Le monde de Tokyobanhbao: Blog Mode gourmand

Hello Kitty Café

Fri 19 Apr, 2013 · Food, Illustration, Travel

I have quite a few yummy Seoul addresses to share with you (even though you’ll still have to be able to find them once in the city!) but I wanted to start with a place that any cuteness addict must visit: the Hello Kitty Café! Just the name will get eyes shining and a couple of excited hiiiiiiis!

When I found out there was one in Seoul (there are more than one actually) I did all I could to get there – which didn’t prove easy, for once in the area, even when asking all the students-that-seemed-like-the-type-to-love cute-things-hiiiiii! that I crossed, I felt like I was fresh off planet Mars. “Hello Kitty Café”? Confused look … no one knew. Or my pronunciation wasn’t convincing enough, I don’t know.

After having bothered all the neighborhood counts of Seoul students, gone through endless detours and prayed St Gertrude de Nivelle (the patroness of cats, evidently), here we are! Hello Kitty is something I’ve been trying to quit for a while now, but I just can’t.

She’s so preppy I want to shake her up (don’t call animal welfare)…everything is just TOO perfect in her pink-candy world, but she just comes in so many cute variations I just can’t resist. She overpowers me. And it’s exactly what happened here too! I must have exclaimed at least 10 times over each decorative element (bathroom included).

But let me tell you right now, you don’t come to the Hello Kitty Café to satisfy your tastebuds: they may be kawaii, but the pastries are rather average. The “homemade” fans will be disappointed (What do you mean Kitty and Mimmy are not baking away in the back kitchen all day?!! (Don’t call animal welfare, or labor inspection)).

But you’ll hardly dare eat (or drink) anything you order for fear of destroying this blessed extremely kawaii moment.

On that day, I ordered hot matcha milk and a waffle (rather ordinary, as I was saying, but Hiiiiiiiiii! So cuuuuute! … See, here I go again).

I could have gone for the brownies or a Kitty Strawberry Cake, but I rather felt like keeping my appetite for the korean barbecue that was to follow! (Ah, there Kitty, you see! You don’t know how to cook korean barbecues now do you?!!! I found THE flaw in your perfect life!)

All in all, it’s rather a place of pilgrimage than one for sustenance, but it’s still worth the detour, just to be able to say: I was at the Hello Kitty Café. (ENGLISH translation by Bleu marine)

HELLO KITTY CAFÉ
358-112, Mapo-gu Seogyo-dong, SEOUL
(In Korean: 서울시 마포구 서교동 358-112 )
(Métro : Hongik University Station)… Bonne chance !

Changdeokgung 창덕궁

Wed 17 Apr, 2013 · Fashion, Travel

In Seoul, the most impressive palace to visit is (take a deep breath …) Changdeokgung, the Prosperity palace. From what I read, since its construction in 1405, it underwent a whole lot of destructions and reconstructions, for the result that we can admire today. It really lives up to its UNESCO classification as World Heritage!

In addition to the various royal chambers, you can also visit the Biwon secret garden (all in all, not so secret): a garden that is best admired during the autumn, when the leaves are fiery red. On my part, I saw leaves the color of …. nothing (damn late spring I tell you!) but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the visit.

And for what concerns my tourist outfit, I had the pleasure of getting my almost-Ulyse jacket out and my “trompe-l’oeil” tights (almost like those from last time, but warmer) … and add another “trompe-l’oeil” with my “camera” bag! (English translation by Bleu Marine)

My Outfit

Jacket Vero Moda
Sweater American Apparel
Shorts Maje
Tights Gipsy
Boots Pistol Acne
Bag Lazy Oaf

Back from Seoul !

Tue 16 Apr, 2013 · Illustration, Travel

I haven’t told you everything again: I wasn’t with you these past weeks!…well, let’s say I was looking on from afar, for I was on vacation under different latitudes!

My destination? Seoul! I heard that in Paris, the temperatures hadn’t really gone up while I was away, but if it can lift your spirits, it wasn’t much better in Seoul! It was rather chilly, I missed the cherryblossoms (damn late spring!) but it was a total change of scenery.

This city is amazing, a mix of tradition and modernity (kind of like Tokyo), the people are really nice (but for most, don’t speak a word of english: you have no idea how much better my signing capacities got).

The addresses are almost impossible to find (signs in korean+korean people who don’t speak english = winning combination to get lost). Finding a restaurant was really something to be deserved! But these ambushes didn’t keep me from loving the city.

I grew up listening to K-Pop all the time (I was a newbie, I got a crash course here), I let myself be overwhelmed by food at every street corner (it’s simple, I wanted to try EVERYTHING). I have tons of things to show and tell. Until I get a chance to sort it all out, here are a couple pictures to give you a foretaste! See you soon! (English translation by Bleu Marine)