[JKT to KOR]Geumjeong-Dong(금정동)

*** Your memories make your destiny ***

 

[06.Oct.22~16.Oct.22] #Geumjeong-Dong 금정동

We spent our final night in an area called Gunpo-si, Geumjeong-dong. It was a downtown area, walking distance from the main Geumjeong staion.

The area reminded me of a China Town. Almost every store has colorful neon signs put horizontally or vertically. People stood in front of the restaurants and bars with cigarette on their hands. Most women were wearing bold make up and the men wore black leather jackets, as it was quite chilly in the evening. It was not exceptionally clean, unlike other busy areas in South Korea.

We had a reservation for a motel nearby. Although it was a motel, they called it “Hotel Chocolate”.

Our room was quite spacious and decent, nonetheless we thought it was a pretty tacky motel. It got a round bed with mirror on the ceiling. Sofa and other furniture were coated in black, red, or silver artificial leather, the foam inside was deflated due to long use or simply poor quality. The room was dim, humid, and had an unpleasant whiff of air freshener. The motel tried so hard to create seemingly luxurious nuance in a very tight budget. We didn’t mind because it was low-cost, and we planned to spend the entire evening away from the motel room.

 

# Restaurant(Geum jeong Eosijang/금정어시장) and Bar

We were starving and tired because we brought 4 big luggage from seoul station to Geum-jeong station.

Fianlly we decided to pick any nearby restaurant.

Eosijang (어시장) is a sashimi restaurant.

We found that it was reasonably busy, meaning the food is good but we didn’t need to wait around.

We sat cross-legged around a low legged dining table. All the other tables were fully occupied with locals (mostly families) and Chinese tourists. We ordered a set of Flounder (광어) sashimi which was consisted of a big sashimi platter and soup made of the bone broth of the fish.

In South Korea, Flounder is the most popular sashimi, best eaten on October to December each year.

The taste and texture were quite similar to tuna or salmon.

We enjoyed Flounder Sashimi with chogochujang, garlic, chili pepper, and lettuce.

To wash away the lingering fishy taste (although it was barely fishy), we ordered Soju, Beer, makgeolli(korean traditional alchol)  and Soda. We mixed it according to our individual preference.

Eosijang, like most traditional Korean restaurants, served various kinds of side dishes. Our top favorites were buttery shelled-corn and fried silkworms.

On top of it, we also ordered octopus sashimi.

It was such a remarkable experience! The octopus(es) were alive just seconds before we ate it. When we took it to our mouth, the sucker stumps along the tentacles – which presumably still retain the muscle memory – gave a unique sensation as it sucked the inside of our cheeks. We found it quite difficult to swallow the octopus since it was tougher than the common fish sashimi. Next time around, we would stick to the Fish Family instead 😊

After polishing those dishes, we were still feeling reluctant to end the night.

And so we decided to visit a place called “Beer Club (맥주클럽)”. Beer Club is a pub that offers a wide variety of beer from all over the world.

At that particular night, the pub was quite deserted, hence we could choose the best seat next to a large window overlooking Gunpo-si lively crossroads and pretty neon lights. We loved the vibe of Beer Club. They didn’t have any disrupting background music so we could fully enjoy conversation with our company. We ordered some popcorn & peanuts to enjoy with the icy cold beers. Whenever we felt like more beers, we could just walk to the fridge and freely took any beer of our choice.

That night alone, we travelled to Harbin, Tsingtao, Thailand, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, and Japan, all while seated comfortably and sipping those delicious malt-flavored alcohol. It was such a nice evening, and we would always hold the memories dear to our heart.