Insadong is the cultured heart of Seoul with art and antique stores a plenty. On week ends the main street is closed to vehicular traffic and the streets turn into a bit of a flea market. We had all intentions of checking this out, but first off to more important matters such as our breakfast (which was taking place about lunch time (holidays people)) About half way up Insadong gil our rumbling tummies led us down a flight of stairs to the biggest bibimbap we've ever seen, it was just a plastic sample model but at that stage if they had been selling them that size we would have considered.
As the menus arrive so does the banchan, a half a dozen small plates of pickles and salads as well as to thimbles of ginseng rice wine, full of the earthy flavor of the root.
Our bibimbaps arrive not long after, a raw beef one for myself. Served in a huge brass bowl the textural additions of the nuts and seeds is great. I never really had idea about how much they were used in Korean cuisine.
Kat has the house signature, it arrived sizzling away in it's stone bowl, the verdict.... also awesome.
let the mixing begin
The restaurant is located in the basement of a funky building called the Ssamzie building, housing dozens of small arty shops with a long walk way spiraling around each floor until you reach the rooftop gardens where we stopped to snap a few pics of the grazing giraffes a peak down onto the market street below.
The building is full of all sorts of art installations, mobiles of picture frames, art on the walls, giraffes on the roof, funky maps of the area...
Next up sugar madness.
GogungSsamzie building
Insadong gil
Open from 11am - 10pm
