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Brush Off Chill With Winter Festivals

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter The wind is blowing and the temperature is still low, but instead of hiding from the chill, how about enjoying the winter season to the utmost? Gangwon Province is especially famous for its chilly winds and abundance of snow, and various festivals are waiting for winter fans to leap into fishing, traditional activities and other fun events. Pyeongchang Trout Festival Pyeongchang has one of the heaviest snowfall areas in the nation. Every year, it celebrates winter with a festival of ice, snow and trout fishing. For fishing fans, Pyeongchang will be a treat, as it is the first place where a trout hatchery was created, meaning that there will be a lot in store. Visitors can enjoy ice fishing, fishing with their bare hands and also a get-together with family members as they wait for a bite. Fishing equipment will be offered at the venue, and participants can immediately have a taste of freshly caught trout by roasting them or served as sushi. At the ice and snow sites, friends and family can enjoy sleigh rides, motor cart races and even snow r

Jan 8, 2009

Oven Baked Pizza at Il Farina

By Lee Hyo-won Staff Reporter The fashionable Garosu-gil (Tree-lined Street) in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, endlessly changes to reflect the whims of the young and hip consumers. One of the newest franchises in the neighborhood is Il Farina, an antique shop-turned-bistro that serves oven-baked pizzas. Situated on the central main road of the slim block, the bistro has a huge open fire, clay oven that's hard to miss as you walk by. The chef greets customers while rolling out pizza dough behind the cash register, along with the pleasant fumes of what's cooking inside the oven. The spacious lounge-style interior is furnished with dainty Western antique pieces, remnants of the furniture business the venue once catered. It feels cozy and warm despite the open space. The menu is quite diverse and includes lunch and dinner set menus: the former is priced 13,000 won to 16,000 won and the latter costs around 60,000 won for a party of two. The wine list, neither big nor small, boasted a standard variation ranging from French to Chilean and Australian, marked 40,000 won and up. The

Jan 8, 2009

Byeonsan Peninsula: Harmonious Combination of Sea and Mountains

By Oleg Kiriyanov Ccontributing writer The Byeonsan Peninsula, North Jeolla Province, is one of the most popular and beautiful regions of the western coast of South Korea. Numerous tourists visit this area year-round, particularly from July to August, the peak of the vacation period. The peninsula attracts visitors with its natural and historical-cultural monuments and places of interest. Byeonsan also has many areas ideal for walking, yet roads running through many beautiful spots can satisfy those who love driving tours. Nature and natural monuments are probably the peninsula's best aspects from a tourism perspective. A considerable part of it is designated as national park land and harmoniously combines the sea and mountains. It is difficult to speak for all tourists but most probably visit because of the sea. The part of the peninsula close to the sea is called OeByeonsan or the ``Outer Byeonsan.'' The Byeonsan Peninsula is washed by the waters of the Yellow Sea, or, as they call it in Korea, the West Sea, which is not as deep as the East Sea, but its water is quite cle

Jan 8, 2009

Colorful Janchi Noodles at Sabal

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter As office workers, one of the most difficult choices during the lunch hour is deciding on a menu. In the icy cold weather at this time of year, a steamy hot bowl of noodles might do the trick. Hidden between the tall buildings in the busy streets of Jongno, there is a small noodle restaurant called Sabal, which literally means bowl in Korean. The small, modern place has been one of the favorites among busy businessmen and women in Jongno. Sabal is famous for its modest noodle dishes, which is better known as ``janchiguksu'' or ``banquet noodles.'' These noodles traditionally come in a deep bowl with light and thin noodles made of flour, topped with simple garnishes like chopped green onions, boiled fish paste or just a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and always a soup. The dishes are called ``banquet noodles'' because they were served mostly at banquets like weddings and birthdays in the past and even now. Sabal sticks to the basic idea of banquet noodles, with the deep bowls, light noodles and soup, but offers a slight twist to the traditional

Jan 1, 2009

Hotel Lobby

InterContinental Marco Polo of the Grand InterContinental Seoul will feature wines from the renowned 300-year-old Spanish winery Torres and authentic Spanish home-style cooking from Jan. 12 to 17. This will be presented by head chef Sergio Millet and sommelier Franck Massard. As a special event, those applying beforehand will be served a ``blind dinner,'' at which the blindfolded guests will be able to experience their meal depending solely on the senses of taste and smell. Chef Millet's set menu for lunch will be priced at 52,000 to 58,000 won and for dinner, 85,000 to 110,000 won. For more information, call (02) 559-7623. Renaissance The Bakery of the Renaissance Seoul Hotel will offer a wide variety of hampers and gift sets for the Lunar New Year holiday. Gift selections include Wedgewood jam and tea set at 38,000 won, premium wine set at 150,000 won and premium beef short rib set at 350,000 won. For more information, call (02) 2222-8654. Walkerhill Sheraton Grande Walkerhill offers new year gift sets ― a trendy wine set developed by Walkerhill's somme

Jan 1, 2009

Beethoven Virus Still Goes On

Classical Music Getting Closer to General Public By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter Jung Eun-chae, 49, was an ordinary housewife and mother of an 18-year-old daughter before she became a member of an amateur orchestra. ``I was depressed and lethargic after my daughter grew up. I thought my duty had been done. Then, I began wondering who am I and what do I live for?'' said Jung. She suddenly remembered her old hobby of playing the violin 20 years ago and decided to pick it up again. ``It was hard to resume playing an instrument I quit after my high school days. But I decided to spend time for myself in practicing the instrument, and my husband fully supported me receiving private lessons,'' she said. Jung and other ordinary people have recently become members of an ensemble, which was created and organized by the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Dec. 5. A total of 31 people were selected for the Sejong Nanum Ensemble, which is composed of amateurs ranging from an ordinary housewife to a dentist, a teacher and a technical mechanic. They have different p

Jan 1, 2009

Thick, Hot, Creamy at Dear Chocolate

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter With a name like Dear Chocolate, you would expect the restaurant’s menu to be filled with lots and lots of chocolate, right? Well, Dear Chocolate does have a good selection of thick hot chocolate and creamy chocolate squares, but that’s just about it. The restaurant, located in Apgujeong, serves mostly pasta, pizza, salads and steak, and offers a wide selection of wine. For starters, we chose the wild mushroom salad (17,000 won) featuring grilled mushrooms and rucola leaves, drizzled with balsamic dressing. It was tasty, although the rucola leaves seemed dry. The rucola tomato pizza (14,000 won) was thin, crispy and unexciting. The rucola leaves were messily strewn on top of the 12-inch pizza. Someone commented that the pizza had a slight sweet flavor, maybe due to the sprinkling of balsamic vinegar on the leaves. As for the entree, we chose different kinds of pasta. The King Crab Ravioli in cream sauce (18,000 won) looked promising on paper, but it turned out to be a disappointment. The ravioli filling was so meaty one could bar

Dec 25, 2008

Welcoming New Year with Sunrises

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter Christmas has passed and now people are getting ready for the New Year. Some are signing up for classes, while others are posting their New Year resolutions on the wall. To experience the coming of 2009, quite literally, why not visit high and open spaces and watch the sun rise? Sun Rise at 7:31 in Ganjeolgot The first place the sun touches the peninsular in 2009 will be Ganjeolgot, located in Ulju-gun, Ulsan. To celebrate the coming of 2009, the city Ulsan has prepared a festival titled ``The Dawn Breaks in Seoul When the Sun Touches Ganjeolgot.'' Visitors will be able to participate in the New Year countdown, watch laser shows, fireworks and orchestral, traditional and even pop performances at the venue. For more information, visit www.ganjeolgot.org. Sun Rise at 7:32 at Homigot Homigot in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, is a famous place to wait for New Year's Day. Picturing the Korean Peninsula as a shape of a tiger standing on its hind legs, Homigot is located right where the tail would be, giving the area its distinctive

Dec 25, 2008

Italian Style Pizzas at Pizzarium

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter With its bright red facade, Pizzarium stands out in the food street lined with restaurants like Thunder Burger and Taco Chili, just down the hill from Noksapyeong Station. It's hard to miss a restaurant with Pizzarium in big bold white letters. Pizzarium is quite different from other pizza chains in Seoul. For one, they serve rectangular pizza, not round. Even the types of pizza available are unlike pizzas served at, let's say, Mr. Pizza. On the menu are about eight kinds, all freshly baked in the open kitchen (where you can actually see them being made and baked). The flavors more closely resemble Italian versions, such as Margherita (cheese and tomato), Pomodorini (cherry tomato), Melanzane (eggplant), Patate (potato and bacon) and Funghi (mushroom). An order of pizza is priced at 4,500 to 5,500 won, depending on the type. We ordered three: the Salami Piccante (spicy pepperoni), Frutti di Mare (seafood) and Ranch. The server advised us to order just two slices because three slices would be too much for two girls, but we went ah

Dec 18, 2008
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