Our journey to Sinchon was the second part of a day trip we made into the Seoul. While the first half of our day was focused on hiking a mountain trail to see a thousand-year-old temple, the second half of our day was focused on filling our stomachs.

Journey to Sinchon South Korea

As we made our way down the hill from the Bongwan-sa Temple, the temperature began to drop and our stomachs began to make themselves noticed. We hadn’t eaten much that day. After the moderately strenuous hike we had just partaken, we needed something before we got to Sinchon. We passed some areas looking nice and like autumn along the way.

In Search of a Meal

We’d had little luck with previous restaurants we’d been to – while I have had no issue with the food itself, Briana has had much more difficulty eating seeing as how she is vegetarian and Korean Cuisine is not the most vegetarian-friendly (just about every dish contains meat). So we kept a lookout for something that might work for both us.

We passed by many restaurants, and the area we were in seemed to have a specialty in ox-bone items. They are most decidedly not vegetarian, so we continued to press on. We passed by this place called Cafe Hollywood, which I just glanced past. But Briana noticed a poster in the window that advertised an Eggplant sandwich.

We Found Our Food

Though I would have preferred something more Korean, I was hungry and it worked for her, so that was enough – besides I knew that I’d be able to find something I’d be happy with and I was getting too hungry to even want to look further.

The Cafe Hollywood turned out to be the perfect location. Not only did it have quite a few vegetarian options, of which Briana got the Eggplant and Mushroom Sandwich, but it also offered quite a few Korean dishes.

I ordered the Spicy Squid Fried Rice. The food was really good and it came with a sweet, yet still, spicy Kimchi which Briana and I shared as we ate. I wish I knew exactly what kind this was because it was some of the best kimchi I had the entire time that we were in Korea.

The squid was cooked very well and wasn’t too chewy which I’ve noticed squid can sometimes be. In fact, the squid was one of the best preparations I’ve ever had. It was pretty spicy, but it was still very well balanced. The sauce also went very well with the crispy fried rice that came with it.

Both of us were satisfied with the meal. Though I was disappointed a small bit that we were given forks as opposed to chopsticks. I think I’ve come to prefer chopsticks over standard cutlery. The meal was cheap compared to what we have come to expect in the states. It came out to roughly $14 for both our meals combined. My meal alone in the states probably would have run closer to $20.

On to Sinchon

With our stomachs satisfied, we continued along our way to find Sinchon and get some dessert, as well as to see the rest of the shopping district there. We had a bit of difficulty, considering without phone service we could not look up which way to go.

We proceeded until we came to the first landmark we knew we should hit, which was the Ehwa Woman’s University. Briana knew that we were at least heading in the right direction, even if we didn’t quite know where we were in relation to it. The sun was beginning to set, and it allowed us to get some great pictures of the city skyline.

In our effort to find our destination, we climbed a hill near Sinchon station thinking this would be the right way. Instead, we found ourselves at the gate to what appeared to be either the campus itself or dorms. Really couldn’t say which, we just knew it was wrong.

So we turned around and headed back towards a small tunnel we saw the went under the Metro line, hoping that this would be the right direction. We ducked under the Metro, and walked through the graffitied tunnel, coming out to a street that we really didn’t recognize, but decided to continue along anyways. After turning down a street, Briana suddenly declared that she knew exactly where we were. I assume it was a particular landmark we came across, but I really couldn’t say what it was. But the point was that we had finally arrived at our destination of Sinchon.

And the Sun Goes Down

By this point, it had finally gotten dark, but just barely. The lights began to twinkle on, and the city life began to liven itself. As we made our way through the tightly packed streets, we came across a beauty store.

Briana had been wanting to get something to dye her hair for a while, so who was I to say no to going in. We browsed for a few minutes, while some strange pop EDM music played over the store. A few minutes later we were out with the desired purchase and dessert on our mind. We noticed many stores there had Christmas decorations which were nice.

Now when we got there, we really hadn’t decided on dessert specifically. We had considered getting tea or coffee as well. We passed a place where women (I don’t know what the men do) can dress in the traditional Korean clothing, especially wedding dresses and have a cup of tea.

Delicious Desserts

Briana had a couple places she had written down for a dessert in Sinchon. We passed a couple and looked at menus. Here is one we considered but the prices were not on the menu so we were reluctant.

We wandered up and down the streets for a little bit looking at our options. A churro place almost got us, but we had dessert waffles on the mind.

We never came across the place, but finally, we did come across a winner: Man’s Waffle. The guy behind the counter was helpful and spoke English. So we didn’t have too much difficulty getting our order placed. He was the only one in the shop, and it was a small shop, quite warm inside, so we decided to sit out front on the porch. We sat for a while watching the goings-on of the streets until our prize arrived fresh from the kitchen.

Just Look at That Waffle

Two Belgian style waffles, each a little bit different. Mine was a special chocolate waffle, covered in dark and white chocolate shavings, drizzled in chocolate syrup, topped with whipped cream, and sided with vanilla ice cream.

Briana’s waffle had Nutella, drizzled with caramel, topped with whipped cream, and served with a side of strawberry ice cream.

The waffles were really quite fantastic. Man’s Waffle is certainly an establishment we recommend. They have a good selection of flavors, such as Oreo waffles and even Green Tea and Red Bean waffles. They also have a selection of coffees if you want to get something to go along with the waffle.

With our bellies full, and day’s missions completed, we headed back towards the Metro and began our journey back to Songtan.