Chloris Tea Garden

Before I start with the brunch review promised here, let me provide a little backstory to prove how important this brunch date was. 

The aforementioned friend in the previous entry shares my passion for brunch and we've been on a constant search to find a place that serves satisfying brunch menus. We haven't been very luck with our search because on our first try, the brunch cafe we wanted to try was closed. Our second try was even worse, because that same brunch cafe was gone for good and was replaced by a pizza franchise. So at that point in time, we even felt that whoever's in charge of brunch isn't in our favour. After much preparation, we headed to Chloris Tea Garden, located in Samcheong-dong.

This is how the counter looks like. The wooden furniture and props adds to the warm ambiance of the cafe. 

These are scones and cookies on sale. I couldn't help but keep staring while I took pictures. As of now, I'm regretting not trying them this visit.

Remember the easel-like object in the counter picture? This is Chloris Tea Garden's tea display. After all, what good is a Tea Garden without tea, right? They have a wide variety of different teas and the better news here is that they are available for take-out so you can enjoy them in your bed, cuddled up in blankets. You can also sample the tea by opening the jars and smelling them. If this isn't tea-lover heaven, I don't know what is. 

The furnitures in the cafe were all wooden and tables have their logo neatly printed on top. It had a pristine charm, so my friend I kept taking pictures. Oh and the tea above is Apple Tea. Chloris provides you with a free "Tea of the Day" and you can refill it as many times as you want. This is another proof why Chloris is indeed a tea-lover heaven.

The Apple Tea was very fragrant and had a clean aftertaste. It was quite impressive for free tea.

Although I love tea, there's another drink that I must drink whenever I visit Chloris. That is the Raspberry Soda above. They use whole raspberries so the drink isn't too sweet; it has a right balance of sweet and sour. It also helps that it has such a stunning colour.

Now onto the brunch itself! 

Eggs Benedict-10,500W

English Muffin, Tomato, Bacon, Poached Egg, Hollandaise Sauce

Due to my intense craving for Eggs Benedict, I ordered this without hesitation. I still hoped the Eggs Benedict was served with salmon instead of Bacon though... Anyway, according to the cooking program I love, the most important components of an Eggs Benedict is the poached egg and the Hollandaise sauce. For both of these components, I give good marks for Chloris' Eggs Benedict. The egg was poached beautifully, the yolk flowed out when I cut into the center. It makes me drool just thinking about it actually. The Hollandaise sauce was of right consistency and it was flavourful. I did wish there was more of it though. This and the well toasted English muffin, tomato, and the bacon created quite a tasty dish. I recommend you to try this when you visit. 

Galette Complete-10,500W

Bacon, Galette, Emmental Cheese, Salad, A Soft-boiled Egg, Grilled Tomato, Pickles

My friend had the Galette Complete and approved. I ask you to trust her judgment, because it's quite difficult to get her approval when it comes to food. So I was literally punching the air in triumph when she said she liked it. 

Fun fact! Galette is a buckwheat flour pancake associated mostly with the Brittany region of France. It is usually served with Emmental cheese and egg, just as the picture above.

It's the cookies and scones from earlier! I absolutely adore the props and the display. It goes so well with the ambiance of the cafe and you can also see the food clearly.

This is the first floor's dining area. As you can see, there are tea packages and tea sets that tastefully grace the shelves. The walls, furniture, and even the decorations allows you to make believe that you are the protagonist in books like "Anne of Green Gables". Green Gables-esque decoration was definitely appealing for me and gave me a brief refuge away from the busy buzz of the city life. 

If you need a cozy, warm sanctuary, why not head towards Chloris Tea Garden? The lovely atmosphere and good food will certainly be a good change from the hectic city life that we lead. 

Chloris Tea Garden:

20-7 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

02-733-7523

Olive Young Monster Sale

To my wallet's dismay, many cosmetics stores are currently having huge sales. I've been avoiding these stores like the plague, because of my tendency to grab everything on sale, but there was one I couldn't miss.

Olive Young, a health and beauty store in Korea had a huge sale for a week and today was the last day.In case you are not getting what this Olive Young is, it's somewhat like Watsons; they sell cosmetics and healthcare products. Olive Young takes pride in providing great shopping experience to their consumers and advocates the fresh and healthy lifestyle. This can be seen in their slogan: "All live young with Olive Young". Do you see what the did there?

I guess everyone is aware that I recently had a splurge (to those who don't check out this entry) and thanks to that, I've been taking extra care to not look at these tempting posters in the eye. Well, that didn't work out so well, hence the existence of this entry. I don't know if I'm the only one seeing this, but the adorable monster on the poster was constantly beckoning to enter and I couldn't resist. The words "last day of biggest annual sale" and "last day to receive double points" helped too. 

Thankfully, I was able to buy only the things I absolutely needed. Yes, it's true. I'm absolutely proud of myself and ended up treating myself to a tub of ice cream just now. I resisted the temptations of the shocking sale prices and settled for two products.

1. Avène Cicalfate Restorative Skin Cream 22,000W

2. Fasio Ultra Curl Lock Mascara Long 20,000W→ 14,000W

The Avène Cicalfate cream wasn't on sale, but I trust Avène and I wanted to try out their new product, so I grabbed it without hesitation. As for the mascara, I've been very loyal to Kiss Me products, but I wanted to try something new this time. I was recommended to use the Fasio product when I told the sales attendant that I don't like mascaras that clump your lashes together. 

I'm currently crossing my fingers that the products will at least be satisfying. Expect a review...soon. 

Cafe Breezin

I'm having one of my ideal days, where I lounge at home doing nothing but cuddling my blanket. I haven't had one of these in a while and it feels glorious, like those times where your intense cravings are satisfied. I feel better than ever (even if I still have my cold and sniffle everywhere I go) and I'm ready for tomorrow's busy schedule.

Oh and say hello to the lovely "Family" that will keep me company tonight while I blog and catch up on my TV shows! Ice cream is probably one of the best ways to end a day (and this is why I'm not getting better), multiply that by 5 and put it in a large tub, then voila!

I guess you are wondering why I'm proclaiming the wonders of indoors and ice cream when the entry title is "Cafe Breezin". Well, I will be getting to that.... Now. 

"Coffee solves everything, why so serious? Come inside and enjoy our comfybreezy place. We're ready to spell on your lazy time." I didn't know comfybreezy was one word...

This was a day where I met one of my good friends who I haven't met for the longest time (on a side note, check out her blog here). We had brunch (entry on that coming soon) and were cruising around Samcheongdong, which is one of the most underestimated places in Seoul (more on this soon too).It's your typical "feel good days with friends", but one thing was missing. If you've noticed, we haven't had a crucial part of every meal: desserts. 

Being the adventurous and spontaneous people we  are, we decided to go to a place that first caught our eye. Cafe Breezin is located near the Bukchon Hanok Village and the entrance (picture above) looked promising too, so we decided to give it a try. 

Plus, the waffle pictures on the tarpoulines looked stunning. It was begging to be eaten and that sort of request has to be complied.

The inside of the store was wide and "clean". Forgive my lack of adjectives, but it gave off the image of typical city cafes. Tables were widely spread out and some artworks and decorations were placed here and there. I would recommend this cafe as a place for you to go study or have some "quiet time". Basically, this means that the chairs weren't the "please-stay-here-as-long-as-you-please-and-have-long-quality-conversations" kind (for me at least). 

The orders are taken at the counter and they will give you a buzzer to notify that your drinks are ready. 

Left to Right: 

Chocolate Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cake, Vanilla Latte, Mint Chocolate 

I think it's quite funny that we entered because of the waffles and didn't order any of them... Maybe this was bad choice number 2 of the day.

The menu looks good, right? Well, looks are deceiving. 

The Chocolate Cheesecake was well... it made me discover a whole new texture of cheesecake. I'm a huge fan of cheesecakes that melt in your mouth and have a strong flavour of cheese, and this was the exact opposite. The top part had a jelly-like texture that made me feel as if the cake was made 2 million years weeks ago and the cheese didn't taste like the cheese we all know and love, plus it was sticky. The chocolate layer didn't fare so well too. It was the typical sticky brownie with not enough chocolate. So if you head down here, don't order the cheesecake. I could seriously give a negative number as its rating and that would still not be enough to express the horrors. 

Red Velvet Cake was MARGINALLY better than the cheesecake. The cream cheese and the cake was quite bland; so much for satisfying my red velvet craving. As for the texture, it was well, acceptable, but this is another menu that I would not recommend. I guess this was why most of the people in the cafe only got drinks or waffles. 

As for the drinks, it was definitely Mint Chocolate>Vanilla Latte. The moment my friend tried her Vanilla Latte, she gave it a big "NO". I wish I could have taken a picture of her expression and post it here. That would probably be more convincing, because this is the kind of "NO" that words can't really do justice. My Mint Chocolate on the other hand was well, average. Not exceptional, but... 

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. 

Lesson learnt today is that there is a reason why proverbs are proverbs. "Don't judge a book by its cover" really struck me today. 

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend Cafe Breezin for quality desserts. However, they have a terrace on the third floor and the interior is modern and neat, so it would be a good place to bring your coursework or any kind of work and just type away on your laptop.

Cafe Breezin:

63-12 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

02-722-8120

Cafe Poem

It isn't an understatement that Myeongdong is one of the most popular shopping places in Seoul, especially for tourists. Here, I often feel that I'm traveling because of the various languages I hear on the streets. One minor set back of my Myeongdong experience is the lack of non-franchise cafe. It's not that I'm against getting a drink from places like Coffee Bean from time to time, but it's such a shame to miss the quirkiness that different cafes possess. It's like excavating an unknown jewel, when you find a cafe that not only has good drinks and desserts, but is also decorated tastefully. Honestly, there is nothing that rivals that moment of triumphant discovery. Cafe Poem is a ray of light place I found in pursuit of unique cafes in Myeongdong.

The cafe is composed of two floors and it looks like a very cozy home with trinkets and polaroid pictures hung on walls. It gave off the impression of a home of someone, anyone you are really familiar with.

This is the view from the second floor. You can see the kitchen and the counter very clearly from here. All the better for our scrutiny. Actually, a clever move on their part, because a lot of more people ordered items that were delivered from the kitchen rather than ordering them from the menu.

Orders are served and taken at your tables, so sitting on the second floor terrace (?) is no trouble at all. Besides, it's my very personal, but firm belief that when there's a second floor, you make use of it. So I dragged my friend upstairs.

First, I ordered an Oreo Tok Tok. 

This wonderful concoction is composed of Oreo slush, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, complete with a cherry on top. By the way, eating the cherry is not recommended, unless you want to experience a new paradigm of cherry flavour. So why is there a "Tok Tok" in the name? Well, "tok tok" is a Korean onomatopoeia that is used to express small popping noises. If you look closely, you can see the green candies that are responsible for the "tok tok" of the drink. Overall, it wasn't bad. I wished it tasted more like Oreos rather than a typical milkshake. Oreo Tok Tok was more of a milkshake with Oreos rather than an Oreo milkshake. Does that make sense? 

Before I introduce the dessert, I must say I was already excited for it the moment my order was taken. I was skeptical at first, because the picture looked too good.Warm waffle covered in an abundance of strawberries and whipped cream looked absolutely delightful. However, everything, even the Big Mac looks good in pictures hence the skepticism. I was very wrong though. 

My stomach just started growling like crazy and I'm sure mine's not the only one. Just look at the amount of strawberries on the waffle! It certainly satisfied my expectations. The strawberries were also of good quality. As for the waffles, they make it on the spot, right when you order so it's nice, warm, and fluffy. Apparently, this Strawberry Waffle is one of the most popular menus in Cafe Poem and as someone who tried it, this is not surprising. My friend laughed saying I looked overly excited throughout my whole encounter with the waffle.

So if you need a new dating spot or a place to hangout with friends, why not head to Cafe Poem? You will enjoy the coziness that the cafe provides, especially if you are jaded with the typical interior and menu of franchise cafes.The food is also good, which is always a plus.

Cafe Poem:
54-7 Myeong-dong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
02-776-5003

Innisfree Big Sale of February 2014

I did not expect my first post back to be a beauty post either, so don't worry, you are not alone in shock. However, we are dealing with Innisfree, a brand that hardly has huge sales so this was an opportunity I couldn't miss. 

Innisfree is a Korean cosmetics brand that promotes environmentally friendly products that are equally friendly to your wallet. Also, they take pride in using a wide variety of natural ingredients. I'm a big fan of Innisfree mainly because their cosmetics work well with me. I have really sensitive skin and that means one thing, and one thing only: my skin is a ticking bomb that will go off with the wrong products. I even experienced improvements with Innisfree products, so you can see why I'm devoting an entire paragraph to praise this brand. 

The sale went on from February 19th until the 22nd (today) and I'm happy to say I took good advantage of it. 

From left to right:

1. Eco Beauty Tool Dual Eyebrow Brush 4,500W → 3,600W
2. Creamy Tint Lip Mousse No.3 10,000W → 8,000W
3. No-Sebum Mineral Pact 10,000W → 8,000W
4. Creamy Tint Lip Mousse No. 4 10,000W → 8,000W
5. Pencil Remover 7,000W → 5,600W

Hopefully it looks as promising as it does to me for you too. A detailed review on each product will be posted soon, once I've used the products for a while. After all, we need time to get to know the products just as with people before you can say anything about them. 

For now, just pray for me that the splurge was worth it and that I have succeeded in excavating new must haves.