by Michael Jones It's no secret that we are huge fans of Casablanca. The flavors at Casablanca constantly impress us and we've never been disappointed there. When we heard about the new concept, Morococo Café, we eagerly awaited the chance to try it. Morococo Café does not serve sandwiches, but instead focuses on high quality and traditional Moroccan dishes. Last night we went to the soft opening and literally ordered everything on the menu. It was a wonderful experience.
The carrot salad was full of flavor and the caramelized plums added a juicy sweetness. This sweetness was balanced by the toasted almonds and dressing. The lamb rass el hanout was presented in a sizzling clay pot, served in meatball form, and topped with a gooey fried egg. The red sauce was rich, and besides for the spices, reminded me a little bit of my grandmother's homemade marinara sauce. The meat has the same flavors of the lamb curry at Casablanca, which we love, and together with the sauce and the runny egg was an explosion of flavor. We soaked up the rest of the sauce with a basket of warm bread. The preserved lemon chicken with green olives was cooked perfectly. The skin was crispy, but the meat on the inside was moist. The sliced lemon pieces added a zesty tang to the meat and the sauce went well with the olives and fresh spices. The spiced rice was a nice change from the sticky rice we eat on a daily basis. The rice is extremely soft, and the nutty spicy taste really stood out after being drizzled with a fresh squeeze of lemon. We also had two glasses of white wine, which besides for being delicious, were generously poured, and we also tried the nas nas café and Moroccan tea. The coffee was small, but strong, and had a nice kick. If you enjoy espresso, you will enjoy the nas nas café. The tea was served in a silver teapot and had a slight sweetness that reminded me of honey. We can honestly say that everything was delicious, but we enjoyed the lamb rass el hanout the most. It was extremely flavorful and we don't get the opportunity to eat lamb often. If you are a fan of Casablanca, which many of us are, then you will definitely enjoy Morococo Café. It's a small space, but very intimate and well decorated. The Moroccan chandeliers cast a warm glow and intricate shadows across the walls. It is a wonderful date spot. Morococo Café will delight people that want to experience different Moroccan cuisine, but will also satisfy the fans of Casablanca that can't get enough of the fresh spiciness in every dish. For prices I posted an image of the entire menu. Directions: Noksapyeong Station Exit #2 Walk down the hill until you reach the intersection and take a left past the kimchi pots. Walk up that hill until you reach Casablanca on your left. Morococo Café is directly across the street.
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by Ashley Heil ,Here is what we had:
1. Beef and Brie salad (20,000 won). Since coming to Korea, I've missed great salads. At first, I thought this was too expensive for a salad, but this was one of the best salads I've ever had. The salad was topped with grilled onions and asparagus, brie cheese, and beef. The tenderness of the beef mixing with the fresh vegetables, vinaigrette dressing, and the creamy brie cheese was wonderful. While everything else I had at McCoy's was really good, this salad was my favorite thing. It was a good-sized salad, but after it was gone we instantly wanted to order more. But, alas, we had other dishes coming. 2. Spatchcock chicken with 15 spices (20,000 won). I was so excited to eat this juicy-looking chicken I forgot to take a picture! The chicken was served on the bone and with your own choice of mustard. We got a garlic herb and honey mustard which tasted just like the mustard we had in Germany, and went very well with the chicken. Although, the chicken was so juicy and flavorful we didn’t need to top it with anything. The server had warned us that the chicken would be spicy, but it wasn't spicy. Despite this, it was still seasoned excellently and I had to excuse my date-manners so I could pick it up with my fingers and enjoy every piece. 3. Pork ragu pasta (20,000 won): This pasta rivals the pasta I've had at other well-known Italian restaurants in Seoul. It was hearty, creamy, filled with shredded pork, and came with a thick sauce, and delicious eggplant. 4. Apple pie (9,000 won): Personally, I'm normally not a pie person, but my boyfriend loves anything apple, so we had to order it. This apple pie is baked-to-order, served with ice-cream, and reminded me of Crème brûlée. It was sweet and a bit crunchy and the perfect size to share. It was a great way to end this delicious meal. Of course, with a good meal, you can't forget the wine. The wine prices are as follows: House red wine: 6,000 won, House white wine: 7,000 won. I'm no means a wine connoisseur, but the wine was good and I definitely had no complaints there. Overall, if you're looking for a nice restaurant to go on a date or to just share some high quality food with friends, McCoy's is a great place. It's definitely a new favorite for us! Directions: 1 Sinheung-ro 12gil, Yongsan gu, Seoul. Go to Noksapyoung station, exit 2. Walk until the road veers off to the left and walk up that road, towards HBC. Walk all the way up the hill until the end of the road and you will see the sign for McCoy's straight ahead of you in the right corner. Phone: 070-8872-9292 by Michael Jones Over the past few years many burger places have opened throughout Seoul, but there are only a handful of them that I really enjoy. The 100 Food Truck is one of my favorite places to enjoy a great burger. The burger (9800 won) is a messy, juicy, delicious combination of high quality beef, slightly crunchy bun, succulent bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato, and a delectable mustard sauce. The sweet potato fries and spicy wings combo basket (~7000won) is also great and goes great with the burger. The fries are thinly cut and the chicken wings are covered in a spicy red sauce. I normally don’t eat wings that often, but I found myself continually reaching for more, despite the fact that my lips were on fire. The crispy skin and the succulent meat beneath had me reaching for the basket often. This is the third time I’ve eaten at The 100 Food Truck and each time I’ve had a good experience. The first floor, where you order, is a little crowded and the stairs are steep, but the seating area is extremely comfortable and you can gaze at Seoul’s skyline while you eat. If you are in the mood for some delicious, American style comfort food, then I highly recommend visiting The 100 Food Truck.
Ratings: Taste:***** Value:*** Location:*** Service:**** Atmosphere:**** Directions: Yongsan-gu, Huam dong 406-57 용산구 후암동 406-57 Phone number: 010-7197-4448 Go to Noksapyeong Station (line 6) and come out of exit 2. Walk up the road until the road veers off to the left and go past the kimchi pots. From here you can take the green number 2 village bus until the 5 way junction at the top of HBC hill, or just walk, but it is a bit of a hill. Go down the road that is directly to the right of By the Way. Walk down the road for a few minutes and the 100 Foodtruck will be on your left. by Ashley Heil Last month I had the privilege of dining at La Marmite, a fabulous new french restaurant located in Haebangchon (HBC). I also had the pleasure of publishing my article in Groove magazine, my first ever magazine article! But anyway, my boyfriend and I both dined here, and couldn't praise La Marmite's food more. While I am certainly no french food restaurant, being a foodie I know good food when it's in front of me. The food was amazing. The chefs patiently explained every dish and you could really see the passion they had for french food. I would love to go back to this restaurant on a date or for brunch. While I have not had brunch here yet, I heard their fried chicken and pancakes is amazing. For dinner, they serve a 4-course delicious meal at only 35,000 won. This is an amazing price for the quality of food here. Anyway, check out my article in Groove Magazine for the full review, and to see the yummy food pics by the photographer Hannah Green. Enjoy!
Directions: Noksapyeong station, exit 2. Walk along the road until the road veers to the left. Walk past the kimchi pots and keep walking until you see Bonny's Pizza on the left hand side. Turn left on the road right at the corner of Bonny's Pizza. La Marmite will be on the left. Recommended dishes: pepper duck breast w/ polenta, halibut w/ prawn head risotto, tagliatelle emiliano Drinks: French wine by the glass KRW 6,000. French wine by the bottle KRW 27,000-45,000 Address: Seoul, Yongsan-dong 2 ga Haebangcheon, 5-767 Hours: Daily 6pm-11:30pm. Weekends: 10am-2:30pm, 6pm-11:30pm. Tuesdays closed Phone: 010-4061-5571 by Ashley Heil. The Damatori Makgeolli bar, or "ㅎ" Makgeolli bar, is our favorite place to go for Makgeolli in Seoul. Located in Haebongchon, or "HBC", it serves Makgeolli from all 8 of the different regions of South Korea (they are listed by region on the menu). They also serve awesome Pajeons and Dubu Kimchi to accompany your Makgeolli. Usually they insist you buy some food to go along with the Makgeolli, but if you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can get a tomato salad for 5,000 won. If you're new to drinking Makgeolli, they offer a sampler of 5 small cups of Makgeolli for 3,000 won. You can choose the 5 you'd like to try, or the bar can give you their recommendations. This is a great way to see which Makgeollis you like. The prices range from about 5,000 won to 20,000 won a bottle, so it usually ends up being much cheaper to come here with some friends and enjoy a few bottles of Makgeolli than it would be going out for cocktails or craft beer. If you've never tried Makgeolli other than the ubiquitous Seoul Makgeolli, this is the bar to come to!
Here are some of our recommendations of Makgeolli to try: 1. 복순도가 (Boksundoka) A premium, champagne-like Makgeolli. It was very bubbly and slightly sweet. Really different from other Makgeollis we've tried! 2. 느린 마을 (Neurin Maeul): One of our go-to Makgeollis we order almost every time. This one is great because it uses no aspartame like other Makgeollis, only natural sweeteners. It's pretty balanced, has a slight apple taste, is a little sweet, and refreshing. 3. 알밤 (Al-bam): This one is a creamy, chestnut-flavored, sweet Makgeolli. This one was one of our original favorites and we recommend it to people new to drinking Makgeolli! Directions: Go to Noksapyeoung station, exit 2. Come out and walk a ways down the road, and turn left when the road veers off, and walk past the kimchi pots. Keep walking until pass Bonny's pizza, and it'll be on your left. Look for the ㅎ sign. Enjoy! by Michael Jones Vertex Chicken is a great restaurant located at the top of the hill in the booming neighborhood of HBC (Haebangchon). Vertex serves some outstanding American Style Teriyaki bowls, definitely are favorite in Seoul. The main meats on the menu are chicken and shrimp. These are marinated and grilled and then served over rice. You can choose between three sauces: teriyaki, pepper, and yumyum. I always opt for the Teriyaki, but the other sauces are great too. The owner actually makes all of the sauces on site. This is a large reason why his bowls taste much better than a lot of other places. He also meticulously weighs out all of the ingredients to ensure that you always get what you pay for. The restaurant is small, there are only 2 tables, so he does a lot of take away and delivery, but don’t let this dissuade you from trying his incredible food. The owner is clearly passionate about his food, if you can’t already tell from his dedication to homemade sauces and portion control. The Chicken Teriyaki is delicious and the sauce is perfectly balanced, not overly sweet, which is the major downfall of some places. The portions are large, think American sizes, and even the regular portion (7,700) with 150 grams of meat is a great amount of food. If you crave more food, however, or are simply large eaters like us, you can order a large (9,900) which comes with 300g of meat, or split the platter size (15,400) without rice, which comes with 450g of meat. The prices for the increase will differ depending on what dish you order, chicken teriyaki being the cheapest and the combo being the most expensive. Yesterday, we ate the chicken teriyaki platter size (15,400) and added white rice (1,100). It’s an incredible deal for the price, quality, and volume of food. We both left feeling full and that is no small feat considering we usually crush large pizzas between the two of us. The meat was tender; the vegetables had the perfect crunch, somewhere in the middle of overly soft and dentist visit inducing hard. The sauce was delectable and had the ideal amount of sweetness. It was complete harmony between meat and sauce, the true mark of a great teriyaki dish. For those of you that might want to try something other than teriyaki, I highly recommend the Dak Jjim. This dish is essentially a thicker version of Korean spicy chicken soup (닭도리탕). This is also served over rice and topped with a split hardboiled egg. I really love the creaminess of the sauce, and slight spiciness. You really can’t go wrong with any of the dishes. The next time you crave food in the HBC area, or simply don’t want to leave the house, I strongly recommend calling up Vertex Chicken. DIRECTIONS Noksapyeong Station (line 6) Exit 2
Walk down the road and turn left at the military base . Walk up the hill until it curves (Past the Paris Baguette). When the road begins to curve left It will be on your right side in about a minute or two. ENJOY! Their phone number is 02-790-9292. They are closed on Tuesdays. Enjoy! by Michael Jones On Saturday night I went to Casablanca for the second time. Casablanca is a small sandwich shop located in the booming neighborhood of Haebongchon, not far from Noksapyeong station. The shop was packed, it always is, but for good reason. The sandwiches at Casablanca are the best I've had in Korea. The line was to the door, but we waited anyway. Last time I ordered the Moroccan Chicken and it blew me away, but I heard rumors that the Lamb Chili was even better and I had to investigate. We ordered two Lamb Chili sandwiches and one lentil soup. The Lentil soup was good and had a nice spicy after taste. The sandwiches came out shortly after and were outstanding. There is nothing pretentious about Casablanca, and I mean that as a compliment. Just 5 guys working in a small kitchen, using quality ingredients, and great bread to make delicious sandwiches. The Lamb Chili sandwich is served on flaky french-style bread and topped with fresh lamb chili, lettuce, tomatoes, and a thick serving of mayonnaise. The sandwich was simple, but the most delicious foods usually are. I had a cold this weekend so I was originally worried about doing this review. Eating with a severe cold is kind of like hearing sounds underwater, your senses are dulled. The lamb chili was so perfectly cooked and spiced, however, that even with the cold I could taste every bite. The sandwich was greasy, in the best way, and I devoured it in about two minutes. The sandwich was so good it's hard to do justice with words. For a good review of the delicious Moroccan chicken sandwich, check out our first Casablanca review. For 7,000 won you can't go wrong with a sandwich from Casablanca.
DIRECTIONS From Noksapyeong station exit #2 Walk down the hill till the split in the road Then turn left and pass the kimchi pots Walk up the hill for 5-10 minutes Casablanca will be on your left ENJOY By Ashley Heil. After months of only eating Subway sandwiches, I decided to see what the hype was all about and go to Casablanca. :Loads have friends have told me Casablanca serves the best sandwich in town, and it did not disappoint. The prices are reasonable (6,000 to 7,000 won), and the sandwiches are large and filling. Each sandwich comes on a delicious, flaky, soft french baguette (similar bread to Banh Mi sandwiches in Vietnam). We ordered the famous Moroccan chicken sandwich (7000 won), a Lamb Chili sandwich (7000 won), a spiced carrot salad (2000 won), and a Thai beer (3000 won). I could definitely see why the Moroccan chicken sandwich got dubbed the best sandwich in Seoul (http://groovekorea.com/article/best-sandwich-seoul/). What I loved about my sandwich was how thick it was and the quality of ingredients. The grilled chicken pieces were large and perfectly marinated and seasoned with the perfect amount of spices. The sandwich also comes with fried potatoes, mayo (although it tasted more like a tzatziki sauce to me), and salad. While I didn't try it, my friend ate the Lamb chili sandwich and loved it. So, if you're craving a sandwich and want a change from boring Subway, I highly recommend checking this restaurant out.
Hours: Casablanca opens at 1PM everyday, and is open until 10. However, when we went at around 8:30 they only had 2 Moroccan chicken sandwiches left, and shortly after they were sold out of most of their sandwiches. So going late at night might not be the best option. Directions:take subway line 6 to Noksapyeong station, and go out exit 2. Keep walking for about 5 minutes until you see a road on your left. Walk up this street for about 5-8 minutes and Casablanca will be on your left. |
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