Update on Movies Page
Hey just to let you all know there’s an update in the Movies page of my blog…it’s on a Korean movie…now, now don’t be too quick to judge…check it out if you’re looking for something to watch during the weekend 
Anyohaseyo!
Yesterday was my second day at class. It was raining and my shoulder was aching with the weight, of not just books, but the weight of my decision to go back to studies! :p Made my way to my building, feeling sticky and wet and tired. Sat through two classes and though I was wide awake and my brain quite alert, it still felt like I was in some heady daze.
The high point of my day was when I exited from the elevator, turned left to walk down the corridor to my classroom and suddenly this gang of language students who had been waiting at the doors of the elevators quickly turned back to shout ‘Anyohaseyo’!!!!! All respectfully bowing and greeting me, one after the other. All I could do was smile and say, ‘oh, hellooo’ and quickly turned back and continued walking down the corridor chuckling to myself. Lol. Sighhhh, now if only I could get to see the land that brought us that ‘Anyohaseyo’ and the K-wave! :p
AIM Cafe and a cute pot!
Since John’s Bakery got a mention, I felt I should finally mention that much beloved cafe that gave students, non-students, educated unemployed, educated and employed (lucky few) a place to ‘hang out’ and chill…AIM Cafe in Outram Lines.
Let’s face it, we were seriously running out of places to hang out in North and suddenly the buzz was going around that a Korean cafe was coming up! What joy (and hesitation) when it finally opened!!! I say hesitation because well…what exactly does one GET in a Korean cafe? Hmmm :/
It’s been almost 2 years since it opened and to no one’s surprise, the place is doing well. They had these cute cards that you could get stamped everytime you came in and got a cup of coffee or a drink. Not sure what you would get once you finished stamping the whole card…we were hoping for some goodies but most likely it would have just been a free coffee or drink…Hmmm…
The are a variety of drinks to choose from in this place. Thankfully, nowadays the ice is crushed and blended much better in drinks such as the shakes and frappuccinos. I just wish the ice in the Bingsoo would be slightly finer and a little less in quantity compared to the fruits and the topping i.e. red bean powder, sweet potato, green tea. Note: the Sweet Potato Bingsoo is delicious…and ‘freaking’ rich! Awh…but very good! :p Nonetheless, on a hot summer’s day, nothing refreshes a person better than a cool, nourishing Bingsoo! Their shakes section has also expanded to offer shakes such as Blueberry, Pomegranate, Cookies, Sweet Potato etc. I’ve tried most of them (the Green Tea shake was a big fave of mine at one point) and my new fave is the simple Milk shake which is incredibly light and the only word I can use here is ‘satiating’.
The coffees are even better and you get the option of hot or cold. I am fond of the Vienna coffee with the dollop of cream…hehe. A friend once had the Caramel Macchiato…it was sweet but delicately sweet and surprisingly light. Must try the cold version. Had a cappuccino once too and it wasn’t bad either. I might be slightly biased as I tend to go for cold drinks more. But in all honesty, their coffees are really good.
Their tea section is also commendable. A friend of mine loves, I mean LOVESSSS Job’s tears tea. This tea, along with walnuts and pine nuts also uses a seed called Job’s tears (Yulmu in Korean) and the Job’s tears tea is called Yulmucha. The tea is made with the powdered Job’s tears seeds. It’s slightly sweet, creamy and delicious! I like the Sujjeonggwa which is described in wiki as a fruit punch, but the predominant flavours you can taste are ginger and cinnamon. Not sure if AIM cafe makes their sujjeonggwa with persimmons too? Hmmmm…Apart from these personal faves there is on offer Darjeeling tea, Assamese tea, Nilgiri tea, Early grey (if I’m not mistaken) and the ‘flowering’ teas like the Dragon Flower tea (dip a rolled ‘tea flower’ in a pot of hot water and watch it unfurl to reveal a dazzling flower). That has to top the list and the lovely tea sets that they’re served in are just to die for! In fact, the crockery is just so beautiful in this place: clean lines, lovely designs and unique for this part of the world.
If you’re worrying about what to eat with your selection of drinks, don’t worry. This cafe also has a growing list of snacks to accompany your drink. There is the fruit yoghurt which looks deceptively small but is incredibly filling with a topping of fruits. Waffles, Chocolate fondue, Volcano (chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice-cream), Korean pancake (slightly sweet), Korean noodles (with soup and without), Ham ‘sandwich’ (it really is actually a small burger) and more. The recent addition to the menu was the ‘Big kimbap’. To fill you in, they already a Little Kimbap and the Kimbap which would be better called a Triangle Kimbap. The Big Kimbap is Rs.140 BUT you get every rupee’s worth! The rice is actually the glutinous, slightly sticky rice. It comes coated in lightly fried sesame seeds and the filling is predominantly tuna with kimchi but all the flavours combined just makes it all taste so much more complex! Auuugghhhh….(drooling like Homer Simpson). So gooood!
I have a few pics of the place but I need to stop forgetting to take a picture of the food before I stuff it in my mouth!!!!!!!!!! ARghhhhh! It’s a bad habit but I will endeavour to pause before plunging! Also while waiting for your order, there is a book case with most of the popular magazines around i.e. Elle, Vogue, Cosmo, GQ, Maxim etc etc and also informational booklets and books about Korea. Good ‘browsing’ materials.
The pic below is of a cute little container for the sugar syrup used to sweeten coffee or tea. It’s just so cute!!!! For pics of the food, check out practically the same write-up on the Food page with a pic of the Big Kimbap!
John’s Bakery….GO THERE NOW!!!
The post title says it all! Today, thanks in part to the info shared by my lovely ‘student’ (you know who you are), I kept my eyes open for this place as I headed to pay the electricity bill. Sure enough, I spotted it. A simple sign, blue and written in white ‘John’s Bakery’. Why am I talking about a bakery suddenly? Well, it’s not surprising to many who know me but food is always a great excuse to go check out new places. This place came highly recommended for the fact that it is a Korean bakery where you can get such specialties like buns stuffed with slightly sweetened red bean paste, floooofy cream rolls (really floooofy), doughnut stuffed with chicken sausage and a Korean bread called, Soboro which almost had me thinking that it was made of cornmeal flour or something! The flavour was delicious and let’s not even get started about the coffee!!!! You don’t need sugar, if you can handle the very (I mean very mild) bitterness. If that doesn’t help then perhaps that it’s served in beautiful crockery made in Korea just might do the trick!!! Sigh…My friend and I ate like….no easy way to put it….pigs! But it was pretty reasonable considering that we were being greedy when what we ate could have fed a party of four!
So people, if and when you get time, head over to John’s Bakery in Hudson Lane. Ironically, it’s right above the Dhronacharya Gym! Don’t dwell too much on that though….
Interior of John's Bakery
