, staffed or unmanned depending on the time of day. The writer sat at a solo study seat with an outlet and had a smoked salmon sandwich and a 3,800-won blend-bean americano as an early dinner, and was pleased with the bright interior and the separate study zone. Selecto Coffee Sinnonhyeon is a good pick for studying, solo café time and an early meal in one stop.

Written Jul 27, 2026Sponsored
PlaceJung-gu, SeoulRestaurants

Hong Kong-style izakaya near Deoksugung for fried eggplant: Huhugwan

Huhugwan (후후관) is a modern Asian Chinese izakaya between Deoksugung Palace and City Hall Station in Jung-gu, Seoul, serving meals by day and running as an izakaya in the evening. On a first visit, the writer ordered yurinki (fried chicken in soy-vinegar sauce) with squid ink, mapo tofu rice with a whole block of tofu in the middle, and a generous plate of fried eggplant from the lunch menu, and all three were satisfying. Huhugwan suits a date that pairs Deoksugung with the Seoul Museum of Art or a City Hall office lunch, and the writer is 100% coming back.

Written Oct 5, 2026Sponsored
PlaceJongno, SeoulRestaurants

Insadong gomtang restaurant, a first bowl of pork gomtang: Wolhadong

Wolhadong is a pork gomtang (clear bone-broth soup) restaurant in a hanok tucked down an Insadong alley in Jongno, Seoul. Seated at a one-person counter for a solo lunch, the writer ordered Wolhadong's Wolha gomtang at 12,000 won, seasoned with house-fermented cheonggeumjang, and found the broth clear and free of any gamey smell with pork that pulled apart along the grain. A first taste of pork gomtang that Wolhadong makes worth adding to an Insadong date course or a meal alone.

Written Aug 14, 2026Sponsored
PlaceJongno, SeoulCafés

Ikseon-dong bakery with Hangeul-only bread names: coffee bread, Munhwa

Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵) is a takeout-only bakery in Ikseon-dong near Jongno 3-ga Station in Jongno, Seoul, known for its coffee bread and garlic bread. The shop is small, so only 2 groups are let in at a time, but the line moves fast, and this visit's haul was coffee bread and an onion bagel, both sliced before packing. With bread names written only in Hangeul and a lineup built on Korean ingredients, Munhwa Bakery is the Seoul bakery to take a friend visiting from abroad.

Written Aug 12, 2026Sponsored
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