As you've probably noticed from my posts i'm trying to maximize my sight seeing before it gets too cold. I feel like I need to do all the outdoor things before it gets freezing cold. My hometown's winter gets down to average minimums of around -1 degrees Celsius which is considered cold for Australia. But Seoul's weather is know to get down to even -20 degrees! Eep!
Last Wednesday I climbed some of Gwanaksan, up to around the 350 meter mark. It was a bit tiring climbing up the steep stone steps but the view on top of this section of Gwnaksan was breath taking! My crappy phone really doesn't give the view any justice. I spent quite a lot of time sitting at the top, taking in the view.
I'm always amazed how so many ajusshis and ajummas are so active in Korea, climbing up big mountains without any breathlessness followed by a work out on the outdoor gym! Even the really old Koreans in their nineties still stay active, walking to the grocery store and so on simply carrying out normal active lives. In Australia much of the elderly are stuck at home or sent to retirement villages, and even people in their sixties don't seem to spend much time exercising. These difference sure helps explain the obesity issues in Australia, which are absent in Korea.
Afterwards I headed to one of my favourite cafes in Seoul, Zero Plan cafe near Namseong station. Its almost all vegan, except they serve cows milk for their drinks (although they have soy milk too, you just need to ask). It really is just a hole in the wall type cafe, very small indeed and easy to miss - look out for the little board outside with "VEGAN".
Its a really cozy and pleasant cafe to hangout with friends or to grab some nice food alone. The staff are also quite friendly and seem to put care in making the meals here.
Their menu changes every couple of weeks. They have two meal options, a few desserts and a variety of drinks. This time I ordered the Potato Gnocchi with Cream Sauce and a Hot Chocolate.
Yum! The Gnocchi was a really comforting, delicious meal. Its not always easy to make vegan cream sauce but they managed to make one that was very creamy! The Gnocchi weren't cut in balls but in small oblong shapes, and were accompanied by some tomato which helped cut the creamy sauce a little. To drink I had a Chocolate Tea Latte, although I think it was just a hot chocolate? lol. Anyway it was very chocolate, and it was topped with chocolate sauce and (confirmed) vegan cream!
For dessert I had the Sweet Potato Pie. The sweet potato flavour shined through but was also lightly spiced. The shortcrust pastry was a little hard to cut with my fork, but had a nice sweet, but not too sweet flavour.
Everything is also very reasonably priced. The Gnocchi was just 5000 won, the pie 3500 won and the drink 4000 won. The menu is always updated on the website in the section bellow. It may be a little out of the way and perhaps isn't in the most interesting suburbs of Seoul but its certainly worth the trip. You could always visit the nearby mountains and make a day trip of it like I did.
Zero Plan
Vegan224-51, Sadang-dong, Dongjak-gu
01032633571
Open 11:00 - 21:00Check their website for updated opening hours, sometimes they have days off.
http://blog.naver.com/zero_0plan
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment