Going Korean at Korea Town and Arirang (Plus A Dragon Up Close!)

Last week, during the Chinese New Year, my friends and I decided to get together and eat lunch somewhere. Chinese would have been an ideal and fun option (though none of us is Chinese) just to "belong." However, we also thought Chinese restaurants would be full on CNY, so we decided on another Asian cuisine instead: Korean.

PART 1 - KOREA TOWN

Photo from JM's phone

The kids were given big glasses of iced tea on the house. Thank you!

My friend, Christine, knew of a place that serves cheap but yummy Korean dishes, and we gave it a try. It's Korea Town, which can be found among the cluster of restaurants in Victoria Plaza's parking lot.

Yuri and I were the first to arrive, and because it was only my second time to go Korean in a genuine Korean restaurant, I was quite taken aback when everyone, including the lady whom I presumed to be the owner, bowed down and said "Annyeonghaseyo!"

Being the smooth, cultured woman that I am, I sheepishly waved my hands and said, "Hello." Then I avoided eye contact and darted into the nearest table.

Let's not focus on that part of the meal.

The first thing I love about Korean dishes is the free side dishes. I love kimchi (I have
a steady supply at home) and I live on sweet potato. Come to think of it, I can thrive on Korean side dishes alone!

I took this photo when we were almost finished eating the side dishes harhar

The second thing I love is the yummy-ness of the food. I've never eaten Korean food that I didn't like, and I'm referring not only to restaurants but also home-cooked meals of Korean students whom I used to tutor back in college.

Let's give Korea Town a verdict:

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I don't have any complaints about the staff at all! They were all very attentive, even the owner. In fact, again, the owner gave Yuri and Andrei iced tea on the house. Also, our waitress was not only lovely and pleasant by also clearly knowledgeable about Korean fare. Which should be expected, but some places still employ clueless staff.

FOOD

Yuri Speaks Phrases and Other Stories

Good morning! Monday na naman ulit. Thankfully, I had a good weekend. This past weekend was a double whammy because Saturday was my parents' anniversary (31st?) while Sunday was Yuri's 22nd month.

Did I just say Yuri was already 22 months old? Oh wow how fast does time fly?

Like what I mentioned a few weeks ago, I already stopped tracking words. He's learning in a steady stream and I'm pretty sure he know around 200 words already. Nice one, late walker! Hee hee #justkiddingaround

But what he did lately is speak in phrases. Actually, here's a piece of advice to new moms: they won't be recognizable phrases at first. They're just a string of two words spoken separately. They're not spoken in a flowing manner like how we adults do it - at least in my experience. I didn't think Yuri was speaking in phrases at first, but as he repeated them, I realized the words made sense and were used as a pair. Eureka!

Here are some of the phrases I remember Yuri saying:

- kuwin apay (kunin tinapay)
- abas tayo (labas tayo)
- kuwin tubig (kunin tubig)
- ebe tayo (Time for bed - the book - tayo)
- tati pis (cookie please)
- dede tayo (dede tayo!)

If you think toddlers saying words are cute, wait until they speak in phrases. Absolutely adorbs!

Last Saturday, I read Abreeza's Instagram post about Gonuts Donuts' buy 6 take 6 promo for only P216. Of course, the kuripot in me couldn't resist. So that afternoon, we had a variety of sinful donuts! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a photo of all the donuts. Here's a poor shot I managed to take:

My mom also made spaghetti. Yum! No photos, though. So much for dieting!

(The kids - my sister and my son - and I were at home the whole Saturday. Mama and Papa were in Cafe Laguna in Abreeza. Did they have an anniversary date? Hmm)

Then on Sunday, we heard mass (we regularly go to SM's mass now). Although belief-wise I consider myself a Born Again Christian, because I'm still living under my parents' roof, I wholeheartedly adopted some Catholic practices like going to mass and doing the sign of the cross during mealtime prayers. Remember: Honor your mother and father. But that's beside the point.

Anyway, last Sunday, I genuinely enjoyed the service because the priest's homily was very Biblical and Gospel-focused. I like how he preached about Jesus as "the one" and how we only need to accept that the Work was already done at the Cross for salvation. He also called for repentance not to make way for the Lord as in the time of John the Baptist but repentance because the Kingdom is already at hand. Finally, he called for us to be "Credible Christians." He clarified that he did not mean "credible Catholics" but "credible Christians" as in "credible believers of Jesus."

And I was like, wow, this is my kind of priest!