South Korea 2022: Starfield COEX Mall, Gentle Monster Haus Dosan & KILLER Ramen
day 4
We were debating whether or not to take the bus to COEX mall because apparently you would be a shorter trip from where we were but if we took the subway, we’d need to transfer and walk a bit to transfer. But up until now, we’ve only ever taken the subway and I was comfortable with them, so we continued with just subwaying.
STARFIELD COEX MALL
I know COEX is really popular because of this huge library they had - you’ve probably seen it before too, just walls of books. I had a feeling it was going to be really busy but thankfully because we got there pretty early, there wasn’t TOO many people. Though after walking through it again midday, it was very busy.
Some people were sitting around reading the books but I feel (from what I saw) most people were there as a tourist - looking at it and taking pictures like an attraction. It’s definitely a great photo spot though. We were also surprised that this place had (%) Arabica Coffee shop here! It was originally from Kyoto so honestly, we should be too surprised it spread around and opened shops around Asia. And of course, we had to start our morning off with a coffee.
Honestly, I wish I had better photos but I don’t so deal with it. To get to (%) Arabica Coffee from the mall, you need to go up and go outside the mall because you can’t enter from the inside (we tried). There is a pretty long line for this coffee shop so expect to wait a bit to order and wait even longer to get your drinks (maybe 30 mins total?). Don’t expect to sit inside there either because there isn’t much space for you to sit.
The menu is pretty short but they have different blend/roast options for you to pick and I’m pretty sure they freshly roast their beans in the back before they make drinks, so you’re getting true freshness. They even sell merch like shoes, tote bags, bags of coffee (of course), and other things. You can only pay with card here, so keep that in mind.
We ordered 3 drinks and I honestly cannot remember what anyone else got EXCEPT ME. I got the Iced Kyoto Latte with the classic % Arabica blend coffee. I love their coffee honestly, it’s one of the best in my opinion. Their coffee has a strong coffee flavour, it’s VERY smooth, and they add just enough sweetness and milk to make it creamy and like… delectable (lol). We took our coffees back into the library area and found a little seat to sit down and enjoy our first sips of coffee for the day.
After our coffee, we needed something to eat now - by this time it was lunch. We had such a hard time figuring out what to eat… not that there wasn’t anything to eat in this big mall but we wanted to eat something but we didn’t know what - you know that feeling? No? Ok. We like walked around, walked outside looking for a place but couldn’t find it, so we decided to walk back in and choose something. The thing with the more people you have the harder it is to agree on something to eat. We settled for this one Vietnamese place.
We all basically got the same thing, it was this set meal with pho, fresh rolls and a drink. These fresh rolls were decent… we often make these at home so we’ve definitely had better ones before. The “peanut” sauce they provided was strangely very thick and hard - I wasn’t able to smoothly pick any up with my roll when I dipped in it… I tried adding the fish sauce sauce to it but that didn’t really help. I’ll give the fresh rolls a 5/10.
The pho again wasn’t the best thing we ever had - no we don’t actually make this one at home - but we do live in Canada so… we have lots good ethnic foods. The broth was very clean tasting and light and there was a surprisingly large portion of meat. I don’t know if its just me but when I eat pho, I expect that deep and rich broth and this didn’t give that. Still decent though, so I’m giving it a 6/10.
After lunch, we just walked around the mall. If you really wanted to, you could probably spend the whole day slowly exploring. I went into National Geographic and bought some sweaters and I got a cute backpack! I tried looking for shops I couldn’t find at home, I wanted Korea exclusives, you know? National Geographic, I found strange they sold clothes but when I read up on it, they actually gave rights to a Korean designer to make clothing. Yes, technically you can find like American National Geographic clothing online but it’s ugly as hell and isn’t giving street/classic style - which the one in Korea does. 15/10 recommend you go into one if you get a chance. You can find a lot of them around and it’s actually a pretty popular brand in Korea.
Source: https://insideretail.asia/2021/02/22/gentle-monsters-newest-store-haus-dosan-took-a-year-to-create/
GENTLE MONSTER HAUS DOSAN
When my sister went to South Korea last time, she stopped at Gentle Monster and said they have great designer glasses but aren’t crazy expensive designer prices. So, we stopped by what I think was the flagship store for Gentle Monster. Gentle Monster carries designer eye glasses and sun glasses and they often do collabs, like with Jennie Kim of Blackpink and most recently Maison Margiela.
This one also had Tamburins which they say is a cosmetics store but I’d like to refer it to as a fragrance house of some sort. They create perfumes, candles, hand soap, and hand creams with their specialty scents. And lastly, they also had the Nudake café, which is pretty popular.
My sister and I knew we were going to have to pick up something, so we were walking around trying glasses on to figure out what we wanted. I kept going back and forth between two pairs, one you see below and another pair. I decided to go with the Lilit in a orange tint lens - really giving Tony Stark vibes (lol). The great thing about ordering in the store was (of course tax free as a tourist) but they help adjust the frames on the spot as you check out and they make sure the fit is right for you. Another cool thing about Gentle Monster is that they create new glasses cases every year, so it has become like a collectable.
Next, we went upstairs to the Tamburins. Jennie (of Blackpink) recently did a campaign with them and she featured a scent called Chamo - so you KNOW I was searching for it. I’m a fragrance COLLECTOR [my favourites are definitely Creed Aventus and Bleu de Chanel] but Chamo is more floral, fresh, woody and musky - so something very different from what I normally gravitate towards. Even though it was only like 3PM, it was all sold out (like how are you going to sell out?!). Still, we walked around continuously smelling new things. I ended up leaving with the 7 hand cream, which had scents of rosewood, mandarine and lavandin. And I know, spending $30 CAD on a hand cream? Totally not trying to sound like a snob but you really do feel a difference with “designer” hand creams, the feel is VERY silky and the smell is VERY luxurious. I also love that they gave a sample of hand cream and a sample of a random fragrance.
Another cool thing about Gentle Monster (yes, another) is that they often have art installations which are VERY unique and interesting in ALL of their stores. Some are quite strange but you know what? It’s also interesting.
Before we left, we went down to the basement where Nudake was but it was completely full. We were pretty sure we weren’t going to be able to secure a seat for a while and we needed to sit down and rest, so we just left. I really wanted to try their bakery items though, it’s really well known - its that black and green cake… We headed back home to rest for a bit before we went out for dinner.
YUZU FINE RAMEN
My sister found this really popular ramen shop near our Airbnb that, of course, had really good reviews, so that’s where we went. It was a tiny store with just a few seats inside - so you’ll put in you put in your order, pay and just wait until you can be seated. And now here is where the story comes…
We were just peacefully minding our own business just ordering from the machine at this point and my mom randomly comes in and I’m thinking… why are you coming in? There’s no space to wait inside here and we’re going to head back out after we order from this machine anyway. She’s like no there’s someone outside… and we see some old drunk man bothering people right outside the shop and he starts to head inside and my mom is like omg let’s get out now and we quickly step of his way and get out of there. Now he’s inside sitting on a stool that just free up and the workers are there like sir you need to get out. Then, I swear he goes on a rampage and starts screaming and threw the stool to the ground and at this point a worker was urging (handling) him outside the store to the street on the other side of the road. At this point, he like falls down to the ground and is just… there. He then gets back up and heads back to the restaurant and starts annoying people and we moved even further off to the side, hoping he doesn’t bother us. He’s like pestering and screaming at other people at this point. I wish I knew what he was saying honestly. A worker from inside came out and asked him to stop bothering the customers, as he screams even louder, to the point the worker again had to drag him even further again. And to no ones surprise he is back again and still yelling and bothering people. At this point we are like no one make eye contact or even look his way or he might come bother us but I mean his drunk ass probably can’t even see straight honestly. And I don’t know what about this ramen shop made him kept coming back again and again. It was to the point the worker came out again and had to drag him even further across the street. We were all watching from a distance seeing if he would come back or not. He was bother people like across the street and people were running from him. Finally we then saw him running elsewhere up another street, yes screaming still. But we like sighed in relief that he was finally gone and kept waiting for our turn. Oh, you thought that was over?? I WISH. Out of NO WHERE we see him out of the corner of our eye coming back down the street and I’m like… here we go again. This time, I’m not sure what happened to him but he was like bleeding from his forehead (nothing MAJOR but enough to have blood run from his forehead to his eye). I was surprised no one like called the police or anything? To no ones surprise he came back to this ramen shop but thankfully the worker noticed he had come back and started to drag him away. This time the drunk old man was like struggling back much more and the worker had to man handle him. He had to like toss him onto the ground far across the street again. After a few minutes I think finally he had left for good… It was such a mess and kind of scary honestly. Our number was finally called and we went in to take a seat.
I ordered some chicken karaage and I got the shio yuzu ramen. My mom got the same one as me and my sister ordered the spicy dipping ramen. Each bowl was about $10 CAD and the karaage was around $5 CAD. The karaage was nice and crispy - it was lightly deep fried. The lemon juice gave it a nice acidity and the inside was SO juicy. Honestly, it was DELICIOUS. I kept telling my mom and sister to try but I can’t remember if they did or not but they missed out - whatever though because that meant more for me. I highly recommend you order this with your ramen. I give it a HIGH 8/10.
Now moving onto the ramen. Since I ordered the shio yuzu, the broth was nice and light but it still had that like depth of flavour to it. With the addition of yuzu juice (they also provided a bottle on the side if you wanted to add more to it), it gave it a delicious bright tartness to the broth. The cha siu [side tangent, I don’t know what people spell it as char when neither Cantonese nor Mandarin people pronounce it as char?? but anyway…] was nice and smoky and the other sides were great! Also, on the table were some picked vegetables you can put onto a small plate and enjoy with your ramen which was a nice addition Giving the shio yuzu ramen a GOOD 10/10. I tried a bit of the spicy tsukemen or dipping ramen and it was also delicious. The noodles were thicker, bouncier and chewier. The sauce was spicy but not too spicy and vinegary. It was good but after my ramen, it just couldn’t compare in my opinion. So giving those noodles an 8/10.
After we finished and got up to leave, I was like well I hope we don’t run into that crazy man - like imagine we saw him… and GUESS WHO WE RAN INTO? No one we knew and thankfully we didn’t run into that man. Headed home and had a nice rest after a long long day. Hopefully you’re enjoying these posts so far. I think it’s fun reliving these as I’m writing these posts. So, until the next one…!!!
-Thomas