Restaurants, Bars, Clubs and Nightlife in Seoul, Korea

For the past couple of months, I have started to become bored of the beer choices Korea has to offer. Essentially, you can either choose from lager number 1, lager number 2, or lager number 3, all produced by conglomerates. Micro breweries are essentially unheard of in Korea. Understanding that many people have more sophisticated tastes for our fine friend hops, the series entitled “Finding the Best Beer in Seoul” will attempt to find the best Brew Pub in Seoul. The first venue reviewed on the list is “Big Rock Brewery”.

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Hidden on the third floor of a building beside Club Cocoon in Hongdae is by far one of the most unique and fun bars in Hongdae/Shinchon area.   It goes by the name of Oi (pronounced oh-eye) and is probably Hongdae’s best kept secret.   It is a bar, a club, and a hookah bar.   Although there are other places to get a drink, to dance, or to smoke hookah, the atmosphere and drink selection in Oi is truly unique and is what has always made me come back.

When you first step out of the elevator, the first thing you will see is a sign asking you to remove your shoes and place them in a bag.   The reason is because you may not wear your shoes in the club.   After you have removed your shoes, you are funneled up a pure white concrete passageway lined with tea lights.  Once at the top, you will see a labyrinth of caves, waterways, and even a bridge which will amaze and astound you.  Everything is white and there is a “butterfly theme” for the club.  Alice in Wonderland will immediately come to mind after you explore the club.

Pics, review, directions & more after the jump!

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Mix Lounge is arguably one of the best lounges in Seoul when it comes down to both the quality of cocktail and drinks selection.  Located right off a block from the main Garosu Street in Sinsa, Mix boasts 14 varieties of martinis, 7 types of mojitos and 9 brands of vodka (over 16 types of vodka in different variation).  Definitely a cocktail lover’s heaven, Mix remains one of the top hangout spots to all the trendsetters in Seoul.

Read more to view a few colorful example shots of the menu as well as interiors.

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Hongdae is not known to be an area with high class tastes. But, Storm grabbed my attention with its unique windows which have water constantly running through them in order to provide a storm like atmosphere. With this observation alone, I decided to give Storm a few rounds to prove itself.

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[Update: April 5, 2010] Unfortunately, I just confirmed last weekend that Serein is now closed indefinitely. We will miss all those mojito selection as well as that overly joyous yellow cat.  We have yet to figure out what that cat exactly is.

Question: How does one test for another’s familiarity of Garosu-gil, Sinsa?

Answer: Serein.

Serein is a cozy bar specializing in mojitos, located off the main street of Garosu-gil, Sinsa.  First floor is a bar and second floor a restaurant.  Retro-styled light bulbs with clearly visible filament emanating warm light extends all the way down to just above your head from the ceiling, with yellow visual warmth bouncing off from the walls tiled with white bricks in differently-patterned spacing.  Hints of artsiness is quite evident, with colorful cushions and chairs, in addition to signs of a yellow cat character that I recognized from other places… (Does anyone know what this character is about??? I think I saw this at Mix Lounge at Garosu-gil as well as in other venues @ Samcheong-dong as well).

More review, photographs of interior and menu after the jump!

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Bliss is probably one of the classiest restaurant/bar in Itaewon.  The place definitely made it to my top hot-spot list in Seoul, and SeoulGrid will cover everything there is for you to know to make your next visit to Itaewon totally blissful!

Former member of Drunken Tiger and celebrity DJ Shine (Mark Yim) runs this place, and he’s usually around his shop making sure everything is operating smoothly.  I met and talked to him on a few occasions and he was a real nice guy, and a good host as well.

So the interior is quite posh, with lighting and classy furniture to make it definitely one of the nicest places in Itaewon.  Bliss also has a nice outdoor patio seats, which I imagine will be very nice in spring, summer and fall.  For me though, I preferred to sit in a corner where I could overlook at the venue.

The inside is actually quite large, easily able to accommodate around 80 or so people.

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I visited a good number of bars since I got back to Seoul two years ago. I checked out places ranging from pocha(포차)s to hotel bars, as well as places as friendly as chicken & hof bars to skylounges that charge exorbitant amount of money to be able to look down on aforementioned establishments.

And sometimes, and very rarely, you walk into a place that noy only screams “QUALITY! QUALITY!”, but also lives up to its initial aura of excellence.

And Coffee Bar K, also commonly known as “K-Bar”, is definitely one of them. It simply kills all other bars in Seoul.

See pics and reviews of K-Bar after the jump.

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When you order a cheeseburger do you expect cheese to be an option? When you go hunting for a new car, do you expect to pay extra for four wheels and a steering wheel? When you go online shopping for a laptop, do you add special instructions with your purchase requesting a keyboard and a working screen? I am hoping your answers are no.

Expectations are a funny thing.  What molds our expectations?  I would say information.  We know what to expect because of the wealth of information at our fingertips.  You know that cheeseburgers have cheese.  Someone way back decided to put cheese in the burgers and then told everyone around them that this new invention was called a cheeseburger.  Eventually information got passed around to the greater public. That’s how it is done and it became standard.

Read more after the jump.
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For the next few months, I will be checking out these bars.  I will further categorize these venues into the following categories:

- Cocktail bars

- Wine bars

- Hotel bars

- Whisky bars (bars with a good selection of whiskies, since I am a single malt fan)

And also, when I have the time I will have some “fun” reviews of more affordable and louder bars.

If you have any suggestions or recommendations, feel free to leave a comment.

Bar list after the jump. (30+)

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I visited several “best” bars in Seoul and lounges and had yet to be satisfied.  Even hotel lounges that charge 25 dollars a drink had nothing more special than a skilled bartender strictly adhering to cocktail recipe list.

This weekend, I found the place that offers the best selection and quality of all drinks.

The place is Coffee Bar K in Cheongdam-dong.

Read more after the jump.

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