Seoul 2016 Winter Day 3: THE BEST HOTTEOK IN SEOUL?! Ewha University (Edae), Goto Mall (Express Bus Terminal Underground Mall)

It's already day 3?! It's fine, since I'm staying for almost a month. It's a different experience when you can stay in a new country for longer than a few days. It's a lot more relaxing, but also there isn't the push to try new things needlessly? We didn't even prepare an itinerary before coming, that's how relaxed we were. So for breakfast today, we headed to Paris Baguette just down the road from our guesthouse!

I've seen so many Paris Baguettes in Seoul. Usually I'm not a fan of chain restaurants/cafes, but their pastries and buns look amazing *^*



I went for a nice chicken salad with a hot apple drink~ It was really delicious. I'll definitely come back again.



The vet/dog boarding house next to Banobagi clinic is the cutest omg. I could see all the puppies playing around and napping through the huge glass windows. Some of the dogs come up to the window when they see us coming!


This one has a serious case of the naps. I really want my next dog to be a cute Pomeranian ^^



Ewha University Fashion Street! It was a Sunday so I think some shops didn't open. I guess this means I will just have to come back again ^^ Honestly I felt like Hongdae was livelier and had better quality clothes. But the one thing that Ewha has that Hongdae doesn't- BAGS. There were so many bags for 10,000 won. Backpacks, clutches, tote bags- all for 10,000 won. I managed to pick up a cute backpack since the one I brought broke (because I put 9kg of stuff into it).



There were also lots of cute snack places like this belgian waffle store. Why doesn't UCL have a fashion street?? TT


There was a really cute cheesecake shop with the most amazing cheesecake!! It looks so soft and bouncy. It was actually part of the LINE Friends store and the smell was beautiful. I think I'll definitely have to pick up a slice before the end of my trip.


There were so many brands omg. I picked up a few items from STYLENANDA: a matte lip tint and one of their nail lacquers. There was also moonshot, Aprilskin and a lot of cute stationery! I want to visit again~



Ahaha I can't help but buy into the hype even though I don't use LINE. I've seen a lot of people around Hongdae and Edae carrying huge bear plushes in a box, either the Christmas version or the hoodie version. How much space do they have in their rooms for plushies?? Please tell me if anyone knows.



Guys this is genuinely the most delicious and amazing hotteok in Seoul, no lie. I've tried around 5 different places- generally I've found that if a hotteok is 1,000 won, it's not going to be great. The hotteok is a sweet pancake-type street food, this one is filled with cinnamon, nuts, brown sugar and honey and costs 2,000 won. We've been to this place around 4 times already. It's just outside the A'PIEU store on the main street down from Exit 3.


My mum tried the eggy bread with melted choose on top. She said it was pretty good, but my hotteok was better.



This thing is HUGE. It was packed with delicious fillings, warm and soft. It was the most soothing thing against the cold winter. Definitely get this if you're in Seoul!



Nothing can stop my snacking binge, not even a diet lol. It's been years since I had bing tang hulu from China, so the thirst for golden syrup fruits was real. I had the strawberries~ It was so good. The grape candy was also an interesting combination, I haven't seen it before.

Edae was fun, but honestly Hongdae is better for shopping and food ^^ There were also a lot more students out.

Goto Mall: Express Bus Terminal Station



It was so hard to find this place you guys. I literally walked around the station for 20 mins asking people. NOTE TO SELF: Ask 30-40 year old ladies for directions not busy old guys haha. So it's exit 7-2!!! There was quite a bit of construction work going on and my mum was saying negative stuff like oh it's probably all gone. NOPE, it was just hidden ;;



Emphasis: 7-2!!!


There were so many clothing stores with 10,000 won stuff. Walking up and down the length of the underground mall was a serious cardio workout. I definitely hit my 10,000 steps target. Also it wasn't just cute girl outfits, but there were quite a few kids stores too. Matchy-matchy mother-daughter outfits are a win. In the future I can achieve that insta-famous korean kid for my children here.



Once I walked a bit more than halfway, there were lots of furniture stores. I can't see myself bringing back a huge figurine in my hand-luggage but if I did, I would be spoilt for choice. I'm not really sure what to say about the figurines except that they belong in a hoarder grandma's house. Some of them are cute but some look ridiculous, but everyone has their own aesthetic.



There was so much stuff!! It really made me want to convert to minimalism.



After walking around for hours, we finally got everything we wanted and rested at a cute Korean diner in the station. There were a lot of different cuisines on offer but I came to Korea, why would i eat western-style food?? This one was quite small and like a family restaurant. My mum had the seafood noodles above and I went for some potato pancakes. The portion size was huuuuuge. We didn't think to ask for takeaway but in the future we will. Is this why Koreans are so tall?



Idk why I took a picture of the kimchi, everyone knows what kimchi looks like.


My potato pancakes ^^ I was really craving some kimchi pancake or seafood pancake like they have in Seoul Bakery in London, but they had this instead. It was pretty plain I thought, even with the sauce it was too plain. I feel like Korean food is either so spicy it burns your face or so mild you may as well drink water. More seasoning please~ I was craving carbs so it's fine.



I personally thought this was a bit too much for 2 people... It still tasted pretty good and filled me up. The portions are so generous.





My haul for the day! My favourite is probably the scarf with google eyes on the top right. It was 26,000 won, which is a lot more than I would pay for clothes in Korea but it was so well-made and soft. I also love the eye design, it's pretty sassy and looks like the Lazy Oaf logo.



My 3CE haul~ I really love the lip lacquer colour. It's so unique! Unfortunately I don't have any base or top coat but I'm itching to try it. I'll just have to go around with gross chipped nails rip. I've been stalking the liquid lip colour since Summer! It wasn't released anywhere outside of Korea. I was swatching all of the colours on my hand until I got confused which was which. Luckily there were a lot of makeup remover cotton pads available ^^



My hongdae haul from yesterday- I got the bear id pass holder for 5,000 won in one of the stalls next to the playground area. The gudetama light-up toy is from the gachapon place!




I bought this pink jumper at Lavender Grey, a really cute fairy-kei accessories store opened by youtuber 곽토리 kwak tori. It's so cute! It was around 32,000 won but I later found the exact same one in Chuu in Hongdae for 28,000 won... I was super happy when I bought it though, because I was thinking about it for ages~ Here's a video about the opening of the store:

It's super cute right? I wish I had taken a picture with her but my mum was like why would you want to do that lol... She's so negative~ I'll do what I want next time ^^

I'm having so much fun so far. Possibly the best Christmas I've had for a long while <3 Can't wait to update everyone soon!