Murmur de Gusto: Fancy Brunch in Anam

I mean it when I say there is nothing in Anam and Korea University area. We have Burger King, McD, Paris Baguette many compulsory chicken places, countless alcohol places and fancy school but that's about it. We do not have Pizza Hut, KFC, cinema or even the famous Artbox, where you can get many cool gifts for your friends.

Good restaurant in Anam is very rare. Well, you have to define what is good. If you just want cheap and tasty college student style of dining, then Anam provides you the basic. But if you want quality stuff, my answer is that Seoul has the best public transportation in the world. I mean, just take the bus to a better neighborhood or take a subway ride to Itaewon. :)

Thank God, recently I found a good and expensive brunch restaurant, hidden on the 4th floor of Starbucks building. This restaurant is called Murmur de Gusto, or we normally cut it to Murmur. You would not likely to visit Murmur by accident as there is no big sign of the restaurant. Yet we had to queue for almost half an hour when we came.

My first impression of the restaurant: classy. They do not have many tables but it was designed in a fancy way. The tables are not that spacious. I recommend the seats by the window. 

brunch set

Murmur serves wine and Italian food like pasta and pizza. I went with two other friends for lunch and we ordered brunch set, a pasta and a pan of pizza. It was bloody expensive.

The brunch set is priced at 9,800 KRW. I like the french toast and pancake, it was fairly sweet to me. I hate their blueberry sauce and the omelet was nothing special. 

Next up is the rose salmon pasta. It was really good and they really give generous amount of salmon. The taste of the sauce matched well with the salmon and asparagus. I totally loved it! Could not recall the price but I think it was about 18-19,000 KRW.

Then the last dish we ordered was pizza!

pizza!

It was not your ordinary round shaped pizza. The crust was not thick, but I would not say thin as well. They put a lot of cheese and cream and I loved it! I am not really sure what was the best part of the pizza, the taste just blended very well. It was also expensive, almost 20,000KRW for a pan but definitely worth it!

We spent almost 50,000KRW for three people in a visit. We were really full and it was worth the money. Overall, I love Murmur de Gusto. They have a very great atmosphere that matches well with their food and classy concept. I would definitely come back but not so often, as the price is too expensive for student's casual lunch.

Recommended gem in Anam, Korea University!

MY Skin Care!

I never cared about my skin until I moved to Korea, where I am literally surrounded by cosmetics shops and advertisements 24/7. It did not really bother me at first until Pi Ling, my friend, gave her unused skin care products and started to teach me how to use them. So taadaaa!

Korean is a great example of how you should take care of your skin. They are willing to use many products religiously to protect their youthful-looking appearance. By many, I mean applying 5~10 products a day. Hell, a lot of creams!

I cannot commit to such routine. I have been only doing the basics yet it magically transformed my skin within few weeks since I started.

My must-have products are serum and cream to keep my skin moisturized (and glowing!)

My morning routine goes from serum then cream then makeup powder, only when I have the mood (which mean once a month? Once in two months?).

my glowing secret

I have been using Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum since I started taking care of my skin and I am not planning to move to another product. I came to know this serum when Pi Ling gave me hers. She tried it but it does not go well with her. While for me, it feels very light and makes my skin feel a looot more elastic (kenyal-kenyal). The texture is very watery. I did not know this serum is ultra popular until I went to Innisfree store to buy my second bottle. I have been recommending this serum to my guests ever since.

It is quiet expensive compared to other brands' serum. KRW 22,000.

I would apply my Laneige Water Bank Gel Cream - EX after serum. I have tried several other brands but this is my favorite so far (and the most expensive one too!). The story was quite funny. I was in Grand Indonesia with my parents and my dad requested to go to SK II to purchase a cream or something. I envied my dad for buying SK II skin care which costs more than $100 a jar, so I asked him to buy me 'luxury' skin care too. He was like okay, go ahead and choose. I only take Korean brands because I live in Korea and it should not be ultra expensive like SK II, or later I would suffer to afford my second jar. So I went with Laneige, which is already a lux for a college cheap-skate like me.

"I have serum from other brand but I am running out of cream. Can you recommend the best one for me?" I requested to the mbak. I just took whatever she recommended to me. That was how I ended up with Water Bank Gel Cream. Very light, cool and hydrating. The texture is also very nice. I think applying cream would give me instant glow on my face but this is the strongest one. My YLS pictures (which was taken after I started using this cream) were the prove hahaha. IDR 420,000 and I purchased my second jar for KRW 33,300. Normal price is KRW 37,000; check details here

new mask!

Next up in the line is the wash-off mask! I am a huge fan of wash-off mask, regardless of the brand. I started humble with normal Indonesian "Masker Bengkoang Mustika Ratu" then switched to Missha when I moved to Korea. But Missha does not really give me any effect so I switched to Innisfree Real Peppermint Mask yay! This mask literally feels like Lush Shrek mint mask (Mask of Magnaminty). I used that too but I threw it before finishing the jar due to the short expiration date. Lush was nice but sigh, expensive.

Love this for the minty cool feeling and fresh smell! Only KRW 12,000; 30% cheaper on Innisfree Green Day!

my lil secret

Next is my favorite sleeping pack! I do not think we have this in Indonesia, yeah? Like sleeping pack concept is a new thing. I have Innisfree Wine Jelly Sleeping Pack. Smells wine and texture like jelly, it really lives up to its name. I used to apply it every night then I learned that I only need to use it 3-4 times a week. Very light and I woke up with elastic cheek! I highly recommend this sleeping pack. I even gave mine away to my brother and brought this to Brazil.

A very good investment and simple to use. KRW 12,000, not bad. A jar can last for 4 months.

Then the last one is my face wash! I do not really like to wash my face with foam or any chemical. But I wear powder sometimes and lipstick on daily basis. Fortunately, Pi Ling gave her (again) fancy Kiehl's face wash. It does not smell good but done the job well. I prefer Innisfree Green Tea Cleansing Foam, thanks to Pi Ling (again) who bought this but did not like it.

I am a huge fan of Kiehl's other line, like shampoo and body lotion. But my skin is normal and have no big problem, so this Rare Earth Deep Pore Daily Cleanser might be a little too heavy. Kiehl's is always expensive and Pi Ling bought this one for KRW 41,000 while the green tea is only KRW 8,000.

I use Kiehl's only when I have heavy makeup.

The final result of these many skin care products that I am using is a younger skin! I am not blabbering, I really did a skin age test last week.

I got 84 out of hundred and my skin age is 3 years younger than my actual age. I was very satisfied, man. All these lines and investment do not go wasted hahaha.

The fancy machine and software also tell the score of each sector.

I got everything good, and particularly high scores for elasticity and moisture. No wonder, that is what my serum and cream do. The only thing I have to pay attention to is sebum, particularly blackhead. Do not worry, I got that covered with fancy (again) Innisfree Jejuvolcaning 3-in-1 nose pack. Let's see the result in two or three months hahaha.

So now you know the secret of my glowing skin on pictures. To recap, no makeup is still the best policy to me and I will go fine with killer lipstick. Boys and girls, take care of  your skin from now!

Soft Queen

Churros is always a thing in Korea. Unlike in Indonesia, they sell churros per piece here. I found it weird because I used to eat a portion (or rather a bowl) of churros with overflowing chocolate fondue back in my hometown. Normal price for churros is around 2000 KRW.

I am not a big fan of Korean churros, simply because I find it expensive. One day, I interestingly stumbled upon this Soft Queen stall in Itaewon which combines churros and soft ice cream. It is not a new concept, but I seriously thought we were already passed the soft ice cream trend here :P

I was craving for ice cream and I just went to buy their original ice cream. Tasted nice but it was nothing special. It was worth my 3,300 won. I wanted to buy their churros ice cream for 4,000 won and add choco or vanilla dipping sauce for another 500 won but we were too bloated from the amazing pancakes that we had. (Oh them pancakes are amazing!)

Will hunt for more nice soft ice cream and interesting churros combo!

LPS Versi Korea

Sign soal jaminan simpanan

Gue selalu hobi liat simbol-simbol dan iklan sosial di sekitar gue. Gue menemukan ini di samping ATM. Di Korea, simpanan dijamin sampai dengan 50 juta won (saja) atau sekitar 600 juta rupiah per orang. Sedangkan di Indonesia, Lembaga Penjamin Simpanan (LPS) menjamin sampai 2 miliyar rupiah. Interesting.

LPS versi Korea adalah Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC). Kalo kepo, website mereka cukup informatif dan rapi.

Tunggu sign berikutnya dilabel "Korea Public Sign"!