Martabak Pandega, Must Try Yogya

Out of so many interesting foods that I tried in Yogya, I would strongly recommend Martabak Premium Pandega.

Gue udah sering liat hype martabak warna warni di Path dan Instagram dan gue punya hipotesis bahwa Martabak yang Instagrammable itu antara cantik tapi rasanya aneh biasa banget, atau cantik dan too good to be true. Yang cantik tapi biasa itu adalah pengalaman dan testimoni dari SNS sedangkan hipotesis kedua diambil karena ada temen-temen gue yang bolak-balik ke tempat yang sama. Berarti gak kapok dong?

Anyway, gue gak pernah gak kenyang di Yogya tapi gue tetep maksain buat beli martabak fancy ini malem-malem. Sebelum berangkat gerimis-gerimis dimalam terakhir gue di Yogya, gue riset dulu di Instagram berapa sih harganya, apa sih menunya dan gimana sih komen-komennya. Gue sempet pengen beli yang 8 rasa, cuma karena mupeng liat warna chacha yang super menggoda tapi dimarahin Tyas.

Tyas bilang, "Jir gue udah pernah coba di martabak lain yang banyak rasa gitu, sumpah ih biasa banget malah nyesel!"

Akhirnya kita pun coba Martabak Cream Cheese Oreo dengan adonan Red Velvet seharga promo 60 ribu rupiah. Biasanya 70 ribu.

Sembari menunggu, gue mengamati tempatnya. Di jalan utama pemukiman dengan parkiran yang luas dan nyaman untuk motor dan mobil. Area makannya juga besar dan terang, sesuai dengan kriteria favorit gue. Kalo sama keluarga pun cocok. Kadang orang tua suka gak mau kompromi kan diajak makan makanan gaul? Gak perlu khawatir, karena mereka juga jualan dimsum dan makanan biasa lainnya, yang bisa bikin semua happy.

Harganya terlihat oke, meski gak bisa dibilang murah juga untuk standar Yogya

Begitu dateng... "Anjir kejunya tumpah-tumpah siah! Bentar-bentar, foto-foto dulu!"

Kita baru makan martabaknya setelah 3-4 menit karena sibuk foto-foto saking senengnya. Pas makan...

Gak bisa berhenti senyum dan komen karena martabak ini masuk kategori kedua yaitu Instagrammable dan too good to be true.

Enak banget. Worth mau 70 ribu 80 ribu 100 ribu pun gue masih mau beli. Kalo bisa buka franchise di Seoul, gue mau investasi semua tabungan gue kesitu. (Mulai lebay, tapi seenak itu)

FYI, gue sampe minta bokap bawain martabak ini sebelum beliau balik ke Jakarta keesokan harinya karena gue pake flight siang dan martabak ini belum buka. Sedangkan flight bokap jam 6 sore jadi masih sempet beli martabak. Yes I'd bear the hassle for this freakin' martabak.

Gue gak dibayar untuk bikin post ini tapi gue mau list hal-hal yang gue suka darisini:

1. Iklan dan taglinenya gak boong. Gue respect banget dengan tempat-tempat seperti ini. Mereka bilang di Instagram kalo kejunya generous, adonan red velvetnya beneran berasa red velvet gak kaya di tempat lain. Itu semua beneran dan bisa dipercaya
2. Aktif dan responsif di sosial media. Ini penting banget karena udah gak jaman nanya buka jam berapa menunya apa lewat telpon
3. Memberikan info yang tidak menyesatkan. Banyak yang tanya, apakah kitkat green tea halal dan mereka menjawab dengan baik bahwa memang vague dan kalau tidak yakin, pesan menu lain aja. Gue respect banget dengan jawabannya dan malah males sama komen yang bilang "Yaudah gak usah dijual lagi aja kalo gak halal" Lu pikir yang beli semua mikir halal apa kagak? Jadi orang kok intoleran banget
4. Ramah. Malam itu gue disambut dengan ramah dan mbak-mbaknya baik pas ditanya apa yang direkomendasikan karena gue first timer yang gak mau menyesal dengan pesenan gue. 
5. TERIMA FLAZZ! Gue gak perhatiin apakah mereka terima kartu lain juga, rasanya debit BCA pasti terima ya. Ini super berarti buat gue karena gue pecinta pembayaran non-tunai

Setelah bertemu Martabak Premium Pandega ini, rasanya gue gak mimpi lagi jadi intern Cireng Keraton. Bantu nyapu-nyapu disana dibayar pake remah-remah martabak aja seneng kayanya.

Oh iya, buat yang cari menu Martabak Pandega, alamat dan jam buka, nih gue fotoin. Buka mulai jam 4 sore btw.

Summary: Kalo ke Yogya, bakpia boleh lah buat oleh-oleh. Yang buat dimakan dan dinikmati sendiri plus bikin iri orang sih ini aja nih!

P.S: Semua foto no filter

#KelilingKorea Mokpo and Daejeon: Run, Run and Run

We were all energized and charged up when we walked back to Gwangju Seongjeong Station at dawn but passed out instantly once we sit on the train. All of us was soundly sleeping when we reached Mokpo, until a train officer needed to wake us up.

dawn-wefie

I honestly did not recall whether we took the selfie in Mokpo or Gwangju, but I am certain we did not have energy to even fully stand when we alighted from the train hahaha. So it must be taken in Gwangju lol.

We came to Mokpo for a simple purpose: to see Korea's southwestern tip because pergi ke paling ujung sounds cool. We did not have concrete plan and it was still dark at 4 AMish. All I know about Mokpo was there is this mountain called Yudalsan near the station where we can see pretty much everything of Mokpo. So there we go - Yudalsan.

None of us knew how to get there so we had to ask people around. This time Tugce did it. I need to highlight this part because strangely, Tugce was VERY energized that morning. Should we not stop her, she must have run to Yudalsan.

Along the way to Yudalsan, we met a guy with camera that wanted to climb the mountain too. We followed him and reached the first stop. We met 2 interesting uncles at the first stop that speak fluent English and one even knows where Trinidad and Tobago is. (of course, Abby loved him!)

The sunrise time of the day was 6.02 AM. We waited for half an hour until the camera guy said that we should climb higher. Iso and Abby were already exhausted so they decided to wait at the first stop while Tugce was determined to climb to the peak. I was divided. Hiking is certainly not my thing and it was 5 in the morning! Like... I could reject but I'd miss a big experience in my trip and it was certainly a bad option to send Tugce to hike alone. With hesitation, I decided to follow them.

Only 228m high, Yudalsan is not even a 'real' mountain. But I struggled in the dark to walk on the steep walkway up to the top. On the other hand, Tugce was attacked by mosquitoes from the bush hahaha. But overall, the camera guy and Tugce looked all fine while I could feel my leg almost gave up halfway. Yes you guys can question my fitness hahaha.

Long story short, we reached the final 'safe' spot! We could climb higher but it was strongly not recommended as it was kinda dangerous. We met the 2 uncles there and they shared us some Korean snack while waiting for sunrise. Unfortunately, it was really foggy that day and the sunrise never came hahahaha.

It's okay. Tugce and I were happy enough of the fact that we finally did Korea's national sport: Hiking.

We never expected we would (willingly) do it for the first time with no prep and no sleep. :)))

We went down at almost 7, trying to catch 8 AM train to Daejeon. Iso and Abby already called us for several times, asking us to leave quickly since it was too cold for them hahaha.

BY THE WAY... Tugce and I could not feel our legs when we walked down. Our thighs were really hurt too. OMG so this is the effect of unprepared hike... It was the worst feeling ever throughout the trip.

We caught our train to Daejeon and arrived at 11 AMish, being all grumpy and bloody exhausted. No one was even in the mood to take pictures.

We only went to a huge art complex and it was waaaaay too hot.

It was pretty but we just couldn't stand the heat. and the fatigue.

'please let us sleep'

After a very quick visit, we went to City Hall area for Thai food. Yay feast!

We ate like a pig, without even care about the bill because we all just too tired and upset hahaha. We still had room for dessert so we completed our fancy lunch with frozen yogurt from nearby store too.

Although I already wasted a huge chunk of my traveling budget for the lunch, I hadn't give up with my love from Daejeon, Sungsimdang's cream bread! 

Sungsimdang is a very famous bakery in Daejeon and its very cheap. The only thing I have to complain about is that they do not have branch in Seoul huhuhu.

When I went there for the first time, it was really crowded that we couldn't even move inside. But this time, it was not too packed that I could even grab some testers. 

what I bought

I was still choosing my breads when Tugce reminded us about the time. We had less than 20 minutes to get to the station. We checked out our breads and then we ran (again) to the station. It was not that far, like 15 minutes on foot but crossing the road was a bit complicated. It felt like a moment of life and death.

FYI, there are trains every hour from Daejeon to Seoul but we could not afford to waste our time to wait for another hour since we gonna have another loooong journey in the midnight.

We arrived at the platform just when the train was coming. But this time, not only that there was no seats to sit, there was no space to even squat or put our bags! I was like "Okay.... we have no choice, its only 2 hours" 

I was lucky to sit in front of the toilet, considering that Iso and Tugce needed to stay awake and stand up at every station since they were sitting at the train door's steps (di tangga pintu kereta banget loh!). Literally the worst train experience ever.

We reached Seoul at 4 PMish and ran (again) from Ewha station to catch the shuttle bus to our dorm. Being exhausted and sleep deprived, we did not want to waste any minute to sleep and prepare ourselves for the long journey to Korea's second largest city: Busan

#KelilingKorea Gwangju: A Lovely Metropolitan

We continued our second day of #KelilingKorea by visiting Gwangju, straight from Daecheon. We started to lower down our expectation for everything after Daecheon. But Gwangju successfully amused us.

Walking out of the station, we found a tourism information center with English-speaking officer. They recommended us some places to visit but it was mostly mounts and hiking trails. Before we chose our next destination, Abby already got message from her Korean teacher that he'd meet us at the downtown. He taught Abby and her mom Korean back then in Trinidad and Tobago. I assumed he is from Gwangju but later I learned that he is not hahaha. He has lived in Gwangju for 10 years tho.

Gwangju downtown is just like Seoul's Myeongdong! Very modern and they have many foreign brands. We were really surprised, as we thought only Busan can match Seoul. I was relieved that we finally knew what we were doing, not getting lost again in the countryside hahaha. We decided to eat first and the special menu of the day was cheese dakgalbi! Yeay!

Everyone was really happy for the great meal, especially that later Abby told us its on her - as a treat from her mom.

We continued to climb to the nearby observation tower that looked very far from the downtown. We walked through resident housings and narrow alleys to get there. Abby's teacher said that it was the shortcut haha.

Gwangju Observatory Tower

The tower was only 4 story-high but it offers amazing view of Gwangju city and mounts around it. Its a newly built tower, replacing the old one. Some of the remaining of the old tower was there too. You can look at the information here.

remaining of the old tower

group picture!

The tower was absolutely amazing. We really enjoyed our time there and of course we took countless selfies hahaha.


We continued our journey to find local street foods in the nearby market. But turned out everything was already closed by 9 PM so we decided to just go to a cat cafe.

Sitting down and playing with the cats was fun. We spent few hours there before going to Gwangju Songjeong station. We planned to take 3 AM train to Mokpo but we did not have place to stay and finding transportation that early would be a trouble for foreigners. So we decided to just wait in the station.

Gwangju Songjeong Station - waiting room

I am really sorry to say this but the station was much much better than Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta Airport.

Very bright, very clean, got plugs and (weak) wifi - they only need sofa and water dispenser to make it perfect.

We were enjoying our time in the station until an officer came to tell us that they were going to close the station at 12.30...

I quickly suggested to wait at the nearby convenience store. Unexpectedly, we had such a blast in GS25 and no one slept. Instead, we talked about many random things and I dragged these people to open social media accounts hahaha. Tugce seemed to find her world in Twitter and was totally absorbed into Twitter shortly after created an account.

Time flies and we walked back to the station at 3 AM, waiting for the train to go to Mokpo

#KelilingKorea Demilitarized Zone

I didn't get to visit northern part of South Korea during my #KelilingKorea trip so I went to Paju on Chuseok holiday instead!

I think the timing worked well, considering the weather. I enjoyed the trip although I was exhausted from the days before when I had to work on a project and sit for more than 10 hours daily.

The course started on 8.10 (departure from Seoul) and ended at 16.30ish (arrival in Seoul). DMZ area is located in Paju, less than 50km to Seoul. It was a memorable one-day-trip, probably the only time I got to be sooooo close to the North Korea's land. (or even accidentally stepped on their territory?)

You can see on the map above, Seoul is veryyyyy close to the border. We visited 3rd Tunnel, which was built by North Korea for a planned attack to Seoul. Fortunately South Korea found the tunnel before its finished being built, thus the attack did not happen. I was really fascinated with how the South Korea government managed and opened the tunnel for DMZ tourism, They provided monorail to access the tunnel (70m deep, very cold and wet) and built tunnel extension to make it easier for tourists to go down there. (ignore my grammar here) 

I went with my Indonesian senior. He actually asked me to come so that we can take picture of each other. Damn smart. But he didn't really need me as he was (unexpectedly) super skilled in taking selfie tho hahaha.

The whole trip was conducted in English and it was very insightful and very thrilling. I didn't like the super strict rules but I guess that's how they keep DMZ open for tourism. As expected, soldiers everywhere. Passport was checked for more than 4 times. We were only allowed to take pictures in super limited spots in super short time.

I liked how I could gain so much in one day and how everything that I've been reading on Korea's modern history finally made more sense to me. Like how significance Kim Daejung's Sunshine Policy was, how vulnerable Seoul is etc.

My favorite stop was Dorasan Station, a station that once designed to be part of Trans Korea Railway. I felt really touched and awaken. They were so close to loosen up the tense. There were times when chance of reunification was much bigger. I don't know how to put my feeling into words but seeing how they planned all... I am amazed.

One day I hope to see the civilians crossing the borders easily.
One day I hope to witness foreigners being welcomed to access Pyeongyang without any suspicion.

One day, I hope to hear the announcement in Dora Station saying, "The train to Pyeongyang is now ready to depart"

#KelilingKorea Daecheon

Our first destination on our half-priced Railro pass was Daecheon, a small-city that even most Korean don't know (must say near Boryeong) and often confused with Daejeon ("Do you mean Daejeon?" asked every single Korean after hearing our plan to visit Daecheon, maybe because our pronunciation was too bad).

Being the sole organizer, I did not fully remember why I picked Daecheon. I just thought we would able to see the muddy beach...

But to my shock there was nothing. Nothing but beach. Not even a praise worthy transportation system that always amazed foreigners when they visit Seoul.

August 23, 2015 - Sunny Sunday
We expected to see large crowd maximizing their summer break but no.

We expected to be able to walk to the beach from the station but no. We were told to take either bus number 100 or 101 - as if the number really matter. Truth is; there were only 2 routes from that station. 100 or 101. As Seoulites, we felt that the bus only come once in every century... (hyperbola tapi emang lama bangeeeet deng nunggunya)

We expected to see some cool scenery along the way to the beach and I think seeing endless paddy field, empty wide roads and many inhabited-and-penuh-ilalang bus stops was also cool, no? We couldn't stop talking about all the lil things that we found (and looked, and heard) in Daecheon during the trip.

Arrived at the beach that looked like a death city, we were all excited. Abby and Iso are beach girls while Tugce and I clearly prefer beach over mountain.

The weather was really nice, the beach was relatively pretty but that's about it.

We were hungry and tried to find chicken. Knocking at the door of 3 out of 3 available chicken stores (2 of which were labeled '24 hours'), we barely found any trace of human.

So we went to a very Korean and 'must-visit' chain while traveling... LOTTERIA.
(none of us were happy about it but we were starving and there was no other option)

In less than 2 hours, we packed our bags back to the station.

It was short but indeed memorable trip that opened our eyes to something that we never ever expect before: Korea's countryside.

My Love from Korea: Sundubu Jjigae

I have been asked so many time "What is your favorite Korean food?" and every time I give an honest and frank answer, people throw a strange look OR react weirdly by saying "Wow that's quite unexpected" to laugh spontaneously. This actually happened during my Korean scholarship interview where both of the Korean panels were laughing at my answer...

I didn't know what's so unusual but my favorite #KoreanFood (or let me shorten it to #kfood) is Pajeon (파전). Often dubbed as Korean Pancake, I fell in love with the familiar taste of Pajeon. It tasted like Indonesia' Kekian (the one we always use in capcay) and now that I think about it, one should not say kekian as his/her favorite Indonesian food.

Ok I get it.

Don't worry, I still have lots of #kfood that I love, like chicken-based dishes such as jjimdak (찜닭) and dakgalbi (닭갈비). Eh but then people don't stop there and ask, "But how can you get Halal jjimdak or dakgalbi in Korea?"

Well it's basically impossible and I should just puasa (fasting) until I come back to Indonesia or visit the Halal-chain branches in Malaysia or Singapore. Turned out that being in Korea doesn't mean I am getting closer to my favorite #kfood until I found my new love... Sundubu Jjigae (순두부 찌개)!

I remember this dish as the first real Korean dish that I ate after coming to Seoul in February 2015. I had been stuffed myself with breads and milkshakes from the fast-food chains until some friends asked me to eat out at a Korean restaurant. I barely had an option when I asked for vegetarian menu in that restaurant. My options were only Sundubu Jjigae with seafood or Jjamppong aka seafood noodle.

I chose Sundubu Jjigae and loved it! So, what actually Sundubu Jjigae is?

For me, it's simply Korean style tofu soup that almost always served in black-Korean-pot or ddukbaegi (뚝배기). But for the sake of educating my readers properly, I got this description from Wikipedia.

Sundubu jjigae (순두부찌개) is a jjigae (Korean stew) in Korean cuisine. The dish is made with uncurdled dubu (tofu), vegetables, sometimes mushrooms, onion, optional seafood (commonly oysters, mussels, clams and shrimp), optional meat (commonly beef orpork), and gochujang (chili paste) or gochu garu (chili powder). The dish is assembled and cooked directly in the serving vessel, which is traditionally made of thick, robust porcelain, but can also be ground out of solid stone. A raw egg is put in the jjigae just before serving (also optional), and the dish is delivered while still bubbling vigorously. This dish is typically eaten with a bowl of cooked white rice and several banchan (side dishes).

As it was my first week in  Korea, I felt really great to successfully order Vegetarian dish in normal Korean restaurant. Later I learned that the gochujang that they used commonly is not Halal ㅠㅠ Be careful, fellow Muslim!

Seafood Sundubu Jjigae from 두부의 추억 151 이대점

Normally, I go to two places for Sundubu Jjigae. First, 두부의 추억 151 near Ewha. Don't ask me to translate the name, they really don't have English name nor English menu. But I did see many foreign visitors dine here. I assume they can read Korean as they don't seem to suffer when ordering food hahaha.

They offer only 4 kind of Sundubu Jjjigae. I always go with the Seafood one.

The portion is standard Korean, served with one bowl of brown rice and nice banchan (side dishes). They would either serve ampas tahu (I don't know how to translate this, something like cold soy porridge?) or tteokbokki as their specialty side dish.

What I like about them is that they are very generous with the seafood. This meal is definitely worth my KRW6,000

To be honest, I am not entirely sure of the Halal-degree of this dish so I have only been there with friends' invitations. I can definitely recommend and swear for the second place, Loving Hut Rainbow in Sinchon!

Loving Hut Rainbow - Sinchon, Seoul

Loving Hut is international vegan chain restaurant that can be found in all over Asia. I can always find Loving Hut every time I travel in Asia, except in Saigon hahaha. I always said how lovely it would be to have Loving Hut near my home before moving to Seoul and my wish is granted! This Loving Hut branch is reachable by walking from my dormitory.

They offer many interesting Korean dishes in vegan version, making it possible for me to try Jajangmyeon, Kalguksu, Mandu and other dishes with no worries. Although there is no dish that I don't like from Loving Hut, I always order Sundubu Jjigae before ordering something else...
(that shows how much I love it!)

my set of happiness!

I don't normally finish my banchan when eating in Korean restaurant because I am not sure what's in it, not even in Halal Korean restaurant, due to my diet of not eating any red-meat-based products. But dining in Loving Hut means it is safe for me to eat and try everything. Their banchan is the bomb! (Still not touching the kimchi btw hahaha)

my love, vegan sundubbu jjigae

Everything about this Sundubu Jjigae is just too perfect!

texture and content - must try!

Good news, you only need to pay for KRW6,500 to enjoy this Sundubu Jjigae 'set'. (when you order a portion of #KoreanFood, it is normally served with rice and all that. Free flow of water included - so nice, right?)

whole bowl of environmentally friendly and healthy ingredients!

Oh, one thing to note: do not easily fall into #kfood red colour visual. Its NOT spicy at all.

So if you happen to look for Vegan/Halal #kfood in Seoul, be sure to visit Loving Hut Rainbow in Sinchon! But if you are in Indonesia or UAE, visit the upcoming K-Food Fair 2015 in your countries to taste the Halal #KoreanFood wonders! Check the #kfoodfair2015 Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kfoodfair2015 or their website here.

Don't miss out the dates of this year' #kfoodfair! Selamat makan-makan!

#KelilingKorea Typhoon

I write this while we're stuck in Busan because of unexpected (sudden) typhoon. Train life has been great so far. We managed to do manyyy things that we never did before. I am personally satisfied with our 3hours Mokpo visit where Tugce and I managed to climb to the top of 유달산  at 6 AM in the morning. This trip is freakin tiring yeah, but thankfully we have no Barbie in the group and everyone is very considerate with each other.

Seeing more of Korea is nice but again, the whole trip convinced me even more that Korea is really really small. Looking forward for bright weather and sunny days till the end of the trip!

Mimi and Kelly's: My Favorite Vegan Cafe

Seoul (or Korea) in general is not a vegan-friendly place to live in. Being a vegan in Seoul could almost instantly mean starve yourself to death, fight endless craving for legit vegan dishes or use up all your paycheck for insanely expensive fruits and not-so-tasty green veggies.

Honestly, the vegan option in Seoul is not that bad. Seoul does have various vegan cafes, restaurants and bakeries. But the locations are generally spread out and Seoul is a big big city. Luckily, I got to live in Sinchon where I could easily walk to The Bread Blue and Loving Hut Sinchon. But my favorite has always been Mimi and Kelly's.

Mimi and Kelly's Insadong - Seoul 

Located in Insadong, my most-visited area in Seoul, Mimi and Kelly's is a newly opened small vegan cafe. Mimi and Kelly's provides comprehensive map on their Facebook so getting there was really easy although they don't have big sign. When I first entered the cafe, the place didn't really leave a deep impression since its relatively small and the menu was limited.

The impression stayed until I tasted their perfect Vegan Mac n Cheese. Yes, it was bloody expensive, KRW9000 for one portion but its worth every single macaroni and vegan cheese drop. I lost word for this creation.

Few weeks later, I came back after seeing their post on Facebook about limited vegan pasta with ingredients brought from Taiwan. There is no way I could miss it. Taiwan is definitely the Asia's Mecca of Vegan. 

I couldn't remember how much the pasta was but one thing for sure, it was so tasty that I kept smiling after finishing my precious cream pasta. I rarely upload food photos on Instagram but I uploaded this one (and not to miss my Facebook too) because I think the whole world should know how delicious it was. Vegan bacon was the bomb.

It only took me a few days after the phenomenal pasta until I decided to come back to buy their limited Vegan Hotdog, again - straightly brought from Taiwan. I was never a fan of sausage, not even the real-legit-meaty-sausage. I always hate the deep and oftenly bright red colour of beef sausage, and chicken sausage pink-brownish color isn't really appealing too. Sausage is one of the reason I turned to completely-red-meat-free-diet. But this vegan sausage was truly an exception.

Vegan Hotdog - Mimi and Kelly's

Everything on the plate was truly delicious. I was a bit sad when I hold the last bite of my hotdog, thinking when could I fully enjoy a hotdog again...

Now I'm thinking, while typing this line, when would I visit Taiwan again? Taiwan is definitely my top food destination. My Taipei Vegan Tour was amazing and unforgettable. These Mimi and Kelly's limited special dishes cured the longing for legit vegan food that I could only have in Taiwan.

Oh I almost forgot about their desserts!

They have few desserts option like soy milk and pudding. I think their vegan soft ice cream is currently the most popular dessert in the house. To be honest, I don't really buy their desserts since I still enjoy normal desserts with milk and all that in regular basis (I am a fool for cakes and cookies). I tried their soy pudding and it was pretty good.

So if you happen to search for nice, quiet and calm Vegan cafe with super friendly owners in Seoul that speaks English, head to Mimi and Kelly's. Be sure to always check their Facebook page here because they might announce another special limited menu soon!

Business hours

Weekday Pm 03:00~09:30
Weekend Am 11:00~09:30
Off: Every Wednesday(수요일 휴무) 

Address: 종로구 인사동 188-4 1층 (하노이의아침 건물 1층)
MAP: https://goo.gl/cyib5S

Desert Pizza: Simple and Classy

I went to Samcheongdong last week for my 'traveling' club outing with a hidden motive to try out one of Samcheongdong's unique and pretty cafe. I have decided to try out 'Woodside Cafe' for their waffle but only to find out that they already closed and changed to other cafe that never been mentioned in any Samcheongdong guide.

So I spontaneously suggested 'Desert Pizza' to my clubmate, Tugce, in a hope of ordering sweet chocolate pizza with ice cream.

it was the name that attracted me

Desert Pizza located at the second floor of the building above. When I first entered the restaurant, I had a very good impression of the ambience. It was a small space, mostly decorated in bright yellow, with quite packed seats. Luckily we went there in relatively quiet hours so it was very enjoyable.

Once I read the menu, I realized I was tricked. It was 'DESERT' not 'DESSERT'. The only dessert pizza menu was almond and chocolate pizza...

Shortly, we decided to order Red Gorgonzola Pizza with tomato-base. But after a bit of discussion with the very kind owner using all the Korean we have learned in class, we switched our choice to White Gorgonzola Pizza with cream-base.

After he took our order, he brought two glass of ice water and the sweet dipping sauce which I suspect as light syrup. It didn't taste nor smell like honey. I really loved how we were able to enjoy the restaurant fully with good aircon, strong wifi, quite ambience and perfectly lighted space while waiting for our order.

White Gorgonzola

The pizza came! It was just as what we expected in terms of size and thin crust. The taste was nothing special but the syrup and tabasco really complimented the pizza well.

Almost all of the pizza menu cost KRW19,900 per pan while pasta is priced at KRW15,800 per portion. They do have set menu, I remember two of them were Pizza + Pasta + 2 drinks for KRW35,000 and Pizza + Salad + 2 drinks for KRW32,000. Normal price in the area.

I really appreciate the super kind owner (they speak English by the way) and I would say they have a good focus by not offering too much menu but I'd appreciate if we can choose the size of the pizza. I wouldn't comeback for the food but rather for the comfortable space offered to have a deep conversation or long catch up session with friends.