Immediately as I stepped inside Berlin in Itaewon, I could feel an overwhelming sense that I was back in the 1920’s. The atmosphere of Berlin was carefully designed with all things from glasses to the floors kept in mind. After my first drink came out, I understood that that the atmosphere, which was so carefully crafted, was predictive of the quality the other drinks and dishes that would soon be present.
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Guest Author: Lindsey Gorfine
Located in the heart of Itaewon, this breakfast bistro offers the atmosphere and food to amply help anyone pass the day. The flying pan has a lively menu that seeks to reinvent ‘Momma’s’ old brunch favorites, and brunch is served all day from 10:30am to 11pm.
Between Terrace
Campari and orange as a mixed drink in Seoul? As I read over the drink menu at Between, I was pleased to find a change of pace from Itaewon’s standard cocktail list, and their dinner menu impressed me as well. Although I was a bit skeptical coming into Between because it had only been open a few weeks, I left feeling impressed with their architecture as well as their drink and dinner selection. This venue has the potential to become one of the most well-known lounges in Seoul.
Some of you might have noticed that we’ve been a little quiet recently. Now Team SeoulGrid comes out of hiding and proudly presents:
SeoulGrid Guide to Seoul Nightlife Ep. 01 — Macaroni Market, Itaewon!
A picture paints a thousand words. And a video animates a thousand pictures. Especially at a high frame rate in HD! So check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Sometimes you want to break away from your dining experience that more or less is consistent with the following: pasta, galbi, pizzas, samgyupsal, chicken and repeat. Why not introduce something fresh to the menu?
One restaurant I frequent these days is… none other than Itaewon’s Greek souvlaki restaurant, Santorini, located in the alley behind Hamilton Hotel.
The interior of the restaurant is aptly decorated, colored brightly in white and blue to remind visitors of the real place.
There are few names in the club scene that carry as much weight as Paul Oakenfold. He’s been making music professionally since before I was born, and has been renowned as one of the top DJs in the world for over a decade. His music has been featured in dozens of movies, TV shows, video games, and commercials, making him one of the few electronic DJs to successfully break into the mainstream.
In other words, this guy is huge — but I’m guessing you already knew that.
And now for the first time ever, courtesy of On&On Communications, he’s coming to South Korea.
Once in a while everyone goes through the stage of craving all the carbs, protein, grease and bacon your body can take (notice how I categorized bacon separately). Finding a good breakfast place in Seoul is not the easiest mission one can devote to. One can find breakfast/brunch places that are alright to so-so to good, but it’s really hard to come across a GREAT place. There are few examples of GREAT breakfast/brunch places in Seoul:
But what is the problem with places mentioned above? Besides contributing to your rising cholesterol levels?
The only problem with those places is that you have to wait in a line. If you go during the weekend, you have to wait for a good 20-30 minutes before you can sit down. After you place your order, it’ll take a good 10-20 minutes for your order, which will add up to around 40 minutes of waiting.
So unless you wake up early with the sole purpose of getting some good food, you are going to have to salivate and torture yourself while you smell all that greatness around you. What’s an alternative? Or better yet, is there a better option?
And thankfully the answer is YES!
Read more after the jump.
Where is everyone hanging out tonight? Tonight there’s Soul Heaven Hennessy Artistry, with Andy Ward (Soul Central, UK). It is hosted at Club Function inside Macaroni Market, Itaewon. This is where SeoulGrid crew will be hanging out tonight!
Event details after the jump.
Seoul is one of the largest cities by land mass in the world. Because it’s so large, there are so many regions to visit for different kinds of people, looking for their ways of fun at night. In coming series of SeoulGrid, we will cover various regions of Seoul and what each place has to offer.
Each area will be reviewed for 1.) Relative Location in Seoul, 2.) Types of venues 3.) Prices 4.) Accessibility via subway 5.) Demographic of the area, and 6.) Restaurants, Bars, Clubs or Lounges around the area.
SeoulGrid will divide Seoul up into 7 parts, as far as night life is concerned.
So next time you are looking for a nice hot spot or a new ‘it place’ in Seoul to hang out with your friends for drinking, clubbing, partying or chilling out in Seoul, you will know where to look!
Articles describing each coming soon, so stay tuned!
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.
What's up, SeoulGrid? Sorry about the delay in posting the club guide this week. My already crazy week unexpectedly got a bit crazier... [My plane crashed on this mysterious island, then we got attacked by this big black column of smoke, and... Ok, so I'm really irresponsible and I spent the past week catching up on "Lost" instead of writing this article -- look, I'm sorry, alright?!]Quick updates this week: The good, Club Heaven has free entry Friday night! The bad, Club Volume is still closed for renovations until further notice. The ugly, I'll be in Tokyo this weekend, so you all will have to party it up without me. Yeah, I know you'll miss me, but don't worry -- the East Sea won't stop me from giving you the lowdown, and there's lots of good stuff going on this weekend.Read on to find out what's up, and prepare yourselves for yet another weekend of the chaotic debauchery that is Seoul's club scene...
Guest DJs: "Housegraphy Records" -- Baram, KINGmck, Hyde, S-Pill, LocoSoound, BaekSeung
Club Naked shutting down has mixed things up a lot. I remember seeing a lot of these guys at Club Naked back in the day, and now I guess they have a bit of freedom to play at other parties as well.
These guys are really talented -- some of the shows they put on at Naked when it first opened were incredible. (I went to Naked much less frequently in the last months before it closed, so I'm not sure if they continued). Two of them would DJ simultaneously, often creating new music on the fly, blurring the boundary between a DJ set and a live performance.
This party is described as "House Mixset for Driving," so I'm not sure exactly what kind of style to expect, but it reminds me of my midnight drives up I-95 between my college and my hometown. So chug a Red Bull, crank the volume, push the pedal for the floor, and check your review mirror periodically for flashing red and blue lights!
Resident DJs: EYou, Ziro
Nothing much to write here -- Eden's resident DJs usually play tech-house and minimalism. I can't find a decent quality video of their resident DJs online.
Club Eden: More Information & Directions
Guest DJs: Clubber Langz (UK), Mackay (Ireland)
Note that although Club Heaven also lists "Shut Da Mouth" as a guest DJ, I'm not listing because on last week's poster it read:
Club heaaaaven...
Anyway, actually guest DJing tonight are Clubber Langz from the UK and Ross Mackay from Ireland. Here's Clubber Langz playing at Elune in Busan with an MC:
Free entry: From what I gather, you can get in this show for free if you arrive before midnight and say "Clubber Langz" at the desk. So if you've been wanting to check out the club scene but don't feel like paying a W30,000 cover, here's your chance.
A friend of a friend just saw Kavinsky in Tokyo and said that the show was incredible. People are calling him the next generation of French Electro, following in the footsteps of Daft Punk and Justice. After listening to his stuff, I can say his style is definitely one-of-a-kind.
Think synth film scores from the '80s. Think SNES. Think Knight Rider meets Tron. [Speaking of SNES, did anyone here play Mega Man II? This game had one kickass soundtrack. Ok I'm a huge dork.] Anyway, If I wanted to sum up Kavinsky's style in a word, I would have to go with "Neo-Retro," if that makes any sense. So it's like he came from some strange alternate universe where the '80s was awesome.
Check out more of his music on Kavinsky's Myspace. If you like what you hear, then I'll see you Saturday!
Club Answer: More Information & Directions
This duo goes under the name "Masters at Work" or MAW. The video I posted is a bit more upbeat than a lot of their stuff, but it was the highest quality video I could find. For the most part their style seems to be a kind of funky, soulful minimal house with some Latin influence. Definitely an ineresting sound if it's your style.
Club Eden: More Information & Directions
Note that this is a live show -- "Drum, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocal" -- but I can't find a clip of Psytonic playing a live set online.
Psytonic's usual style is psytrance, so if that's your thing, it should be quite interesting to see psytrance accompanied by live rock.
Club Heaven: More Information & Directions
Note that this is a live show -- "Drum, Guitar, Keyboard, Vocal" -- but I can't find a clip of Psytonic playing a live set online.
Psytonic's usual style is psytrance, so if that's your thing, it should be quite interesting to see psytrance accompanied by live rock.
Club Heaven: More Information & Directions
