Grilled Beef at Bornga

Since we are in Seoul, we might as well have beef grilled Korean style. Heh. We weren't fussed with going to the 'best of' Korean BBQ places. Something easy along the way to and fro the hotel, shopping streets and beer was okay. Found a random chain restaurant called Bornga at bustling Myeondong for dinner. 

Took the barbecue set for 700g of beef that included some decent flavorful cuts. They were unmarinated, of course. And unsalted. There were sauces for us to dip the meat in if we wanted more flavors. There was a generous platter of vegetables for us to wrap the meat in. Wonderful. That was a great carb-free thingy. The friendly ajumma grilled our meats for us. But she did it so fast that while we were hungry, it felt a bit breathless simply eating so fast too! 

There were already 700g of beef. We wouldn't be able to eat any more. There was a pot of chadol doenjang jjigae (beef brisket soybean paste stew), which was pretty good. We didn't want that much rice, so the three of us only shared one bowl. Teeehehehe. I managed to only eat one spoonful of rice with stew.

Amorepacific's Flagship Store at Seongsu

I know nothing about Korean skincare or beauty products. I'm generally not keen on all these anyway. But since the friends wanted to check out Amorepacific's flagship store at Seongsu, I went along. I'm a tourist, and shall do touristy things.

There was an event they had for the day. It was crowded, but not overly so. It was a Mise-en-scene Perfect Serum event of which they make every visitor sign up and gave away free samples of shampoo and a bottle of face serum, both of which I didn't bother to take.

The ladies were keen to try out the AI analysis tool, and get a bottle of face serum customized, and had their label personalized. I did the face analysis, but didn't bother to get the serum. I have sensitive skin and I prefer not to randomly experiment with serums when my current ones work fine. The ladies bought SO MANY little tubs and bottles and jars of dunno-what. LOL

I wasn't interested in even trying out products on the hand or read the labels or whatever. They don't excite me. What I was more keen on, was the interiors of the shop and what they do to draw in their customers. I marveled at the amazing space. Shelves, empty walls, benches, seats, and a little garden. 

There's simply so much space for all these shops. Brands can take up a whole narrow building. The brand experience is superb. Retail space design is truly a thing outside of Singapore. We don't have such luxury in Singapore where rental kills every retail shop. Shopping in Singapore isn't pleasurable, especially not in the cookie-cutter malls. At Amorepacific's flagship store, although I didn't buy a thing, I wandered through the space admiring the interiors. I felt rather overwhelmed after a while and had to sit down. It was so mind-boggling to see so much negative space. 

Hello Again Seoul!

So we need a city. Unsurprisingly, we settled on Seoul for this 'girls' trip'. The city is convenient and easy all around with plenty of flights, choices of hotels, transport and food options. If we're really bored, we can always fly out to Jeju Island. But we're not bothered to do that on this short trip. We want to take it really easy.

However, we had plenty on the daily schedules and things going on — after much discussion, we took a redeye. We took a 2.25am flight out. Damn. That was BRUTAL. Staying awake till 2.25am wasn't ideal. We're not doing a redeye again if we can help it. 

I literally went to the airport in pyjamas. LOL I slept for a solid 3.5 hours. But it wasn't super restful. I told the crew that I didn't want breakfast, but I was still woken up by the cabin lights coming on and the clang of the service trolleys and cutlery. So I asked for fruits and a strong cup of Colombian black.

I'm still not into K-Pop or K-drama, and not that keen on Korean food although I know the narrow menu of dishes I do eat. Going with S and M meant that they can decide what they want to do and I'll just toddle along. I've done the indie gigs and rounds and beer in Seoul. I can just stroll along the streets, and I suppose I can try out the skincare products this time, and do whatever easy things the girls want to do. 

Annyeonghaseyo Seoul!