Saturday was quite an eventful day. Went for a short run, baked some cookies, and then spent the rest of the day and night hanging out with people... I feel like I haven't been very social lately and it was nice to see friends and be out and about.
First, I got to hang out at Gabean Coffee Roasters cafe (map). This coffee shop is a really nice spot to bring a laptop and be productive.
They also make good coffee. There are so many coffee roasteries popping up all over Seoul these days. Koreans are reeaaally into coffee culture now, even though most of them (myself included, hehe) aren't exactly interested in all the finer qualities of coffee roasting etc.
I brought along some homemade vegan green tea fig-sunflower seed cookies to share (recipe to come!)
After coffee, Chris and I ended up at Thien Dang Loving Hut. Chris got the tom yum noodles and a burger.
I ordered this 'Relish Hotdog' 5,000won. This was pretty epic to look at: a vegan frank and thin chewy strips of fried tofu stuffed into a buttery hotdog bun, topped with relish and zigzags of ketchup and vegan mayo. Vegan junk food. Yum.
I rarely ate hotdogs back in the omni days and it's definitely not something I miss or crave now. But I was curious and had to give it a go.
Overall, it was pretty good! Definitely a 'hotdog' in terms of greasiness. It was yummy, but after a few bites, I started getting that 'neukki' feeling... you know, the slight queasiness in your stomach after eating something too oily or creamy. And the buttery hotdog bun didn't help. It was all just a tad one-note, and I think a little acid would've cut through some of the greasy taste. Even though there was 'relish' on top, it wasn't vinegary enough... a dill pickle on the side would've been perfect. Oh, and a squeeze of yellow mustard. But as my first vegan hotdog ever, it was still thoroughly enjoyed.
Hard to believe this whole thing is vegan. Props, Thien Dang, props.
Then later in the evening, a bunch of us headed to Platoon Kunsthalle's Night Flea Market event. Kunsthalle is a creative multi-purpose space made from old shipping containers and on the first Saturday of every month, they hold a flea market where anyone can sign up and sell their old clothes, shoes, art, whatever.
We got there pretty early and the place was a madhouse. It was so packed that I really didn't even try to sift through all the goods for sale. It was a bit too overwhelming so we just did a quick walk through and then spent the rest of the time people-watching, and just hanging out with some drinks. After a while though, it calmed down a bit and we could look through the stuff a bit easier, although most of the best finds were claimed by then.
The crowds at Kunsthalle are super hipster and stylish. This ain't your grandma's flea market.
It's a bit hard to handle all the hipster 'tude going on in one spot but it certainly makes for fun people-watching.
I also ended up running into Wilfred, a friend who is a talented artist/caricaturist and we've been in two group shows together now (including the one that's up now). He had snagged some space and was selling prints and doing caricatures for people. Being his awesome self, he sketched a lightning-fast caricature of me and Saehee! :P I think it looks hilarious. He definitely captured my squinty eyes, rabbit teeth, and button nose. Spot on.
And in the corner, he included a block of tofu. Tofu-power, assah!