Dunkin’ Donuts in Korea is very different from the ones in North America. Everything is Korean-ized, so you will find things like sweet potato donuts, olive oil donuts, and other weird creations.
M and I were in Coex Mall and everything was under construction. We had very bad timing when coming here. Only a few shops were open and it totally sucked. We were roaming around the vast empty mall and found a Dunkin’ Donuts and we felt like it was time for a little snack.
As we were traveling in Korea near Halloween, they had some cute treats.
What is unique about Dunkin’ Donuts that drew me in was their breakfast and snack items. They look pretty decent.
When I saw their burritos I got kinda hungry. I actually have no idea if they have these in the North American Dunkin’ Donuts because I’ve never seen one. There is a Dunkin’ Donuts in Montreal but nowhere else in Canada.
Plastic food on display.
M and I shared the Spicy Chicken Burrito, Sausage Burrito and a Grapefruit slush.
Sausage Burrito (3,500 won) it’s a huge sausage with cheese, fried rice and chili sauce.
Spicy Chicken Burrito (3,500 won) has spicy chicken, fried rice and a blend of two types of cheese. It was a bit spicy.
Grapefruit Slush was really gross. It was very sweet and it was more artificial. It melted so slowly that we could of used a wider straw.
Overall Dunkin’ Donuts is ok. A bit on the mediocre side, but kinda reminds me of Tim Hortons in Canada.
My travel agent in Hong Kong did a horrible job at finding me a decent place to stay in Korea. The hotel that they wanted to book me in looked really rundown and was way overpriced for what it looked like. I decided to find my own accommodations and Trip Advisor suggested Tria Hotel for a nice budget hotel in the Gangnam area. It was under 100,000 won per night.
Since I was traveling on my own, I needed to find a nice and safe hotel that was affordable.
If you are wondering, I didn’t see anything related to the Gangnam Style song by PSY. I actually didn’t hear about this song till weeks after I came back home. (It’s a pretty good song FYI)
A lot of people complained about how the streets are filled with “sexy” hotels in the area. They aren’t wrong, there are a few around, but no one really bothers you during the day or night. There are lots of restaurants in the area, so it’s convenient if you want a snack or a meal.
Since I did book very last-minute, there was only a double bed room available.
The bathroom is very weird in my opinion. The wall and doors are frosted so you can kinda see into the bathroom. I was so glad I wasn’t travelling with anyone because this would be awkward seeing someones silhouette in the washroom.
They provide you with a TV and computer, but I didn’t use them since I brought my own laptop. There is wifi access in the room and there is no password to it. Just connect to the network with your room number.
They provide you with complementary combs, hair product, shower caps, hair ties, and mosquito repellant.
They also have toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, and shaving cream. If you forget anything, they have you covered.
They also have shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.
They have a kettle for you to boil hot water for tea and coffee.
There was also a fridge in the closet. When I opened it, there were 2 bottle of water, a can of orange juice and a can of coffee. It was complementary!
I took all the coffee, juice, tea, and bottle of water. I hid them all in my suitcase so the cleaning ladies would replenish my fridge. It was complementary, so might as well take it all right?
If you need anything else like additional drinks or meals, they have a menu that you can order from their cafe. Do keep in mind, you do get complementary breakfasts every morning in their cafe. Unfortunately, I never went for the breakfasts since I wanted to go out for food.
On the last day, they have breakfast delivered up to the room. They will call you once you are back and they ask you for a time you want the food to be delivered. It was a sandwich and a coffee.
The coffee was drip coffee and you can add your own sugar and cream.
The sandwich is really big and it has a lot of vegetables, egg, chicken, and cheese. It was a decent sandwich. I think it tasted better because it was breakfast in bed. It was a lovely touch!
Travel Tips
Buy a T-Pass from the convenience store once you get out of the arrival gates. Having it will save a lot of time and effort of figuring out how to pay for transit. Just load it up and tap it everytime you get on the buses or subway. I would suggest taking the 6703KAL Limo Bus from Incheon Airport since it takes over an hour to arrive at the hotel.
It costs 14,000 won and it saves the trouble of overpaying for a taxi or switching subway lines. You can also take a nice long nap! The bus is air conditioned and the seats are confortable.
Get off at Renaissance Hotel and walk a few blocks. It’s not very far.
After getting off the plane, if you need a cell phone. The Incheon Airport has a few companies offering rental cellphones. I chose S-Roaming since it was one of the cheaper option. Plus, you get 50% off when you reserve a day before. You can rent smartphones or regular phones. I chose the smartphone since I wanted data to look at maps and use travel apps. It was a fair price and comes in VERY handy.
Final Thoughts
Tria Hotel was a nice hotel to stay at especially when having a last minute booking. The staff was very helpful and could help me store my luggages since my planes came at strange times. There are other cheaper options around town, but compared to other hotels, this is a good option. It’s nice looking, clean, and has a lot of amenities.
The location is far from most tourist locations, but the subway is very convenient and the green line does go to most tourist places, so not a lot of transferring.
Address:
677-11 Yeoksam 1(il)-dong,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul,
South Korea
Sanchon or “Mountain Village” is one of the most famous restaurants that specialize in traditional vegetarian food served in Buddhist temples. The food is made from organic vegetables fresh from the mountainside. If you are tired of all the fried and grilled food in Seoul, this is definitely a great place to go to.
The location was a few restaurants away from my hotel – Tria Hotel. I came to dine here during lunch with M’s relatives.
The restaurant is located on the second level and instead of sitting on chairs, you sit on the floor. For those who are cannot cross their legs or not accustomed to sitting on the floor, you may feel uncomfortable dining here.
We ordered a set meal and a bunch of banchan arrives at the table. There are over 10 small dishes that arrive at the table made out of different vegetables. Even though these portions are small, it was a lot of food! Each dish had its own unique taste. Some spicy and some non-spicy.
Next, they gave us a plate with pork, perilla leaves and some other vegetable. We ate these together and it was so good!
There was even kimchi stew and a side of tofu that came along with it. There was a lot of food and it just kept coming.
There was also tofu soup.
Then there was more soup and then rice. By this point, we were SO FULL. I haven’t eaten this much in a long time. The meal was my favorite in Korea. It was a tad pricey than other meals in Korea, but it is so worth it to try this experience. I haven’t had this type of dining experience before and I loved it!
After the lunch we headed on up to Seoul Tower to check out the view of Seoul. It’s just amazing how large the city really is. We were fortunate that the monsoon storm disappeared so we were able to see most of the city clearly.
On one of the windows it shows how far away from home I really was. 7,174.20km to be exact.
Overall, this day was pretty awesome. I had incredible food at Sanchon and got a great view of Seoul from Seoul Tower.
We Rate Sanchon:
Address:
677-11 Yeoksam 1(il)-dong,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
I asked a friend where I should eat in Korea and she suggested Mad For Garlic. They have locations all over Korea as well as Singapore. They are an Italian restaurant that specializes in wine and garlic. It’s one of Korea’s most famous chain restaurants for the food and atmosphere.
The location I went to is located between Yeoksam and Gangnam station. The entrance is easy to miss as the whole restaurant is downstairs.
The inside has a very nice atmosphere with lots of wine bottles and wine glasses everywhere. I came here for lunch and the place filled up quickly. I am pretty sure they are quite busy during dinner times too.
Margarita Pizza has fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil. I had a craving for pizza when I saw it on the menu.
Theres a blob of cheese and a basil leaf on every slice. It was a simple pizza but it was really really good.
The pizza was thin and crunchy as well. Koreans sure know how to make good pizza.
They also give you some pickles on the side.
The pizza at Mad for Garlic was really good. Since it was just me, I didn’t get a chance to try any of the pasta or the garlic items on the menu. I’ll definitely be back in the future.
Words of Wisdom:
Delicious pizza and pasta
Good service
Can get busy during peak hours
Can be expensive compared to other food in Korea
We Rate Made For Garlic:
Address:
648-19, Yeoksam Dong, Gangnam Gu
Seoul, South Korea
Kona Beans was the closest coffee shop to my hotel. On my last day in Seoul, I decided to chill here before my bus arrived to take me to the airport. It has 2 level, upstairs is smoking and downstairs is non-smoking. It’s great that they give people this option.
Kona Beans is a cafe that originated from Hawaii. There are several franchise locations all over Seoul.
When ordering, you get the electronic beeper to indicate when your order is ready for pick up!
It’s really relaxing inside and you can do your work and have a drink. Its a good place to work since wifi is available.
Kiwi smoothie tasted alright. I don’t know why I didn’t order a coffee at a coffee shop, but I guess I felt like juice.
If I do come back next time, I will definitely order coffee instead. Nonetheless, it’s a nice cafe.
Words of Wisdom:
Another location at 42 Apgujeongro-gil is opened by a few of the mothers of the Super Juniors group
Kraze Burger is Korea’s burger restaurant. It was founded in 1998 and was the first restaurant specializing in hamburgers in Korea. They have locations all over Korea even the airport. As I was in COEX Mall, I knew I had to find Kraze Burgers to try some famous burgers in Korea. They are slowly expanding all over the world.
It was a long walk from the subway as the mall is very confusing to navigate, especially if you are a tourist. When I got here, there was a line out the door at 8pm! I waited about 10 mins to find a seat.
The K.B Original has 100% Pure Beef Patty, one slice of cheese, lettuce, fresh tomato slice, fresh onion slice, chili sauce, homemade pickles on a Baked Bun. They have a lot of crazy types of burgers but I really wanted to try the original Kraze Burger. It was a delicious solid burger that satisfied me, but it was expensive! I probably could have gotten 2 meals for the price of this burger.
Overall, it’s delicious but if you are in town for a short while, might as well skip this and try more traditional Korean food.
We Rate Kraze Burger:
Address:
Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu,
Seoul, South Korea
Two Two Fried Chicken is a chain restaurant in Seoul. Their first location was in Myeong-dong in 1978 under the name Gela Chicken, but changed their name in 1990. They now have several locations around Seoul and is still expanding into other countries.
After you put down your order with your server, you get complementary side dishes depending on what you order.
Popcorn (Left) accompanies beer that you order. It’s not like the traditional popcorn in North America, but it’s so good!
Pickled Radishes (Right) accompanies the fried chicken that you order. I love this stuff! So good and addictive!
Cass Beer is a Korean manufactured beer. It’s light and very good to eat with chicken.
I ordered the fried chicken with a bit of spice. It was good, but the chicken was a tad dry. The spices rubbed on the chicken was very good and the amount of spiciness tasted great. I didn’t like the cabbage with the ketchup and mayo on the side.
Overall, the chicken was good, but could be more juicy. When you visit Korea, you must have fried chicken and beer!
Words of Wisdom:
They have an english menu
Smoking is allowed (they give you an ashtray at your table)
You pay the cashier at the front of the restaurant
