[Kinda Related] My Daily Obsession

What's up with this chain blogging? :)
Tiffany & her friends are talking about pets and obsessed foodies like me & bb are stuck on our perpetual favourite topic of nourishment. Well, eating is universal and life-sustaining, so it's justified right?

Anyway, although I can't say I'm terribly picky on a daily basis, my demands do rise a few notches on vacation. I guess with a limited number of days in a brand new part of the world and a fixed number of meals x the limited number of days, I treat my meals away from home quite sacredly. Maybe even calculating & exact. Seriously, meals literally make or break the whole experience for me when I'm in a faraway land. That's until recently.......until I started going to a certain place in Asia.

To be truthful, I thank YJ-ssi for his famous restaurant, because at least now I can be rest assured that I'll have one definite good meal when I go to Seoul. You don't have to tell me...I know for a fact that really top notch dining locales exist there. But gosh, when you are sight-seeing and with your agenda packed solid, when your stomach grumbles, you simply march towards the first restaurant that catches your eye. And in this manner, I've had such a string of nothing but bad luck, ending with more "misses" than "hits" everytime I go there. I've really got to look harder...

Anyway, looking back, one of the places that I can truly say I enjoyed in Korea was Chanko Waka. Remember this Japanese chain opened by the former elite Sumo wrestler "Wakanohana" (aka Masaru Hanada)? The one that YJ-ssi graced with his presence on its opening night 09.23.2005?
(thanks makishi)

After I visited last spring, this immediately got added to my "hits" list. I so honestly looked forward to returning there. Unfortunately, one of my friends told me that the restaurant has since closed its doors. (**Correction!!! Chanko Waka IS NOT closed - see next post**) Apparently was unable to hold its own against the finer places in haughty Apgujeong and most notably drowned by a marvelous force called Gorilla a little further away. Such a brief but glorious stint........ but no worries, I guess. All is not lost. Means that I'll just have to travel a little farther to Japan where the chain is still thriving prosperously.

In any case, since my last trip, my stomach has convinced me to make its welfare a priority. I have now taken to jotting down names of interesting dining options so that that I won't have to play darts the next time I go there (here I go, planning unrealistically once again :) haha. ) Please feel free to drop me some names if you know of some great places.

I was browsing through some travel sites lately and old reliable T2K came to my rescue. In particular, this interesting topic of "eateries made famous by Korean celebrities" caught my attention. Hmmmmmmmmmmm......always wondered why entertainers always seemed to gravitate towards opening restaurants. Because it's in their nature to take care of some of human's social needs, maybe? Anyway, it's such a risky line of business and so hard to sustain in the long run....

To that end, I am supremely glad that as we quickly come upon GORILLA's one year birthday in 2+ weeks (wow, has it been a year already?!) that YJ-ssi's kitchen is not only going strong but gaining rapid momentum even as we speak. I suppose it is easy for critics to write this success off as fans' indiscriminate and blind support, and it is a fact that us loyal fans do large part to fill the seats on a daily basis over there. However GORILLA really doesn't get enough credit for being really quite popular with the locals as well. Someone went 2 weekends ago and described a terribly long line out the door at the late hour of 21:30pm. In fact, they had to give out numbers to the waiting parties, which I have to say is pretty unheard of in this upscale district. Anyway, truth be told, most of those that were waiting to get a taste of what YJ-ssi has to offer spoke fluent Korean and only Korean - they were locals and definitely not fans. Good for him (!)

Anyway, as good as Gorilla is, just wanna share here my list of "Next Food Conquests" when/if i get the chance to travel that way again. (Pal, you hear me? I wanna call the shots next time :)
Maybe you'll find one amongst here that you'd like too?

1) Tops on the list is a place called "TOVOU"
This was the one from T2K that caught my interest.

You all know who Anh Jung Hwan is right? He's the young and often controversial hottie, ummm... I mean soccer player of that now forever famous Korean national soccer team? He, who scored the winning goal in 2002 against Italy to clinch that quarterfinal World Cup spot? Hee, I distinctively remembered a lot of drooling comments about him on Quilt during the 2006 World Cup run (wasn't there a Malaysian fan who led the pack doing that? haha) Anyway, he's cute alright and what's cuter is that he has this lovely habit of kissing his wedding ring whenever he scores a goal. Must love his wife much. Nice.

Anyway, this high-profile couple have come up with a classy looking place to serve good food. OK - just look at that shrimp dish, willya? No words needed.....! Where do I run to make reservations? Rather than waste time, I've copied the T2K blurb here, if you're interested.



By the way, for those curious "you's", you can read the whole report including their review on Gorilla by clicking this .


2) NEURIGE GEOTGI

Name ring a bell?
C'mon..............think hard!

Anyway, a lot of you would have spend some hilarious moments watching that hit MBC drama called "My name is Kim samsoon" or sometimes "My lovely Sam-soon" in the summer of 2005. I know some of you blogged about liking it but as usual there were a few minority dissenters as well. In any case, I loved it thoroughly and so did the Korean locals. Hilarious and stuff ordinary people can relate to. This so-called "Bridget Jones"-esque comedy drama caused sensational buzzing all around town in Korea, scoring 40+% viewership, which although doesn't top YJ-ssi's accomplishments, is quite remarkable for TV dramas. Hyun Bin and Daniel Henney, the top and second male leads owe much of their current status to this show for sure. Ayy.......why am I going on and on? Anyway, you've gotta have watched it to understand, but in one of the earlier episodes where Sam-soon and HeeJin fought over their man (Hyun Bin) aka "SAMSHIKA!!!" (how the heck is that spelled?) - well, the restaurant where that all came down was Neurige Geotgi.

Have all BYJ fans gone to snoring yet? Or do you recognize something?

C'mon! Think harder!!!!

Gosh...I guess I can't blame you. I also guess that after Gorilla leaves you all dreamy and stuffed - the blood is all congregating around the stomach and not the head :)

You do recognize this view when you walk out of Gorilla, don't you?
Ya, this place is another "healthy" good type of restaurant...uses only natural ingredients in its preparation of good Korean fare and has a nice little centralized kitchen in the middle of the restaurant which is charming.

And.......when you exit Gorilla through those doors where so and so is planning to get lodged, voila....you are facing Neurige Geotgi right there and then! How convenient, huh? Just right across the street. Easy.

Oh...you might remember that when Ms. Root Lee blogged about her initial visit to Gorilla, she mentionned the name "Neurige Geotgi" for reference - as in, to get to Gorilla, it's just across from NG. I looked this up then, coz she dropped the word nonchalantly as if readers should know what it means, and the truth of the matter was that I was scratching my head till lines could be seen. Well, maybe I am thinking too much, but from that, I get the impression this place is well-known and more importantly, I deduced that it must serve good food. OK, I'll let you know after next time!

3) KYOCHON chicken

This, I admit, I stole from Jos'

blog last year. Lost it, then found it again, thank goodness.

Not every meal has to be the proper sit-down kind of fancy meal, right? For a quick fast-food bite and especially if you're a KFC fan, then listen up. If fried chicken is your thing, this is a place not to be missed. (Errrrrrrr....there's no good way to photograph this stuff well, is there? heehee)

As you can tell, Kyochon is a chain of friend chicken places, but one special franchise in Apgujeong is owned by Shinwa, the awesome boy band who is (still) playing in the background as we speak. I rather love their music, so double-score! Only down side is that this place is crawling with Shinwa fans all the time and snapping up all their pics, items, handprints, etc - kinda like a mini-Park BOF for Shinwa with the obvious difference being ......well, food is allowed, and pics allowed too.

Anyway, their chicken is supposed to be famous for their light, crisp but non-greasy texture, and they're marinated with their own distinct vinegar soysauce. Yum!
(Fried goods are such my downfall, sister!)

Some kind soul posted instructions on the net (sorry, i cannot remember who to credit!)
1. You should go through exit No. 2 of Apgujeong Station, Subway line 3(orange) and go along the street.
2. You should pass through intersection near SK gas station and pedestrian crossing.
3. After passing 2 blocks, you would find #35 wing of Hanyang APT(35 HY) in opposite side of the road and you would turn to right in front of Hana Bank (Green signboard).
4. You would find signboard of Mini Stop and go along the alley. You would find Kyochon Chicken/Shinhwa branch in right, in cater-corner of Mini Stop.

Wow, so many possibilities to heal the hunger all of a sudden!

Only problem is: how to pry me away from Gorilla!

Coz, guess what?

One of the secrets to maintaining Gorilla's status at the top of the pillar is...........their ability to continually re-invent themselves and not grow stale.

YJ-ssi, you're not playing fair at all!.......I haven't even had the chance to taste all that I've wanted to on your lengthy menu yet, and whaaaaaa?? You've changed the menu again??? So quick, lah!

Yeah, looks like on April 1st, they've rolled out yet another revised menu again. Can anyone remember how many this makes? This is at least the third version that I've personally seen.

Anyway, if you care to, you can browse through the GORILLA, restaurant link if you haven't been there lately.
You can even compare back to the original menu, on opening day if you want to double check its evolution :)

A lot of notable additions & reductions (where does he find the time??) - , but phew!!! thank goodness they had the sense to retain my favorite pasta dish. YJ-ssi, komawoyo!! my stomach says so! Anyway, you'll see that there's a lot more varied meat choices for one. They now serve lamb at Gorilla too? Wow.

And hee, I couldn't help but look for those "black" items that's so near and dear to JP-ssi's heart!
Anyway a parting thought to remind us of HRH's thoughtful ways:

To those Japanese-only speaking fans who had felt "left out" before, be very happy that you were on his mind all this time! I hear that huge booklet of a menu that they have just got "huger." Yep, the newest version has added Japanese translations just for you!

May I sneak in a parting "whine" as well?
OMA, when can I go there next?!!