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Last month, my friends Salve Asis, Gorgy Rula, Tet de Joya and I made a trip to Seoul, South Korea for a weekend getaway. As we are all avid K-drama fans, we all missed Seoul and agreed that it was time to live K-drama lives for a couple of days — minus the drama, of course.
Personally, I only became a K-drama fan during the pandemic when seemingly all Filipinos got hooked on “Crash Landing On You” (CLOY). Like millions of other K-drama fans, that was the series that turned me into a certified K-drama lover.
The last time I was in Seoul was with my daughter Gabbie in the autumn of 2019, before the pandemic. At that time, Korean cosmetics were all the rage. For this 2025 visit, our group wanted to try all the Korean dishes that we see our favorite TV characters enjoying onscreen.
We arrived in Seoul around 7:30 p.m. and the weather was so nice and nippy! The ground temperature was 10 degrees centigrade, and we were loving the cold air. By the time we left the airport and got to our hotel in Myeongdong, (the place to be and known for the vibrant neighborhood, shopping and wide array of restaurant choices) it was almost 10 p.m. Famished as we all were, we agreed that fried chicken and ice-cold glasses of beer were the perfect choice to start our K-weekend.
We walked to BBQ Chicken (they also have a branch in BGC), which is famous for its Korean-style fried chicken. Tet warned us that it might take a while before we got a table since the place is always packed. Fortunately, the minute we walked in, a group left, so we didn’t have to wait at all. We immediately ordered golden olive chicken, soy, garlic chicken, tteokbokki and rice! In a word, the meal was a “wow” that satisfied all of us and had us already looking forward to our next ones!
The next day, we had a hearty and filling breakfast at our hotel. We decided to explore Myeongdong on foot right after and engage in some therapeutic shopping. The first stop was Olive Young Global, a large specialty store that carries a wide range of health and beauty products where I could buy Gabbie’s kilometric bilins; from eye masks, face masks, moisturizer, sunscreen, facial wash and makeup remover to blush… Though I got dizzy just looking at all the brands and products available, a trip to Seoul is not complete without a visit to Olive Young. And if you purchase at least 15,000 won worth of goods on a single receipt, you qualify for a tax refund.
Because all the walking and window shopping made us hungry, Tet recommended we go for Korean BBQ in a restaurant that served wagyu beef and ribeye steak aside from pork and chicken. It was a treat grilling our beef, pork and chicken to our heart’s content, just as the Koreans do it. We’d grill the meat, put it on a lettuce leaf and add kimchi, rice, and dip it all in a special dipping sauce.
After lunch, we had coffee at Mega, a coffee shop chain in Seoul that’s especially famous among students. Mega only has a take-out counter, and I enjoyed my cup of satisfying decaf hazelnut americano, sipping on it as we walked back to the hotel. There, as Salve and Gorgy wrote their stories to meet their deadlines, Tet and I relaxed and napped.
For dinner, Tet recommended we try a Michelin-starred restaurant called Myeongdong Kyoja, which has only two items on its menu: kalguksu (hand-cut noodle soup dish) and dumplings. And even though the resto only serves two dishes, there is always a bee line to get in! As soon as you’re seated, the waiter will get your order and demand payment right away. In a few short minutes, your food is brought to your table. I must admit, though, that the kalguksu is quite rich in flavor while the dumplings are moist and tasty. The place truly is worthy of its Michelin star, its two dishes are perfect for a cold night.
The next day, we continued exploring Myeogdong and wandered around and inside its many shops. I especially enjoyed SPAO, which is a Korean brand that sells relaxed and trendy fashions for men and women. It is similar to Uniqlo and GU of Japan, and I ended up buying a few T-shirts and jackets for my son Paolo and pajamas for Gabbie. I also bought a pair of sunglasses from Blue Elephant for P2,000. This was a fraction of the price I would have paid for the same pair from the same manufacturer had I bought them in Gentle Monster, which would have charged eight times more.
For lunch, we opted for dak galbi, which is chopped chicken marinated in a mix of spicy Korean sauce, then stir-fried with rice cakes, sweet potatoes, green cabbage and perilla leaves. We also added cheese and rice to make it even more satisfying and filling. To burn off all the calories from lunch, we again walked to do more pasalubong shopping.
Mid-afternoon, we headed back to our hotel to unload our buys and rest a bit before dinner, our last meal together since I was taking the 7:30 a.m. PAL flight back to Manila the next day, while the others were on the later 8:30 p.m. flight.
For dinner, we wanted to try the chicken with ginseng soup and pork rib hangover soup that Koreans are reportedly very fond of. Luckily, there was a restaurant that serves these near our hotel, and it had good reviews. I must say both dishes were hit-the-spot hearty, and the kimchi, divine!
After dinner, we walked towards the Myeongdong shopping streets to enjoy more food treats. To satisfy our sweet cravings, we indulged and got a crepe with fresh bananas, strawberries, ice cream and Nutella.
We were back in the hotel by 9 p.m., so I could pack and go to bed early since my airport pick-up was at 4 a.m.
Overall, our weekend getaway in Seoul was a gastronomically satisfying good time. Nothing beats bonding, shopping and eating with friends whose food choices are influenced by what they see in their favorite TV series. Could tangerines be the target of our next trip?
