Korean Tasty Road_001_Ikseon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Ikseon-dong (익선동) is one of the hottest spots in Gangbuk (강북) area of Seoul.

Seoul is divided by Han River (한강, Han Gang in Korean), and the northern part of Han River is called Gangbuk (강북, Gang is river and buk means north) and the southern part of the river is called Gangnam(강남, nam means south. You might know "Gangnam Style" of Psy).

[Map of Ikseon-dong, near Jongno 3ga subway station]
https://www.google.co.kr/maps/place/%EB%8C%80%ED%95%9C%EB%AF%BC%EA%B5%AD+%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%ED%8A%B9%EB%B3%84%EC%8B%9C+%EC%A2%85%EB%A1%9C%EA%B5%AC+%EC%9D%B5%EC%84%A0%EB%8F%99/@37.5736879,126.987519,17z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x357ca2dc503b48c5:0xfd111929d3dfb78e!2z64yA7ZWc66-86rWtIOyEnOyauO2KueuzhOyLnCDsooXroZzqtawg7J217ISg64-Z!3b1!8m2!3d37.5742793!4d126.989835!3m4!1s0x357ca2dc503b48c5:0xfd111929d3dfb78e!8m2!3d37.5742793!4d126.989835

There were, originally, old traditional Korean houses which were almost neglected for long. One day, a young artist bought a house and remodeled it into a restaurant. And then, one by one, new restaurants and cafes showed up, and people started to came this area. Now, you can find an area which has a modern-and-traditional-mixed style.

We love this area, and Peter reserved a restaurant in Ikseon-dong called "Le Blanseu" for Wendy's birthday dinner.

[Lovely freesias on the table]

Le Blanseu is a French home-meal restaurant. Check the menu below.

As it's birthday dinner, Peter ordered a glass of red wine and Wendy ordered a glass of sangria.

[Wendy's sangria]

We ordered mussel blue cheese, crispy pork belly, and beef ragu with papadelle.

[Mussel blue cheese]

[Crispy pork belly]

[Appetizer bread]

[Crispy pork belly, beef ragu with papadelle, and sangria]

It was a quite pleasant meal with lovely design of the restaurant. Two thumbs up!

After dinner, we hung around the area.

[You can find many trendy restaurants, bars, and shops here]

We entered a store where we can enjoy "ga-maek" (가맥), an abbreviation of "gage-maekju" (가게맥주, vendor beer). "ga-maek" means a bottle of beer from a vendor. Enjoying "ga-maek" means you can enjoy a bottle of beer in a small vendor. The name of the vendor where we visit is called "Geobuggi Super" (거북이슈퍼, Turtle Supermarket).

[Menu : Beer $4, Grilled dried pollak $12, Grilled dried squid $10, Grilled dried filefish filet $8]

[You can find a trace of Korean traditional house in the ceiling]

[Peter gave Wendy a big diamond ring :p So yummy!]

[A bottle of beer and grilled dried pollack]

[Wow, we found "Beolgib-Pizza" (벌집피자, hive-shaped pizza-flavored snack), a snack from our childhood]

We visited another cafe, called Seoul Coffee.

[This is an entrance of traditional Korean House]

If you enter an entrance of Korean traditional house, you will cross a yard to enter the house. This cafe made a yard indoor with a roof. There is no more outside yard.

[This cafe is famous for "Ang-butter" (앙버터, Bread with butter and red bean paste)]

[Another hot item of Cube Ice Cream]

This is another gallery cafe of another day.

[Cold brew latte]

[Carrot cake]

[The cafe was selling lovely drawings]

[Frankly, Peter doesn't have Instagram account. Haha!]

If you are interested in Korean traditional houses and trendy cafes, don't hesitate to visit Ikseon-dong area of Seoul!