Sattbar: Vegan Friendly in Apgujeong

I wasn't quite sure when my friends asked me to go to a "salad bar" in Apgujeong. I am a vegetarian-food-obsessed girl who does not eat green, if that makes sense. I appreciate potato, hummus and love my mushroom-based deli but not green. Not leaf.

But I came anyway and I was surprised. This Sattbar looks like Vege Creek in Taipei with the huge sharing table. The vegan vibe strikes right away.

Forgive me, I was too lazy to stand up and take pictures from the other side. We were the last customer of the night and the guy literally stayed and reminded us that we must leave. Quite weird, given the written hours was 21.30 and we came there before 20.30. He seemed to close the shop an hour earlier that day.

Sattbar Menu

They have quite an extensive menu. We had a hard time choosing and ended up asking the most recommended items. They have English version of everything and the guy speaks excellent English. Price-wise, I have nothing to complain about. Vegan is never cheap.

I almost think that this place is 100% vegan, given the menu wording but I checked Seoul Veggie Club and some says although they do not use dairy, they still use honey in their hummus. Make sense as the hummus was significantly sweeter than the usual hummus dishes that we have in Indonesia.

Overall, I would still name this place as my new vegan heaven. I like their concept of no caffeine and obvioulsy, no meat.

The first dish that we ordered was the burger!

Promising visual, I love the simplicity. It tasted good, but the patty was dry, compared to the other veg burgers that I have tried. Like the other normal burger, this is not a light meal.

I am trying to recall my senses but nothing special from the smell or textures.

The next dish is the red hummus. Wow I am impressed by the visual. It looked very fresh and appetizing.

Like I said, the hummus was sweeter than the other hummus that I tried and it was better that way. There were toooo many greens around the hummus but everything is served fresh so I have nothing to complain about.

There are also few meatball-like balls on the plate and I LOVED it! Everything seemed to complement each other. Mind you, this green bowl is way heavier than my burger. We struggled to finish it.

I am very happy with Sattbar and I would definitely come back again.

Wonderful Tongyeong, Korea's Napoli #1

I had been dying to go to Tongyeong for months after my boss showed me her vacation pictures. She did not plan to go there and just drove there by chance (yes, accidentally) all the way from Seoul. She kept saying how this city has a lot to offer and three days won't be enough. But none of my friends ever heard about this city. Everyone rejected my idea of going there.

I finally managed to drag two of my friends after going through a very difficult and stressful time. I was dying to have a refreshing vacation. I said to a friend, "I will pay for our hotel, please just freakin say yes!"

We went there on the first weekend of April. We were there for two days. We took the latest bus from Seoul and arrive there at around 4 AM. I always believe that taking the latest bus and sleep on the bus is a brilliant idea. But the problem is... We had no idea that Tongyeong is not a metropolitan city. Nothing was open for 24 hours, even McDonald's open at 7 AM. So we had to wait for about 2 hours at a convenience store across the terminal before taking the bus to the city center.

Tongyeong at 6.30 AMish

We went to the Cultural Plaza or 'Gangguan Port'. I was really excited and I could easily get it why they call Tongyeong as 'The Napoli of the East' (I don't really like the word 'orient').

I couldn't resist posing with my friend's umbrella

Tongyeong is quite rich with history, especially for the fact that Geobukson Ship is sort of the icon of the city. We also passed by a complex of patriotic relics but I am not really sure why they are there.

On the way to our hostel, we walked through to the Undersea Tunnel, which was amazing. We thought it would be transparent, but no no. As soon as we got out of the tunnel, we could already enjoy the beautiful view of blooming cherry blossoms.

Yes!

Our next destination is the cable car! I had no idea where it would lead us to. I just knew that it is one of the longest cable car in Korea and for sure, the view would be amazing. Our kind host, Jeroen, drove us to the station. Man, he is amazing.

Turned out the cable car leads to Mireuk Mt. None of us is a fan of hiking but we were already up there, it would not be funny if we backed out and just went straight home. So we slowly climbed our way up.

View from the top

We managed to reach the top! With blouse and skirt! Yeah, we were not prepared at all haha. There were quite many people at the top and we also spotted other foreigners. We thought we would be the only ones in such a small city like Tongyeong.

We stayed for quite a while to enjoy the scenery and of course to make worth of the hardship to climb up. Then we headed back to the cable car station and went for lunch. It started to rain really hard after lunch so we could not go straight to Dongpirang Mural Village.

Dongpirang was so much fun, compared to Gamcheon in Busan. I liked the charm of the murals in its small alleys and the overall vibe. Gamcheon has become too commercialized and overrated, of course.

Our last destination was to catch the sunset at Dara Park. Dara Park is realllly remote and hard to reach. We took a taxi and sadly, we were not able to see the sunset as the weather was really bad that day.

It was supposed to be beautiful but...

Still, it was a nice decision to come to Dara Park. I was fascinated by the foggy view of the islands around Tongyeong. The atmosphere of the park itself was very charming and unique.

Next: Tongyeong Day 2
Also check #alirajalanjalan Tongyeong on Youtube.

Dari Korea ke Inggris Naik Kereta

Minggu lalu gue jalan-jalan ke pinggir Seoul, tepatnya Gwangmyeong. Saat gue nunggu bis, gue liat iklan ini dan gue pun mendekat dan mikir, "Wait ini beneran kah???"

Taglinenya berkata "Stasiun antar benua untuk keberangkatan ke Eurasia - Stasiun KTX Gwangmyeong". Sub-taglinenya "The cuting edge of Semenanjung Korea, titik logistik spesial"
Lengkap juga disertai dengan peta yang intinya dari Gwangmyeong, bisa ke Beijing, terus nyambung ke Rusia sampe Moskow, terus lanjut Berlin, Paris dan bisa ke London.

Gue tau Stasiun Gwangmyeong emang besar dan dilewati KTX. Tapi nyambung Eurasia, really? Sampe London, beneran? Kenapa ga pernah denger? Apa karena gue udah setaun gak main ke Gwangmyeong?

Tapi siapa juga yang mau ke Gwangmyeong kalo gak ke IKEA... Anyway saat gue turun bus dan mau nyebrang ke IKEA, gue liat iklan yang sama dan bahkan lebih besar. Gue pun mulai berpikir, "Wah agresif banget nih marketingnya"

Beruntungnya hari itu gue memutuskan untuk pulang lewat Stasiun Gwangmyeong. Gue pun memberanikan diri untuk bertanya (setelah didorong-dorong Elaine) ke mbak di pusat informasi. Jawabannya, "Wah maaf. Ini belum ada. Masih dalam proses perencanaan"
"Kira-kira emang adanya kapan?"
"Kalo itu kurang tau, sekarang ini masih dalam tahap pembicaraan di pemerintah."

Gue. Kesel. Sambil. Bingung.

Eh tapi saat mau ke arah platform subway, ada lounge khusus yang didedikasikan untuk si KTX Eurasia ini. What?!

Tanpa diminta, Elaine masuk dan nanya sama tante yang jaga. Tante yang jaga punya penjelasan serupa tapi lebih informatif.
"Ini emang lagi diwacanakan sama Perusahaan X dan pemerintah. Tapi sayang, sampe sekarang pun jalur ke Korea Utara kan belum kebuka. Tau sendiri kan sekarang hubungannya lagi menegang. Kalau kebuka, pasti bisa lebih cepat dan menguntungkan kedua belah pihak."
"Oh gitu. Tadi saya liat iklan dimana-mana makanya saya jadi penasaran sambil mikir, ada ya?"
"Iya, pemerintah berpikir kalau banyak iklan dan banyak masyarakat yang ingin tahu, bukankah nanti bisa membuat jalur ini terwujud lebih cepat lagi? Ada minat dengan isu ini?"

Wah ternyata politik juga. Jujur gue bingung, masih tahap perencanaan udah sewow ini. Seakan-akan mau bikin jembatan Jawa-Sumatera terus iklannya udah dari Lampung sampe Bogor, tapi ternyata jawabannya "Maaf, ini sebenernya masih dibahas di DPR. Cuma biar banyak yang kepo, jadi diiklanin gede-gedean, manatau bisa kasih pressure biar lebih cepet jadi."

Gue salut dengan approachnya. Mungkin kalau berhasil bisa ditiru, tapi untuk sementara jangan ketipu dulu. Ditunggu, ke Beijing naik kereta!
(Mau bilang London tapi kejauhan ah, naik pesawat aja capek)

IKLAN: LIAT #alirajalanjalan ke SMA di Korea, Gwangmyeong dan Hangang disini ya!

Best Grilled Fish in Hanoi

I went to Hanoi, Vietnam to visit one of my closest friends, Ha. I have been to many places and wandered around with locals in the city but I would say Ha knows the best of her hometown. We were able to explore Hanoi on her Vespa, without GPS. Well, I would be able to do the same in my own hometown but what makes Ha a waaaay more amazing than all my local guides is that she knows literally every road (or alley) in the city and the best food in town!

I was there only for four days, how hard can it be for my host to serve me the best delicacies in town, right?

Well, it is pretty challenging because I do not eat meat, only poultry and seafood. But this is no challenge to Ha, as she kept feeding me BEST food while I was there.

Out of so many, the 'Cha Ca' grilled fish is one of my favorite.

FIIIIISH

It came pre-cooked like this. Served with plenty of green and condiments, it tastes supeeeer fresh.

We are in Southeast Asia but no, you do not eat this thing with rice but noodle.

yay noodle!

I have no idea what is this white noodle called in English or Vietnamese, but yeah. It was a very smart combination.Oh, I did not get to take picture of the phenomenal fish paste sauce but it was really good. They also give you chilli so you can create your own spicy sauce.

Cooked Cha Ca!

Ha said this dish actually was first served in a road called cha ca (my memory is not that good with Vietnamese words). The original place is rather old and small. We did not go to the original restaurant but the other one, located at 19-21-31 Duong Thanh, Hanoi. This place is very spacy and they only serve one dish. You can order fish intestines after your meal. Ha did order it but I rejected the idea since... I am not sure how would I like it (or I'd just probably hate it).

Only VND 120,000 per person (would not be cheap for Hanoi standard)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

The Original Pancake House Seoul

It's been a long time since my last visit to The Original Pancake House. I am actually a big fan of their whipped cream and choco chips pancake. I always miss the American vibe and the welcoming English-speaking staffs. So I decided to bring my international friends to try the legendary pancake today.

As soon as we arrived, I saw this banner.

Strawberry Fiesta

Not an unexpected surprise. Strawberry fever hit Korea every winter and seems like The Original Pancake House could not resist the wave.

Turned out I visited during the lunch rush. We had to wait for 20 minutes and we decided on the four plates we'd have today while waiting. We chose 2 sour and 2 sweet dishes.

It's a FEAAAAST!

The dishes came at the same time, left us wondering, "Could we finish all theseeee?"

Hussaina chose the Strawberry topping with 6 pancakes. I did not try it as I don't like banana. It was KRW 15000.

one of my fav

Piling listened to my advice and picked the Country Fried Chicken. It's boneless American-style fried chicken with gravy and french fries. They put salt on it, making it even more-American. (I swear I never use salt on my fries and chicken before). This was KRW 17,000.

Now my choice. It was Hash Potato with Eggs. They have 5 kinds of eggs. Scrambled, sunny side up, over medium, over hard, and one more style that I couldn't catch. I went with scrambled eggs. It also came with 3 pancakes and buttermilk. This was priced KRW13,000.

Hash potato and french toast

The last one was Lisa's pick. She ordered French Toast and it was phenomenal! I think it was my new favorite. It was soft, not too sweet and the way they cooked it was just right. The jam was okay, the buttermilk did not go well with it, I prefer to have it plain. It costs KRW9,000.

We spent about 2 hours catching up and enjoying our meals. We haven't met each other for almost a year and it was really nice meeting them! When we were about to pay, I notice the classic American touch they put around the register.

the classic phone

It is always a very nice visit and I would definitely come back again!
They should hire me as their marketing strategist but their Business Playbook says, "Never advertise".

Oh well, they hit it right. I am doing the word-of-mouth marketing on behalf of them :))))

1000 Hari Tenggelamnya Sewol

Mungkin lo tau atau gatau kalo ditahun 2014 ada tragedi kapal feri tujuan Jeju yang tenggelam di Korea. Penyebab tenggelam, kenapa dan gimana silahkan cari sendiri. Yang gak banyak orang tahu adalah ada 9 badan yang gak ditemuin atau terperangkap di kapal. Demi 9 badan itu, protes berlangsung selama bertahun-tahun.

Gue kira, "jir lebay amat, kalo kecelakaan pesawat juga gak bisa nuntut kek gitu"
Sebagai orang Indonesia yang terbiasa denger berita pesawat jatuh, kapal tenggelam, bis masuk jurang, bencana ini cuma satu diantara banyak kecelakaan yang pernah gue denger. Buat Korea, ini masalah besar yang mencoreng sejarah.

Korbannya ratusan siswa yang mau piknik. Tapi ternyata, itu cuma sebagian dari masalah yang ada soal misteri tenggelamnya kapal Sewol ini.

Respon pemerintah dianggap sangat lambat dan berkontribusi buat makan korban lebih banyak.
Udah lebih dari 1000 hari sejak kapal ini tenggelam, alias hampir 3 tahun, tapi masih ada grup yang setia buka stand di Gwanghwamun, plaza tersentral di Seoul, tiap hari. Konon mereka orang tua dari korban.

Awalnya, tuntutan mereka selama setahun pertama adalah buat pemerintah untuk ngangkat bodi kapal Sewol ini dari dasar laut. Pemerintah nolak dong, mahal dan susah. Gue rasa logis juga. Inget tragedi Adam Air? Apa ceritanya kalo keluarga penumpang nuntut pemerintah buat ngambil bangkai pesawatnya, disaat ngambil blackbox aja biayanya udah melambung?

Eh tapi akhirnya dilaksanain juga. Tuntutannya melebar. Masih ada hal-hal yang HARUS diklarifikasi.

Gue sendiri baru sadar kalo udah lebih dari 1000 hari karena gue liat poster ini di stasiun subway.

Lo mungkin ngikutin kalo di Korea lagi gencar banget protes pemerintah. Nah, Sewol masuk ke dalam salah satu penyebab dan tuntutan demo yang dibawa. Presiden sempet hilang selama 7 jam dihari kejadian kecelakaan. Well, gue pikir, apa hubungannya? Kenapa semua salah Presiden? Capek amat jadi Presiden?

Bukannya anggap sepele. Tapi coba ada feri tenggelam di laut Jawa, kaya waktu arus mudik. Terus apa Presiden kita langsung tau? Biasanya kan engga. Nah, yang gue pahami di Korea ada sistem hirarki. Konon, bantuan SAR ga bisa langsung bergerak karena belom ada perintah dari Boss besar. Jadi respon SOS tunggu perintah Boss, dan Bossnya gatau kemana. Semacam itu.

Pesan yang dibawa adalah: Jangan lupa.

Jangan lupa dan jangan ulangi tragedi ini.

Rumah untuk Generasi Muda

Sejak gue nulis seri Korea Public Sign, gue baru sadar ternyata Seoul (atau Korea) punya banyak banget iklan layanan publik dan isinya seru-seru. Kemaren gue nemuin ini, dan sejujurnya, gue ga gitu paham isinya apa selain policy untuk anak muda.

Cuma ukurannya terlalu gede buat dilewatkan.

Ada kata anak muda, jadi somehow tertarik

Baru gue terjemahin, ternyata ini policy perumahan terbaru untuk bantu anak muda bisa dapet rumah di deket stasiun subway dengan harga yang masuk akal. Gila, sebenernya gue gapaham juga kenapa perlu policy kaya gini.

Sebagai background, di Korea emang ada trend lebih banyak orang yang keluar alias pindah dari Seoul daripada yang masuk Seoul. Ini dikarenakan sewa rumah di Seoul yang gamasuk diakal. Mahal banget terus tahun lalu gue sempet baca, anggap lo nabung 100% gaji rata-rata lu buat beli rumah, ga ada keluar uang buat makan, transport atau apapun, baru bisa beli rumah di Seoul setelah 12 tahunan.

Astaga kalo nikah, anak udah SMP lagi...

Kos-kosan gajauh beda. Kamar di sekitar univ gue rata-rata sebulan 500 ribuan alias 6 jutaan sebulan. Sedangkan di Indonesia, itu gaji fresh graduate di kota-kota pulau Jawa. Makan apa? Transport gimana?

Alhasil banyak orang yang bela-belain tinggal jauh dari kantor atau sekolah, demi cari yang lebih murah. Cuma ini kan ga sehat dan buang-buang waktu, jadi capek dijalan. Gue di Bogor tinggal 30 menit dari sekolah dan naik angkot tinggal duduk dari depan rumah sampe depan sekolah aja masih pengen sekolah yang ada di depan komplek... 

Katanya, ini ditujukan buat mahasiswa, orang-orang yang baru masuk ke society (ini agak awkward dibahasa Indoin, tapi maksudnya generasi yang baru tau dunia setelah seumur hidup sekolah doang) dan pasangan yang baru nikah. Intinya adalah pengembangan perumahan murah yang bagus (re:layak) buat dihuni.

Kapan nih? Sayangnya gak sekarang... Ini program buat tahun 2030...

Dibanding sad, gue lebih tertarik sama line kecil kedua dibawahnya. Pemerintah Seoul mau ngembangin budaya carsharing (bukan ridesharing kaya Uber ya! Gue baru belajar nih!), jadi di perumahan itu nanti targetnya ga ada mobil. Mereka mau ngembangin ekonomi daerah lewat komunitas anak muda. Menarik juga.

Selain itu, disebut juga kalo bakal ada kemudahan atau deregulasi buat pelaku bisnis atau entrepreneur muda sebagai part dari benefit policy ini. Wey, rada jauh.

Nah, pusing kan kalo ngomongin policy secara teknis. Mending ngomongin impact yang diharapkan.

Si mbak yang pertama bilang, karena beban sewa rumah berkurang, jadi bisa fokus belajar.

Mas kedua bilang, karena rumah deket stasiun, berangkat dan pulang kerja jadi nyaman.

Pasangan yang terakhir bilang, di Seoul bisa mulai atau bangun 'My Home' tanpa beban.

Pengen tinggal di Seoul? Pikir lagi.