Samcheong dong is a hip neighborhood near Gyeongbokgung known for its many art galleries and cafes. Tara, Kasey, and I stumbled across the neighborhood after our walk around Bukchon Hanok Village, and decided it was cute enough to warrant its own visit the next weekend. The main street in the neighborhood, Samcheongdong-gil, backs up to the ground of Gyeongbokgung and is home to many expensive looking restaurants and shops, and the small, two lane road feels more like Europe than Asia. There’s a small alley off the main drag, though, that is made up of smaller shops selling cute accessories, more relaxed cafes, and a lot of street food.
Knowing this, Tara and I planned a Samcheong dong Sunday Funday revolving around eating and drinking. Our first stop was to pick up some of my favorite Korean winter treats- hotteok.
Hotteok are small, sweet pancakes filled with a mixture of brown sugar, chopped nuts, and cinnamon. They dough is pressed flat and cooked on a hot, oily griddle, melting the filling into a delicious, but dangerous, liquid. The line for hotteok stand on the alley off Samcheongdong-gil is always long, but it’s worth it. The tasty pancakes come straight off the grill for only 1,000 won a piece.
Delicious hotteok.
While waiting for the hotteok to cool, Tara and I took a walk along the main street, admiring the galleries, expensive boutiques, coffee houses that line the road. Once finished, we jumped in line for our next street food sampling.
Samcheongdong-gil, the main street in the neighborhood.
Street art on Samcheongdong-gil.
Next up was dakkochi, or chicken skewers. To make dakkochi, chicken, peppers, and onions are lined up on a long stick, grilled, and then slathered with sauce. We went with the spicy option and got some take away beers to take away the burn. You’ve got to love a country that does take away beers!
Dakkochi.
Still feeling hungry, we walked over to Bukchon-ro intending on having dinner and some wine. We found an Italian restaurant, on the second floor, and decided to check it out. The place was very modern- with a big, glass chandelier hanging down in the middle and was decorated with pieces from local artists.
I made the rookie mistake of not writing down the name, and after hours of searching the Internet, cannot find it for the life of me. Don’t be too disappointed- the food was the typical overpriced, mediocre Italian fare common in Korea, and the wine was expensive.
Since we strick out on wine on dinner we went over to La Cle, a basement jazz bar, for a bottle. I first heard about La Cle on Seoul Searching, and Mimsie’s descriptions of mismatched antiques and vintage posters made it seem like the perfect place for a low key Sunday evening. There’s a show every night at 8:30, with different bands, and it seems that the place usually gets quite crowded. Luckily for us, it was empty when we arrived and we had our choice of tables.
We chose a place to sit that was conveniently located near the stage AND a lit fireplace. I immediately commented on how I felt like I was in my grandmother’s basement- it was perfectly cozy. We ordered a bottle of San Giovese (I was thrilled to see a bottle of Italian on the menu!) for about 40,000 won and settled in for a couple of hours of warm relaxation before the start of another work week.
Samcheong dong is my new favorite neighborhood of Seoul. I’m thinking it might be the perfect place to spend some winter days, holed up in a cafe doing some work.
Visitor information: To get to Samcheong dong, take Line 3 to Anguk Station. Go out Exit 1 and take a right at the first alley and walk straight. To get to La Cle, follow the main street until you get to Felice Gatto Italian restaurant. Turn left and the bar will be on your right about 50 meters down.
Glad you enjoyed Le Cle and Samcheongdong! I’m definitely due a trip and your post has me wanting to get there ASAP. Thanks for the mention.
Mimsie recently posted..All Aboard the Korean Wine Train
Both places were so cute! The perfect winter neighborhood, so I’m glad I rediscovered it when I did
Ooh I’ve never been to this neighbourhood before – it sounds lovely! You’re right about hoddeok, they’re amazing – each region makes them slightly differently, and the Busan ones are the best (they put sunflower seeds in there). I love the chicken on a stick, too. I got a spicy option around Ewha and was sweating my ass off when I was eating it. My brother and his then-partner didn’t fare too well with the mild version, and I was sent to the nearest Seven Eleven for emergency Coca Cola!
And oh, Italian food in Korea…I’ll never forget the time my carbonara showed up and I started sweating profusely. They’d filled the usually mild sauce with chilli flakes. Sigh.
Tom @ Waegook Tom recently posted..Did Somebody Say All You Can Eat Cheesecake?!
It is really nice! I was there once before when I first got here, but stupidly never went back until last month. I’m sad I missed these sunflower seed hoddeok in Busan…and I had a spicy chicken stick at Mud Fest and thought I was never going to be able to taste again it was so spicy. You never know!
Italian food in Korea…I don’t even know why I bother. I always end up angry and disappointed.
Hotteok! I’ve been to Seoul twice with a friend who’s also a blogger, and on both our visits we made it a point to snack on a lot of these. Unfortunately, we loved it so much that all blogging responsibilities are thrown out the window as soon as we get our hands on them – we were unable to take a single decent picture of the hotteok on either of our trips. Glad to see you have more self-restraint!
Great blog! Wish I could teach English in Korea someday.
Daene | filipinainflipflops.com recently posted..3 Korean Meals Worth Waiting In Line For In Seoul, South Korea
I forced myself to wait and take a photo this time! It also helped it cool off a little so I didn’t burn my mouth
Thanks for the comment!