Closing Time Browser · 5 stories
Writes about restaurants, beauty shops and bars she has visited around Seoul and Gyeonggi. · Writes about: Restaurants · Hair & beauty salons · Bars
Oreudeubi Sangwangsimni Station Branch is a hair salon in the Centras shopping complex on Wangsimni-ro in Seongdong, Seoul. A writer in her late 30s brought in medium-length hair left patchy by summer sun and, after a 1:1 consultation, had it dyed an autumn red purple. She was happy with the result at Oreudeubi: a calm shade day to day that shows soft wine and purple tones in the light.
Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch (청화원 대학로점) is a Taiwanese beef noodle and Chinese restaurant on Daemyeong-gil near Exit 4 of Hyehwa Station in Jongno, Seoul. After a visit to the National Children's Science Museum, the writer and their child ordered tomato egg stir-fry, yuringi (crispy fried chicken with a tangy sauce), a tangy cucumber salad and beef fried rice, and the child especially loved the mild tomato egg stir-fry spooned over the fried rice. Cheonghwawon Daehangno Branch is an easy, comfortable choice for lunch with kids in Hyehwa.
Suksseong Susan Jongno Main Branch (숙썽수산 종로본점) is an aged sashimi izakaya with fully partitioned booths on the 3rd floor of a building in the bar alley behind Jonggak Station in Jongno, Seoul. After work, the blogger and friends ordered a small aged sashimi platter, mitre squid mulhoe (cold raw squid soup) and a red snow crab tomalley cream croquette, then added a medium aged sashimi platter for a late friend that came with blackthroat seaperch (geumtae) and threeline grunt (benjari). For sashimi lovers who want aged fish that is softer and deeper in flavor than live fish, Suksseong Susan is well worth a return visit.
Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch is a pork belly restaurant on the first floor of the Piccadilly CGV cinema near Jongno 3-ga Station in Seoul, serving aged Jirisan black pork and Boseong green pork smoked over rice husks. The writer arrived for the 12pm lunch opening as the second customer, ordered pork belly, kkotmoksal (marbled pork neck) and gabrisal (a fatty strip from the pork shoulder), and had staff grill the meat along with kimchi, bean sprouts, minari (water dropwort) and potatoes before finishing with egg-topped fried rice. Cham Dwaejitgan Jongno Main Branch suits anyone who wants a Korean BBQ lunch without doing the grilling, and anyone looking for a spot for team dinners or group gatherings.
Simin Sikdang Main Branch is a Korean BBQ restaurant on Donhwamun-ro 5-gil in Jongno, Seoul, specializing in stone-grilled pork belly and kimchi stew. Three people visited Simin Sikdang Main Branch to scout it as a company dinner venue, toured the 1st and 2nd floors, and ate the Simin Sambyeop Half Set (450g of 29cm pork belly, wagyu gujeolpan cheese fried rice and kimchi stew), with unlimited wrap vegetables and the restaurant's own house-made kimchi grilled on the stone slab as standouts. With a spacious 2nd floor available for private rental, Simin Sikdang Main Branch is worth returning to for group dinners.
