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Members of the Seoul Dining Out Group enjoy a meal together in Seoul. Members go on regular outings in Seoul to socialize and sample the culinary delights available. |
By David Watermeyer
You like eating out and experiencing different cuisines but you end up going to the same tried and tested restaurants over and over. Once in a while you perhaps go to a new place in town recommended by a friend or perhaps glanced at as you passed by on the bus going to work. One sociable foreigner here in Seoul, aware of the vast variety of dining options around town, has created an online meet-up group where members share ideas about eating adventures and then put them into practice.
William Bartley, an American from Atlanta, Ga., who teaches English in Hwaseong, told me he inherited the group called ``the Seoul Dining Out Group'' from someone who had got it moving after it had reached a somewhat dormant state. ``Hannah took it over and under her leadership it grew and became more stable,'' William said. Hannah has since gone to the United States.
The group goes quite regularly on eat outs and tries to experience as much variety as possible. William mentioned a recent outing to Santorini, Itaewon which has Greek offerings and which all thoroughly enjoyed. At this meeting more that 20 members came along but usually numbers are smaller, William said.
So how do members decide where to go, with such a large range of possibilities existent in Seoul? ``We keep our ears open to suggestions from friends and of course our eyes peeled for food and restaurant reviews in newspapers and magazines. Sometimes we simply pass by a restaurant and check it out to see what it's like and if we could conceive of having a meet-up there. Eclectic dining atmospheres, good people, and lively conversation are what we're very interested in. We've invited our club members out to Egyptian, Greek, Thai, Mexican, Moroccan, American, and Brazilian restaurants, among many others,'' William told me.
Members are from all over the world, India, America, China, Korea, and Canada to name a few, making it a pleasant mix.
When asked about the meet-up forum, which is an online facility consisting of tens of thousands of groups, William replied that it required quite a lot of work but that it was rewarding. One can go to www.meetup.com to start a group which costs $12 a month.
``Some members are very active while others tend to be somewhat passive in my experience of being in meet-ups, so that's another reason why the organizers have so much impact on the group atmosphere. Our meet-ups help us feel a sense of community among our fellow expatriates, Koreans, and people from other countries,'' William said.
So if you want to explore the delights of the abundant cuisines available in Seoul and perhaps make a whole lot of new friends go to http://diningout.meetup.com/437/ or Google ``Seoul Dining Out Group'' and bon appetit!
davidnwatermeyer@yahoo.co.uk
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yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
