Some of my favorite things

By Deauwand Myers

It's finally spring, and since we have nicer weather let's lighten things up with a few of my favorite things.

Best cafés:

I write a lot at cafés, so patronizing ones that meet some basic standards is important to me.

Cafés should have ample power outlets for netbooks and the like, a working and strong Wi-Fi signal and accessible restrooms.

Award points and/or customer loyalty cards are nice extras, as well as some ubiquity in Seoul and satellite cities.

The majority of Caffee Bene cafés meet all these criteria, and I visit them often. Coffee Time and YogerExpresso are also adequate.

Best restaurants:

The Noksapyeong Station (HBC area) in central Seoul has some interesting choices for dining, and several I've come to like.

Burger Mine offers a nice selection of hamburgers, turkey burgers, buns, and sandwich accoutrement for those who like sandwich buffets.

I usually can't eat more than one, but the price for casual dining hamburgers is comparable to this do-it-yourself burger buffet, and the burger patties are freshly-made in front of you.

They have an ample selection of alternative burger toppings, and they've created this kind of bacon-jam spread on a toasted bun with cheese. Delicious. You can also make vegetarian burgers, though why would you want to?

Tucan, a Jamaican cuisine establishment, has a variety of Caribbean-inspired dishes.

Most of these I've tried, but save yourself the guesswork and go for the jerk chicken. If you choose the whole chicken dish, be prepared for a large amount of food (two to four people could eat from this one serving, depending on your appetite), along with a mountain of tasty kettle-style potato chips made in-house.

The jerk chicken is a revelation _ impossibly moist, perfectly seasoned, peppery, buttery, tender and presented in a rustic fashion.

As with a lot of casual dining restaurants in Seoul and its periphery, the service is lousy, the space is cramped and be prepared for long waits if you arrive after 6 p.m. Tucan only serves dinner.

Several other establishments in the HBC area didn't make this list because the service fell below lousy.

I'll spare readers the gory details, but several restaurants and cafés in the aforementioned area serve good food and beverages, but allow dogs inside their eateries.

This is illegal in Korea (of course) and unsanitary. Unless it's a service dog, no pets allowed. You'd think that would be fairly obvious, but some restaurants and cafés think it's fine. It's not.

The comfortably familiar TGIF is above-average. Minus a strip steak I once tried, every time I've ordered beef at any TGIF, the medium-rare order's been tender and nicely seasoned.

Some folks complain that TGIF and other Western, casual dining or buffet chains are overpriced. Actually, food, particularly in America, is artificially cheap. Thirty dollars for a good steak isn't prohibitively expensive, and portions are plentiful.

While we're on generous-portion sizes, I must mention Butterfinger Pancakes here.

If breakfast fare's your thing (pancakes, French toast, waffles, bacon, ham, eggs, and tons of butter and maple syrup) and you want huge servings, Butterfinger Pancakes is your best bet.

The food's good and plentiful. Here too, the service is at a bare minimum, and you'll wait regardless of the hour (and with no real waiting area, so you'll burn some extra calories just standing for 20-plus minutes, waiting for a table).

Saboten, Muscus, some Ashley's locations and, if you must, VIPS, are suitable locales. (Muscus is the best for seafood fare).

If price is no object, hotel restaurants and buffets are good options, and The Shilla and Lotte hotels are prime examples.

The Shilla's The Parkview and Lotte's La Seine are buffets and are open for all meal times. Both of their spreads border on excellent. The Shilla was recently remodeled, and offers an atmosphere attendant to a luxury hotel.

I've also eaten at Lotte Hotel Seoul's Pierre Gagnaire à Séoul, a French fine dining restaurant. The Le Terre' (the land) dish, including a filet of beef tenderloin, is breathtaking.

Best electronics:

I like Samsung products much more than Apple, but there are caveats. The vaunted customer service (or A/S, after service, in Korean vernacular), of Samsung was not good at all the few times I've needed it.

Apple's AppleCare is better, and the Apple affiliates that service warranties were much more helpful and efficient than their Samsung counterparts.

For phones and tablets, I choose Samsung. For mp4 players, I still use and like the Apple iPod. At the gym, it's fantastic. My netbook is an Acer Aspire, and because it has an international warranty and runs Windows, I have a large Dell laptop.

Really, none of the big American computer companies (except Apple) make great products (kind of like American cars, pre-Great Recession).

Have I missed anything? Let me know.

Deauwand Myers holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory and is currently an English professor outside of Seoul. He can be reached at deauwand@hotmail.com.

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