Backed by its rich history backdated to 1971, Dok-dabang witnesses the development of South Korea and how the landscape of Sinchon had evolved since the 70s. It is not restricted to those who wants to study. They have a huge common area separated from the study area, catering couples or small group visitors who prefer a relatively quiet place to chit chat and relax.

The cafe offers a gracefully rustic, library-like ambience. The wooden tiles, ceiling-tall wooden shelves, wood patio doors with gold linings and classical music loops softly at the background; all sums up to this academically friendly, nostalgic hideout for visitors.

The overall atmosphere feels more like a home library to me. With the perfect lighting coming in from the huge glass windows at daytime, it is no wonder a popular study cafe among Yonsei students.

Up there on the mezzanine floor has one of the greatest sunset views in Sinchon. If you are planning a romantic date night, this is a perfect place to bring your significant other to wind down before heading off to dinner!

The strictly-no-talking reading room: Dok-bang.

Now this place feels more like real study room, with personal study lamp equipped with every single seat. It looks like a good place for some serious study, no? One strategy that Dok-dabang managed to capture its visitors is their refill policy. You can have a coffee refill once for every drink you purchase. A Good deal isn’t it ; )The cafe also has two private meeting room for hourly rental to cater different needs.

Now talking about the food and drinks here at Dok-Dabang:

Latte, Americano, Irish Coffee, Mulled Wine, etc. I have never ordered anything that disappoints me here at the cafe. Their coffee beans are of the top notch quality one can find in any coffee speciality cafe. If you’re unsure what to order, try the Dabang Coffee (Check picture somewhere at beginning of the post), a milk coffee using their speciality blend as the base. ( 3 words to describe the froth? Rich, smooth and velvety, very good!) Okay, that is 4..5 words! lol

Affogato (please refer to picture waaayyyyy above) was a piece of art itself. I did not expect affogato to look THAT pretty! The sun-dried orange chips and the strong espresso blends so well together. A delightful, must-eat dessert in Dok-dabang.

They serve good pastries and cakes to go down with your drinks. This layered hazelnut cake is one of my favourites. I can’t remember the name of the cake, but the rich, nutty hazelnut aroma was lovely.

Last but not least, if you visit the cafe in the Summer, here is what you should not miss out: The Melon Shaved Ice (Melon Bingsu!). It is a melon flavored shaved ice with melon balls and a scoop of ice-cream. This seasonal dessert is very popular here. Sometimes you might need to wait up to 20 minutes for it — I’d say it is well worth the wait. Look at the bowl made of melon, instantly Instagram-worthy already! ; D

Writer’s Note:

Highly recommended! Hands Down!!! Just bring one or two of your favourite books, or your laptop and spend half a day away in this beautiful cafe. It is a gracefully rustic cafe with good coffee, delicious cakes, and beautiful scenery. Remember to check out their outdoor terrace as well! You get the hustle and bustle view of the Sinchon Rotary area on one side, and the Yonsei University campus on the other side. Simply alluring.

Contact Details:

독수리다방 Dok-dabang
Seoul, Seodaemun-gu, Changcheon-dong, 31-4 Dok-suri Building (독수리빌딩), level 8.
서울시 서대문구 창천동 31-4 독수리빌딩8층
Tel. 02-363-1222

 Directions:

It looked quite far away from the station but trust me, it will not take more than 10 mins by walk. It is super easy to find as well!
1. Come out from Sinchon Station (line no.2) Exit no.3
2. Go all the way down the road.(towards Yonsei University Main Gate). Until you see Holly’s Coffee, a coffee chain brand with red signboard.
3. The cafe is located in the building right after Holly’s, building entrance look like this:

5. Go into the entrance, take the lift that goes to the 8th floor. There are two lifts, but only one goes to the 8th floor. (I think it is the right-hand side one)

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Several disappointing gop-chang visits in the previous times almost made me ban myself from visiting any gop-chang restaurant. Until my committed gop-chang lover friends brought me to this restaurant below at Sinchon, then I became addicted. (If you are wondering where to try out BBQ intestines in Seoul, read on!)

Located at Sinchon with 60 years of know-how in the industry, this place is pretty famous. We were there on a Saturday early evening (about 630pm), and their level 1 air-conditioned area was already full. They got us a table in the basement. Surprisingly it was pretty spacious down there in the basement.

Basic settings and condiments are similar to a normal Korean BBQ. However, the price for beef intestines per person is a whopping 12,000 won, twice the price of a normal Samgyeopsal (Korean Pork Belly) meal per person.

Some rather dubious items on the table as the side dish. The red colour, jelly textured one is called Saeng-gan 생간, raw cow liver. It is considered a delicacy served only in a beef specialist restaurant. It just tasted like blood to me. The grey one by its side is called cheon-yeop 천엽, the cow’s 3rd stomach. It is served raw. I didn’t dare to try it but was told it is just like chewing a rubber band. lol Now then when I write about it I regret not trying it. Has anyone tried the raw and rough-textured cow stomach before?

The special dipping sauce is made of soy sauce, sesame sauce and pickled chilli. Great to go with the intestines.

We ordered beef intestines for 3 with garlic chives (+KRW 2,000) and mushrooms (+KRW 2,000). This restaurant is the only one in South Korea that marinates their intestines for 4 hours before serving. The process of marinating gives the intestines a nutty flavour, softer texture and therefore tastier.

Here at the restaurant the ajummas or ajussis will help with the grilling. All we need to do is just sit and wait, and take pictures. kkkk

Look at the thick layer of slime in the intestines. It is the amount of collagen we are taking in! MASSIVE collagen load tonight!!!! This is probably one of the reasons why Korean girls love beef intestines. It is said to have more slime compared to lamb or pork intestines. Good for complexion and digestion!

Intestines are cut into bite-size pieces and tossed with sesame powder and pepper flakes. When it is almost done, the ajumma will then fry the garlic chives with the oil that came from the intestines themselves.

And so our intestines is all ready to be eaten! You got to agree with me it is actually quite visually appealing, no?

The intestines actually taste like meat (YEAH! you didn’t get me wrong), it tastes like meat with an utterly soft and buttered filling. Look at the fat/ collagen, it was so fluffy!

Their special sesame sauce with pickled chilli did its magic in livening up the taste of the intestines. If you haven’t tried beef intestines before, this place is a good start. No bad smell from the intestines and the soft, nutty taste of the collagen is probably easier for a novice to appreciate better. If the intestines are too greasy for you, try to grab some chives to go with your intestines.

Tips for Visiting: Usually in a typical Korean BBQ place, upon finishing your meal you’ll be prompted to order cold noodles or fried rice to complete your meal. This particular place, however, does not serve a meal (식사, meaning rice/noodles to complete your meal.) on a weekend. = ( So if you are a rice person and if you have a problem calling whatever you ate a “meal” just because there’s no rice (gimme 5!) , it is either you pay big bucks for the expensive beef intestines to fill your stomach, or just visit the place on a weekday. I recommend the latter as I heard their fried rice is extremely yummy!

Contact Details: 
Sinchon Hwang So Gop-Chang 신촌 황소곱창 본점
Seoul, Seodaemun-gu, Sinchon-dong.
Operating Hours: 5pm-2am (weekdays) 5pm-4am (weekends)

Korean version of the address:서울 서대문구 신촌동

How to Get There: (click map to enlarge) 

1. Coming out from Sinchon Station (line No.2) exit 2, walk straight.
2. You’ll pass by KB Kookmin Bank, Hyundai U+ , Pizza Hut, and until you reach McDonalds, turn into the street on you left-hand side. Go down the road until you see the 2nd junction, the restaurant with the big white signboard should be on your left-hand side.

]]> https://www.pheurontay.com/korean-beef-intestines-bbq-sinchon/feed/ 0 https://www.pheurontay.com/neighbourhood-gastropub-sinchon-seoul/ https://www.pheurontay.com/neighbourhood-gastropub-sinchon-seoul/#respond Thu, 24 Jul 2014 14:44:57 +0000 https://www.pheurontay.com/?p=2658 Nothing beats the summer heat better than having a nice chilled beer. Now Seoul welcomes a brand new craft beer tap house providing beers that are crafted from the finest grains and quality imported hops. Recently I was invited to Neighborhood, a New Zealand owned craft beer tap house located in Sinchon for beer tasting. Personally, I find craft beer tap houses are good alternatives to the tasteless Korean Cass.

Started their business for about a month ago, Neighborhood Sinchon carries a wide selection of unique beers from a Canadian owned brewery in Korea, the Galmegi Brewing Co. which is located in Busan.

Everything look fresh and new on the day we arrived. The pub is divided into the air-conditioned zone and non-a/c zone (usually for smoking). The outdoor area is in a clean and simple setting with a slight industrial touch. For Social media users and Instagram-ers, and if you don’t mind the cigarette smoke odour, I would suggest the outdoor seating for the perfect lighting to snap your shot. : )

Indoor. The yellow lighting created a warm, cosy and inviting atmosphere. It looks like a good place for late nights, Boy’s Night Out, or a good chill-out place with your favourite people while chatting over a few drinks.

Neighborhood has a rather simple menu with one page consisting of all the drinks and the other the food. Currently, they have 7 different craft beers and more to come in the future. Different from some of the craft beer tap houses that basically just repackage the exact same beer from the same brewery, most of the Neighborhood’s beers are exclusively available only in Seoul.

Here are the drinks currently available at Neighborhood:

Galmegi IPA  갈메기 IPA (KRW 6,500 a pint)
Moonlight Pale Ale 문라이즈 (KRW 5,500 a pint)
Campfire Amber 켐프파이어 엠버 (KRW 5,500 a pint)
Driftwood Porter 드리프트우드 포터(KRW 6,500 a pint)
Lighthouse Blonde 라이트하우스 블론드 (KRW 5,500 a pint)
Red Devil RyePA 레드데빌 다이피에이 (KRW 6,500 a pint)
Seouless Ginger Summer Ale 서울리스 진저 (KRW 5,000 a pint)

Too many choices or feeling clueless? You can always start off with their sampler (KRW 13,000) that comes with 4 mini glasses of craft beers at one go.

The sampler set comes in a wooden holder box that contains 4 different beers with different colour tones. The wooden beer glass holder matches well with the earth tone colours of their 4 popular beers. Look at the shades of light golden, old golden, copper and black! Beautiful!

One thing I don’t quite understand is they only provide 4 types of beer in their sampler set while having 7 beers on their current beer menu. It would be great if they could showcase all their beers together in the set, as I know there is another one very good beer of theirs (we will talk about it here in the blog somewhere below) is unfortunately not on the list. So, a more comprehensive sampler set please, Neighborhood! : )

We started from the far left hand side —

Seouless Ginger Summer Ale: A summer edition with 5.0% of alcohol. This particular brew contains ginger, honey and fresh lemon. For those who don’t appreciate ginger, you may want to give this dude a chance. The fresh lemon and honey note cut the spicy and showy strength of ginger, leaving a refreshing, generally sweet after taste. It is indeed a pleasant beer to start with, but remember to finish it while chilled.

Lighthouse Blonde: Lighthouse Blonde comes in a beautiful shade of golden that contains only 4.5% of alcohol. A relatively lighter drink, with little hops and little bitterness. A very easy drink from my personal view.

Galmegi IPA: Added alot of hops, this IPA is the most well loved beer from Galmegi Brewery Co. Consist of 6.5% of alcohol, it is very popular at home (Busan). The copper colour Galmegi IPA comes with the right amount of bitterness, some “piney” and fruity end. It is not a “love at first sight” experience for me, but I find myself holding this drink most of the time after I have tasted all from the sampler.

Driftwood Porter: Nothing makes decent beer like brown malt. As a dark beer lover, my rating for Porter here among the 4 different beers could be a little biased. kkkkkk. I enjoy the distinct espresso notes, ending with a slight fruity touch of blackcurrent. A well-hopped beer with an alcohol level of 5.5%, but I was expecting a creamier and smoother texture. An enjoyable drink nonetheless. Calling all coffee lovers, try this!

Now, back to the beer that I mentioned earlier that is not included in the sampler set. The Red Devil RyePA. The batch that I had was actually in a darker shade of red. The Neighborhood team is expecting their upcoming batch of their RyePA to be in a delicious red colour.

RyePA is a kind of beer which rye is substituted for some portion of barley malt, usually this kind of speciality beer could be produced up to 60% of rye malt. I like the linger bitterness alongside the warming spicy note. Seriously a must try.

Neighborhood serves pizza, finger food (fries and beer battered squid) and ricotta salad at the moment. But efforts are spent — their french chef make almost everything — yes, almost everything– the tomato paste, the sauces, the cheese, the pizza dough all from scratch.

Mozzarella Pizza. Isn’t the pizza lovely? : ) Topped with homemade tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil, this simple pizza was the highlight of the night. The gooey melted mozzarella is just right for me — moist and stretchy, full of milky flavour, a good pair up with the freshly homemade tomato base. The crust is very, very mildly burn at the end and softer towards the centre. The dough is fermented for 24 hours to achieve the chewy and airy texture at the same time, with the perfect crispness. It taste great with the garlic cheese dip.

Ricotta and Apple Salad. There was a “Ricotta Salad Wave” in the cafes and brunch places last year when a brunch cafe introduced their ricotta salad served with bread and it got so popular that every other brunch cafe began to serve this particular dish. However this one at Neighborhood is quite different from the standard version.

Their ricotta cheese is not as heavy as the ricottas from other places, which made the dish alot lighter. It mixes up the crunchiness of cucumber, zingy apple, and a spicy touch from the red onion. The salty and sweet ingredients, all pleasingly blended together in harmony, making it a wonderfully refreshing salad.

The garlic butter bread that comes with the salad smells deliciously wonderful. The crust is thin, crispy at the outside and fluffy at the inside — Think a garlic naan with a crispy outer layer. Light and full of garlicky flavour, it is already perfect on it’s own.

More pictures of the interior of Neighborhood Sinchon:

Craft beers or microbreweries are nothing new to Seoul — one of the Asian’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan city. In fact, more and more similar business are sprucing up in every single district here in Seoul. I must say I am not an expert in craft beer, nor I know much about craft brewing in Korea. As a consumer, what I value is the taste of the beers and food, the presentation, and the environment. Basically what we are talking about here is about the overall experience.

At Neighborhood we got good food (especially the wonderful pizzas and the bread)  pairing up with a solid selection of brews. Be it the stylish ones with interesting flavours, or the classic, timeless brews, you can easily settle down with one that fits your taste.

Another good thing about Neighborhood is that there is no need to compulsorily ordering Anju (side dishes) like most Korean bars do. This is great as sometimes I am really done with anything solid and just wanted to get a couple of drinks, ended up having no place to go, especially when we are at Gangnam. If you are having the same problem as me here in Korea, then this place is your type of place for a drink.

Contact Details: 

Neighborhood Gastropub Sinchon (Click name to link to their Facebook Page)
53-14, Level 1. Chang Cheon Dong, Seodaemun-Gu,
Seoul, South Korea.
서울특별시, 서대문구 창천동 53-24 1층, 네이버후드.
Operating Time: 5pm- 1am daily.

How to get there? 
1. Take exit 1 from Sinchon Station Line No. 2 (신촌역)
2. Walk straight. You’ll pass by Hyundai Department store, then KFC, and IBK bank and Paris Baguette. Turn to your right once you reach Paris Baguette.
3. Walk down the street and turn right into the 4th junction. Go straight down and you’ll see their signboard.