Mercado, Brazilian Churrascaria in Apgujeong

What's nice about this Churrascaria place is they skip the filler and go right to the quality meats. Sit back and enjoy a parade of skewers come by your table offering you the juicy hot options of rump roast, bacon-wrapped and garlic steaks. They also come by with chicken legs and hearts as well, but they don't weigh you down with the cheaper pork and sausage options.

There's no buffet here but side dishes are kept on the table and replenished throughout your meal. Potato salad, cabbage salad, vinegary chopped onions and tomatoes, garlic rice and house hot sauce.


Check out how beautifully this meat is cooked! This all-you-can-eat extravaganza costs 29,000 won plus VAT.


Directions: coming soon

Read more...

Copacabana, Brazilian in Itaewon

Copacabana is an all-you-can-eat Brazilian meat restaurant. This means that waiters bring around large skewers of meat (beef, lamb, pork, sausage, chicken, etc.) to your table and cut off pieces for you to eat, until you tell them to stop. As at most Brazilian places in Seoul, there is also a salad bar/buffet.

What sets Copacabana aside from Seoul's other Brazilian places is its salad bar/buffet. Indeed, you could probably leave satisfied if you just got the buffet. There are several hot dishes, including a stroganoff and a meat chili. In addition, there are the usual ingredients necessary to make up a half-decent salad.

(an example plate from the buffet)

When it comes to the meat, Copacabana follows all the standard Brazilian cooking procedures. In other words, the meat is amazing! As at most Brazilian places, the price comes out to about 27,000-30,000 per person with the VAT tax included (I forget the exact figure at the moment).

The only downsides that I noticed at my visit were (1) the caipirinha (Brazil's national cocktail) was extremely watered/iced down, only yielding a few lackluster sips for its hefty 9,000 won price tag, and (2) no air conditioning. The restaurant is already very small and cramped, but combine that with hot July temperatures and only a tiny fan to cool down the place, and it makes for a mildly uncomfortable dining experience.

But, would I visit Copacabana again? You bet! The food was wonderful, and their buffet dishes were superb.

Directions: Copacabana is on the dining street behind the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon. Leave Itaewon Exit 1. Turn right and then turn left. It should be on the lefthand side of the street.

Read more...

Brasilia: Seohyeon's (Bundang's) Brazilian Meat Restaurant (Churrascaria)

Brasilia is a bit of a hike away from Seohyeon station, but it is worth it. See the map below for directions.

An endless supply of meat on skewers brought to your table by waiters: beef, chicken, pork, lamb, steak, sausage... An excellent salad bar, including several great hot dishes and a vast array of sushi. Ice cream for desert. Brasilia is a Brazilian restaurant that has it all. (for roughly 30,000 won a person including the VAT tax) Here's the breakdown:

Salad Bar: Some Brazilian restaurant salad bars disappoint. Brasilia's salad bar is not one of them. It is the full spread. Feijoada, shrimp-fried rice with egg, a sweet and sour dish, usually another hot dish, an excellent crab soup, many different kinds of sushi, lettuce and all the normal salad fixings. Of course, don't fill up on the salad bar, because then you won't get your money's worth of:

Meat: A vast array of tender meat. My favorite is the beef and the steak, especially when they bring out a skewer that's very rare. But of course, there's all kinds here: chicken, pork, sausage, lamb. It's an endless supply. Book a solid couple hours here with a group of people and you can eat, talk, jest, and be merry until you're all burstingly full. Ahh.......

Desert: Then, just when you can't take any more meat, partake of the delicious cooked pineapple. The waiters will bring out pineapple cooked on a skewer just like the meat, often coated with some cinnamon. And then go back to the salad bar to get some ice cream (not soft-serve.)

All in all, a great place to go when you're in the mood for a big, gut-busting meal.

Directions: (Note: about a 15-minute walk from the station) Go out Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Exit 5. Walk out the doors of AK Plaza and keep walking straight until you get to the street. Cross the street and keep walking. When you get to the next street, cross to the far side, but stay on the same street. Turn right and walk. You will have to walk for a while (see map). When the street forks into a left and right street, stay on the right fork. Just keep walking. Eventually, you will see Brasilia in a shopping area off to the right of the street (It is hidden a bit from the road, but if you're looking out for it, you'll see it.) Make sure to check the interactive map below so you don't get lost.

View Brazilia Location (Seohyeon, Bundang) in a larger map

Read more...

Ipanema: Brazilian Meat Restaurant (Churrascaria) in Gwanghwamun (Jongno)

Directions and map at bottom of post.
Ipanema is pretty much your standard Brazilian restaurant. All-you-can-eat meat on skewers, nicely-set tables, a salad bar that comes along with the meal. The cost is 26,000 won (13,000 won for children) plus VAT value-added tax. In summary, although Ipanema is a more than adequate restaurant and will certainly fill you up with meat, it is a bit substandard compared to the better Brazilian places in Seoul.


Here's a breakdown of what Ipanama has to offer:

Salad Bar: Of course, there is feijoada (for those that aren't familiar with it, a delicious stew of beans and pork). There is also some really good grilled vegetables, raw salmon, standard salad components, sushi, fruit, two soups, and a cinnamon punch. W
What this salad bar excels: really good grilled vegetables and its cinnamon punch.
Where it falls short: soups are bit bland and there aren't many substantive dishes on the salad bar. Other Brazilian places will often have multiple dishes on the salad bar besides just feijoada: e.g. shrimp-fried rice with egg, or, like Copacabana in Itaewon, chicken stroganoff and beef chili, each of which is almost a meal by itself. In comparison to other Brazilian restaurants, the salad bar here definitely falls a bit short.

Meat: The meat here lives up to the quality of other Brazilian places. There are all the standards: chicken, beef, sausage, lamb, pork. Unfortunately, although the meat selection is adequate, I did not get any of the really rare beef that is in the meat rotation at other Brazilian restaurants, and which I love so much I usually feel compelled to nab two or three thick slices of at a time (you never know when the waiter will come back with more). Additionally, although this place covered all the standards, it didn't bring around any specialties: e.g. the special course of garlic-infused beef at Copacabana or the truly wonderful "butter-steak" that I once had at another Brazilian restaurant (now sadly gone).

Non-meat courses: There was no cinnamon-pineapple here. That's a big minus. One of the hallmarks of eating at a Brazilian restaurant in Seoul is when, at the end of the meal, after you're full to the brim with meat, they bring around the pineapple on a skewer, often dusted with a coating of cinnamon (mmmm, pineapple). Usually the perfect end to a gut-busting meal. But alas, sadly absent from Ipanema. They do bring around potatoes done on a skewer, but it just isn't the same. (In fact, the potatoes are tough and hard to eat.)

But don't get me wrong. If you're in Gwanghwamun and you really feel like a boatload of meat, this place will satisfy. It's just that it is not quite as good as the other Brazilian restaurants in Seoul.

Directions:
Go out Gwanghwamun Exit 6 and walk straight. Keep going, and follow the street while curves to the left a bit. At the McDonald's, turn left. After a short ways, you will see Ipanema on the right side of the street.

If it is more convenient, you can also go out Seodaemun Station, Line 5; or City Hall Station, Line 1 and 2. Use the interactive map included in this post to find the how to walk from the station to Ipanema.

View Ipanema Brazilian Restaurant Location in a larger map

Read more...

COEX Intercontinental Seoul Hotel Wine and Food Buffet

Quite frankly, this is an amazing value. For 23,000 won, you get all the red wine, white wine, and champagne you can drink. You also get a food buffet that includes a beef dish, a fish dish, usually some other meat dish, cold cuts, fruit, cheese, a small salad bar area, some surprisingly tasty fried squid rings, maybe some asparagus, seafood salad, etc... Plus, the whole thing happens in a luxurious upscale hotel setting. It goes on from 6-9 pm. Probably a good idea to call ahead for reservations. (Phone number 02-3430-8603; also see the website below.)

Judging from my two visits they usually carry a Chilean wine, Australian wine, and a third option. According to the wine connoisseurs of the group the wines available are not that great, but to an unrefined palate the mellow and uncomplicated flavors are the kind that will receive a general appeasement of a large crowd. And for 23,000, you get your money's worth. And the food is actually quite good, in my opinion. Sure, maybe the beef in the beef dish could have been a bit more tender. But the fish is good, there's a half-decent cheese spread, and they even brought out spring rolls at one point. Plus there's cold cuts, asparagus... I think the diversity makes up for any shortcomings you may find in the quality.

Directions: Now, the complicated thing about this buffet is the directions. First off, there are two "Intercontinental Hotels" near COEX (see the map below). This buffet happens at the "COEX Intercontinental Seoul" (in the upper left corner of the map), not the "Grand Intercontinental Seoul." So, following the map, go to Samseong Station on Line 2 and get off at Exit 5. Walk down the street until you get to the Asem-gil (see the map). Then, walk up until you get to the COEX Intercontinental Seoul. The buffet goes on in the lobby. Here's the website: http://www.seoul.intercontinental.com/eng/coex/reb/reb_rbr.asp, which includes the phone number for reservations.

Read more...

All-U-Can-Eat Mussels in Geumjeong, Gunpo-si!

Mussels. Who doesn't like mussels? Well, if you don't, then this post is not for you.
In Gunpo, there is a seafood restaurant called 홍합의 전설, which translates to The Legend of Sea Mussels. You can get unlimited mussels for 15,000 won. The waitress will keep bringing a huge pot full of mussels to your table as long as your stomach can take it. And amazingly, you don' t get charged twice for two people - for two people it's still only 15,000 won!

The only downside is that there tends to be some delay between when the waitress takes your finished pot and brings you a new one. But hey, I found an all-you-can-eat mussel restaurant. I'm not complaining!

Directions: Go to Geumjeong Station, way down where Line 4 crosses Line 1. Get out at Exit 4 and turn right the first time you can. You'll head back into an area filled with various Korean restaurants. Turn right again and then turn left. Here's a google map to help out, though note that the KFC on the map is no longer there:

View Legend of Sea Mussels Map in a larger map

Read more...