Rimini – A little taste of Italy outside Ewha university

One characteristic of huge metropolitans like Seoul is that land is so expensive, which forces building constructors to build upwards instead of sideways. The many skyscrapers in Seoul is an attest to this, and Ewha university’s surroundings is no different. If you do not keep your head up and look above the first floor when looking for restaurants, you might miss this gem of a restaurant above the Top Ten store after turning right when exiting Ewha main gate.

This Italian chain restaurant is located up on the 4^th floor. Use the restaurant banners on the ground floor to find the elevator which takes you straight up to the door of Rimini. You will instantly realize which ingredient that Rimini appreciates the most, namely the olive. Not only is the olive highlighted in their food and the menu, but even the interior goes in tones of olive-green. Green pillows, flowers, lights made of green glass bottles and herbs hanging from the walls all create a cozy environment.

Although Italian food like pasta and particularly pizza often is overpriced in Seoul, Rimini manages to keep their prices down. We were first served a piece of olive bread with a dip of olive and balsamic oil. You could actually taste the black olives inside the bread, which complemented the dip perfectly.

Our choices fell on the gorgonzola calzone pizza with seafood rose pasta on the side, Vongole pasta and finally a cranberry yuza (citron) pizza. As soon as I took a bite into the pizzas I realized how different they are from other places. You can really taste that this is not that deep-frozen dough that so many other places use, but the Rimini chefs actually knead the dough and create the pizzas in an open kitchen before shoving it into the oven to create a perfect pizza crust. This was blatantly apparent on the calzone with those unsymmetrical shapes that only a human hand can create, and those blots of black that only a great oven can make.

The only thing I would have ordered differently is ask for a tomato, cheese, mushroom, ham calzone instead of the gorgonzola one we had. However, it was still delicious, and the salty gorgonzola made for a perfect complement to the sweet, sour and acid citron pizza that functioned more like an appetizer than a main dish (because of its absence of meat!)

Rimini is a perfect place that wants some economical Italian food that does not fall into the traps that many other pasta and pizza places do. The cooking is honest, ingredients are delicious and fresh and everything seems to be done by hand.

A culinary Hard Rock hallelujah

As a European kid, the coolest thing you could wear to school was a Hard Rock cafe t-shirt from abroad. Back then, the cafes were very few and far apart, and there was none in my city. As a matter of fact, there was not a single store in the whole country or even the Northern part of Europe. The rarity suddenly started to change when t-shirts with design that was a bit off and obscure city names started to pop up. Fake copies started to spread but Hard Rock café also started to expand into new countries and territories.

Enter 2016, and Hard Rock café has taken over many parts of the world. Lots of them in Asia and even on Saipan out in Micronesia. The one I visited is located in Lotte World Mall near Jamsil station. The café (do not be fooled by the name – Hard Rock café is more of a restaurant and pub) has a great location overlooking the lake in Jamsil from above.

Hard Rock café serves American style BBQs, steaks, hamburgers, milkshakes (with or wihout alcohol) and also Mexican tacos and much much more. Although the location is in Seoul, the portions are truly of American size. Almost every day, live music is offered which creates a relaxed atmosphere. The waiters and waitresses are all chill and laid-back, but caters to you whenever you feel like placing an order or have a request to make. Customers are free to just order a drink or two – there is no pressure to order food if you just want a break to moisturize your throat while listening to rock music.

As you can see in the pictures, we ordered steaks, drinks, nachos, fajitas, hamburgers, ribs and lots of sides. My personal favorite was the homemade nachos and the ribs. Actually, there is no need to mention that the nachos were homemade, because everything on the menu is! Even the sauces are cooked by the chefs!

What I like the most about Hard Rock café is that it combines several roles into one. It is a restaurant, pub, music lounge, museum and souvenir shop all at once. The rock atmosphere eliminates the posh atmosphere that you often get shoved down your throat in other parts of Seoul. Hearing 90s classics like No Doubt, Run DMC, Metallica and Black Eyed Peas only helps to ease you into that chillax mood and enjoy a good night out. Highly recommended!

Goyang Flower Festival in Ilsan Lake Park

Since 1997, a yearly flower festival has been held in a picturesque spot next to Ilsan Lake Park. As if the park wasn’t beautiful enough to begin with, extra flowers decorate the surroundings of the lake for a period of over two weeks. Even though the event is spread out during such a long period, the area was brimful of people looking to take in the aromas of fresh flowers and learn all there is to learn about horticulture.

The exhibition consists of lots of small booths selling everything from pots, seeds, live flowers and bonsai trees. The prices seem to be a bit cheaper than your local store, so if you are looking to take a plunge into the world of plants, this is a wonderful starting point. The exhibition part of the festival shows flowers, flower arrangements and lots of other different art that utilizes flowers. The LED-tunnel, with LED-flowers sitting next to real flowers, is sure to visit an Instagram and Facebook feed near you very soon, if not already. My personal favorite was the paddle boats with floral ornaments going back and forth between the sides of the lake.

The festival is a perfect place to take colorful pictures, and of course the best of places to take your beloved for some additional chapters in the photo book of your lives. Do make sure not to miss taking a walk all around the lake, since the crowds of the flower festival will make you appreciate the more silent parts of the park so much more.

Caricature still lives in Lotte World Mall

In this day and age of Instagram selfies, Facebook photos and Snapchat pictures, it’s calming to see that some traditional forms of art still live in year 2016. Caricature is an art that not only caters to couples stopping near Montmartre in Paris on their Eurotrip across the continent, but also as a political tool to highlight scandals in the top echelons of the political sphere.

However, the caricature artists in Lotte World Mall up on floor 5 are more into the prior than the latter. The day I went was full of people, especially younglings wanting to get their faces eternalized on paper. For shy over 10,000 Won, you can get a decently sized picture of yourself, perfect to hang on the wall or put on a table-top frame.

For anyone that knows me, they’ll instantly see the resemblance between this picture and me. The artists take requests, so you can ask them to put you in a specific scenario (for example doing the sport you love, in front of your favorite building or as the protagonist of your favorite animated movie). Even though I did not mention it, I was hoping they would make fun of some characteristic qualities of my looks in the picture, but as you can see, the picture is very pretty with perfect skin and somewhat correct anatomic proportions.

To get your own picture, check out floor 5 (or was it floor 6?) just outside Lotte Cinema inside Lotte World Mall in Jamsil Station, line 2. They are also supposed to have a branch inside the Dongdaemun Design Plaza.