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It's the night before the wedding, and Mikacina has very kindly invited those of us flying in to dinner.
Sancheong Charcoal Garden (산청숯불가든) is a small chain of restaurants specializing in black pork grilled over charcoal, and it's not too far away from our hotel. I looked forward to catching up with friends - and of course the bride-to-be - before tomorrow's festivities.
The first thing one notices is the central pits where the charcoal would be. Every once in a while there would be someone carrying a try of hot charcoal passing by...
The
banchan (반찬) spread was, of course, already laid out for us. Lots of different types of kimchi, plus a plate of
pajeori (파절이) go get wrapped into a
ssam (쌈).
Nabak kimchi (나박김치)
Salted grilled black pork belly (삼겹살 재래식 소금구이) - the sight of these
samgyeopsal (삼겹살) can make one's mouth water instantly. We had these cooked over the charcoal grill for us.
Cold arrowroot noodles (지리산 칡냉면) -
naengmyeon (냉면) is a staple at barbecue restaurants, and this would make it the fifth meal where we are having it. This one, though, came with a big dollop of
gochujang.
Sancheong fried rice (산청볶밥)
Next up came another of the restaurant's signature pork dishes, this time marinated in
gochujang.
Red chili paste seasoned grilled black pork (고초장 양념구이) - definitely spicy, especially the second batch that got marinated for a little longer than expected.
It was a lot of fun catching up with friends, and I was happy to see Mikacina. Even happier that Mikamama decided to make an appearance. All's good, then...
We didn't stick around too late, and as we were in the Euljiro area, Kutsuyama led a few of us through the alleys where bars and restaurants were still buzzing. It's good to see the city so busy at this hour of the night, because Hong Kong no longer feels like this. Not after 2019 and certainly not after Covid.
We weren't far from our hotel so we decided to walk back. I suddenly realized we were passing
Cheonggyecheon (청계천) - the famous Seoul waterway that had been restored at great cost and made into an urban hangout. Indeed, we saw lots of people just sitting by the banks of the stream just chillin'.
Well... the night was still young, and after getting back to our hotel room for a quite respite, Foursheets felt that we could finally go out for a decent drink tonight... since it's Friday and I don't have to frantically do something for work tonight. She did some quick research and decided we should go to
Charles H at the
Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. We strolled along Jong-ro towards the hotel, enjoying the cooler air in the evening.
After figuring out that the hotel entrance did not face the main street, we made our way into the lobby and, eventually, the basement where the bar is located. But there were no signs of a watering hole anywhere, no matter how hard I looked. I managed to flag down a hotel staff, and was advised that the entrance was "just behind the stairs". Well! I had no idea that this was designed as a speakeasy...
And it WAS! Pushing the hidden door gets one into the small foyer, and only after the door bitches confirmed the availability of seats is one allowed to step through the real entrance... and the decor certainly looks like a Prohibition-era speakeasy.
For our cover charge we were offered a small
coupe de Champagne -
Drappier Carte d'Or, I believe - and some canapés. The grapes were nice.
I ordered a
Love from Lima, which is based on Peruvian pisco. While it looked like a nice girly drink that would be right up my alley, I guess I didn't love the passion fruit curd and the vanilla-corn
espuma so much. Oh well.
Seoul may have lots of modern skyscrapers, but we need to remember it is still the capital of ancient kingdoms. On our walk back we discovered that they had excavated and preserved numerous historical sites, and there's plenty of monuments to look at if you took time to notice.
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