What wonderful things can I say about Star Chef restaurant that hasn’t already been said by FatManSeoul or ZenKimchi?  I wholeheartedly agree with them - the restaurant is fantastic.  Yesterday, I was reading ZenKimchi’s blog and came upon his Star Chef post.  Since the food looked amazing, and we were going to be in the Yangjae area anyway, I suggested to Ras that we check out the restaurant. The only other person that was available to join us was Kevin, who we would meet up with later.

Ras called the restaurant (02-529-8248) to find out when it opened and to make a reservation.  Since it was 1pm at the time, the call was forwarded to Chef Kim’s cell phone, who took the reservation himself.  At first, we weren’t sure if a reservation was even needed at 5:30pm, when the restaurant opened its doors.  Upon arriving (late) at 5:40pm, Chef Kim smiled towards Raswan and said, “You must be Ras.  Welcome.”  We were led to the back area of the restaurant and saw that all seven tables there were reserved.  We were then relieved to have made the call after all.  The two larger tables in the front of the restaurant were the only ones not reserved.

When we entered the restaurant, we were only the second party in the restaurant.  Menus were given in both English and Korean.  Ras and I already had an idea of what to order, having read ZenKimchi’s blog post.  As a starter, we opted to skip the BulGalbi and Grilled Mushroom Organic Salad and get some other mushroom appetizer with bread.  Upon hearing of our order, Chef Kim came out of the kitchen, kneeled down to our table, and offered to give us advice on what to order.  He said the mushroom/bread starter was just a regular dish, nothing special.  Instead, he advised us to get the BulGalbi and Mushroom salad.  Hey, who are we to argue with the chef?  We agreed, he smiled, and went back to the kitchen to prepare the salad.

While we waited, this came out: broccoli with garlic oil and sprinkles of deep fried garlic pieces.  Delicious!  Ras and Kevin ended up fighting for the last pieces of the deep fried garlic.

Our salad then came out.

Wow.  We were not disappointed by this.  Utterly delicious.  The meat was tender, the mushrooms were perfectly grilled, and the dressing was robust and flavorful.  Out of the four dishes ordered last night, we all agreed that this was our favorite.

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I’m always on the lookout for new ice cream bars, so this lemonade bar caught my eye.  Luckily, since it’s still summer, it was also half off at the local store.  What a steal for 350 won (~35 cents USD).

The flavor was nice, but it was a tad too sweet for me.  It was still enjoyable, but not as refreshing as I’d hope for.  The best part was at the center of the popsicle.  It still had a lemony taste, but the texture was like that of Italian ice.  For the price, I’d definitely buy it again.

I met up with Barbara and Amy at 1:00pm yesterday at the Seoul Museum of Art.  Amy is a docent for the Chun Kyung-ja exhibition, and gives a guided tour in English at 1pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Including me, there were seven of us on the tour, which lasted about 20 minutes.

For those interested, tickets to the museum are only 700 won and the nearest subway station is City Hall.  There’s also an abstract art exhibition going on at the same time, which runs until August 23, 2008.

After Amy got off “work,” the three of us walked to Insa-dong for lunch.  We found a great hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant tucked away in an alley.

The food was cheap, plentiful, and unpretentious (unlike other restaurants in Insa-dong).  My “soon duboo” was 4000 won and we all shared 9 side dishes including fish. It’s very easy to get to.  Directions: With Starbucks behind you, look across the street and to your left, and you’ll see an alley.  In the alley on your left hand side, you’ll see the restaurant.  Below is also the menu.

By this time, it was pouring down rain.  We hid out at The Coffee Bean and waited for the storm to pass.

After it did, we went looking for a movie to watch.  Of course, that was a bad idea.  It seems like everybody and their mother watches movies on the weekend and most things were sold out until much later in the evening.  Instead, we decided to look for a chicken and beer place.  After a few blocks of walking around Jongno 3-ga, we found Chicken Maru.  It was only 6000 won for each of us, and that included an order of chicken and 2000cc of beer.

I finally left around 8pm for Gunpo, where I was to met Courtney, who was having her birthday party in Sanbon.

I went to a pre-screening of Hancock tonight with the Metropolitician, his two Korean friends, and a photography classmate.  The movie opens tomorrow in Korea.  Tickets were confirmed this morning, and I rushed to the subway station after work.

When we arrived at the Yongsan CGV to take our seats, everyone had to check in their cell phones and cameras to men and women in suit who were trying hard to look important.  The theater was mostly full and I think we were the only foreigners there.  Throughout the movie, there was another secret agent wannabe stationed at the exit, making sure nobody was recording the movie.

Below is the only picture I was able to take tonight - the staff as they were handing back people’s belongings at the exit.

As for the movie?  Eh.  That being said, Will Smith is Will Smith.  The movie will gross millions just because he’s in it.  Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron were also great.  The story itself had a lot of potential (just like “Jumper”), but the storyline was a little lean.  I wasn’t really compelled by the character of Hancock, and felt more could have been done to give the audience something to chew on.

Overall, it was an ok movie.  I wouldn’t pay full price on a Saturday night to see it, but it’s worth a watch.  Honestly… for the entertainment value, Angelina Jolie’s “Wanted” would be a better choice.

I’ve been wanting to check out the Boseong tea fields, and this past weekend, I did just that. Ras and I met Jenay in Daejeon, then the three of us drove down about four hours to Boseong in Jeollanam-do. Jenay had already reserved a pension, but when we arrived, it was already too late to start a fire a fire for the barbecue. Instead, we had some salmon that night.

[Sunflower House Pension: our room was 70,000 won for two people, and each additional person was 10,000 won, with a maximum of four people. It was really nice with a great patio area. We stayed in the Dandelion Room.]

All pictures can be viewed in my Flickr album.

The next day, we woke up and went to the tea fields, even though it was a little rainy. The walk up to the plantation itself was really beautiful. It’s not often I see fern in Korea.

We were there for only half an hour before it started to pour, so we had to end our trip early. As I’ve read from others, and experienced for myself, the fields are more picturesque when it’s a little misty/rainy.

By this time, we had to change pensions because there was already a reservation for our room on Saturday. We found another nice place near the ocean, for only 50,000 won. There was nobody else in the other three units, so we had the place to ourselves.

Of course, we had to barbecue and roast marshmallows.

At one point, the pension owner came and chatted with us. Actually, it was more like us listening as he talked… A LOT. He even brought out his accordion and keyboard. After he finished playing, he shoved the accordion in my hands and suggested I play something. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Tell Me” by the Wondergirls. Really! Well, I attempted to play for about five seconds.