Seoul "Soul" Food Day 7: Reunited with Hello Kitty Cafe

Lunch was in Namdaemun Market.  I love eating noodle soups and really wanted to try the famed Noodle Street in the market, but wasn't able to find it successfully so we ended up going to a random restaurant in the market that frankly, wasn't that great.  (Hence no pictures).  It's pretty amusing though how they try to speak Korean, Japanese, English, and Chinese at you like in Myeongdong, trying to figure out where you're from and their even more confused faces when you speak all the above.  As a general rule though, I'd say when you're at Namdaemun Market, avoid the restaurants and opt for the food stalls instead.

For good maps/instructions on how to find the Noodle Street and Galchi Jorim Alley (a soup fish dish), there are good references here and here.  Hope you have more success than I did!

Street food that I've always wanted to try is the red bean fishies (bungeobbang 붕어빵) that you see in the dramas.  It tastes the exact same as the Taiwanese/Chinese/Japanese equivalent ( 車輪餅 \ imagawayaki), but just one of those other things you fantasize about due to dramas, ya know?  Last time I was in Seoul they didn't sell it because it was summer; this is solely a winter street food item.  It costs between 1,000-2,000 won (~$1-$2) depending on the size for a bag.

Red bean fish snack

Next stop was one of the places I looked forward to revisiting the most. *dun dun dun* HELLO KITTY CAFE! (www.hellokittycafe.co.kr) We tried to go our first night in Seoul but got side tracked with shopping.  These are pictures from the Sinchon branch (closes at 11p).  There is also one in Hongdae that closes at midnight.  

Directions to the Hello Kitty Cafe in Sinchon:

1. Take Exit 3 from Sinchon subway station
2. Walk straight up the road.  (If you pass Skin Food you know you're headed in the right direction)
3. Turn right when you see Paris Baguette and go down the street.
4. Turn right when you see the "Naughty Cat" store 못된고양이 (it has a bunch of hair accessories outside and is decked in pink).
5. Hello Kitty's house will be right in front of you.

Strawberry yogurt toast (6,500 won,~$6.50) and raspberry mocha were pretty good.  Loved the dried fruit topping on the raspberry mocha.  Only downside is that it doesn't have Kitty's face =P  The raspberry mocha and the blueberry latte (pictured below) were new menu items.  Besides being decked out with really cute Hello Kitty everything, what I like the most is the cute coffee art they do on the drinks.  I don't think the drinks are that overpriced compared to other coffee shop chains, but the drinks are lukewarm to retain the cute coffee art on top.  That's something that normally irks me with coffee, but because Hello Kitty is there I forgive her ^_^

The blueberry latte (4,500 won, ~$4.50)....too cute!  Looking at such a happy Hello Kitty you can't help but smile keke.

And knowing Koreans' obsession with sweet potato, of course there's sweet potato latte!  Holly's Coffee is better, but this is my favorite coffee art. 

Okay, I must admit, at 10,000 won (~$10), this strawberry mini cake is probably the most overpriced item on the menu.  But it's just TOO CUTE!  Who can resist that face?!  Inside is a tiny cake with thick strawberry cream all over and the details done with chocolate syrup.  The cream is sweet and also retains a bit of the acidity of strawberries.  

This completes my Seoul "Soul" Food series.  Next up: trying out the new beauty and makeup products that I got!  A preview of all the stuff I brought back....