Bukchon 'Tea Garden' 북촌 차마시는 뜰

If you are visiting Seoul these days, one of the 'must visit' area is Samchung-dong (삼청동) / Bukchon (북촌) area.
I will not introduce the whole area since it's too big to cover and you can easily find lots of information, but will recommend one place for nice afternoon tea break after a long walk (if you visit Bukchon, you will walk A LOT)
For overall information on Bukchon, you can visit the website below;
http://bukchon.seoul.go.kr/eng/index.jsp

The name of the cafe/tea house is '차마시는 뜰'. The direct translation is more like 'garden where you have tea', but I just put it as 'Tea Garden' in my subject to keep it simple.

The exact location is as below;
http://www.menupan.com/map/restmap/map_search.asp?acode=D102445 (for those who can read Korean or have Korean friend who can read and find the place for you)
The address in English is as below;
35-169 Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Below is link to Trip Advisor review for this place but most in Japanese,, 
http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g294197-d2228905-Reviews-Tea_Garden-Seoul.html

Now, after long intro for location, I will show you what you can see & enjoy when you get there~

This is the entrance for the tea garden and since there is no English signage, it will be good to look out for this.

 inside the garden. When I was there, it was spring and all the flowers were in full bloom, so, it was so beautiful~~
But, when you visit in different season, there will be different view. My sister was there in the middle of winter and it was snowing. She said that it was so beautiful & magical.

View from inside. As you can see, you are on the higher ground. So, you get very good view

They have English menu, so, it's pretty easy to order drinks & food. After a long walk, we were quite thirsty, so, all of us ordered cold drinks.

 Ice Flower tea

Slightly sweet tea with ice cubes with flowers~

 Sweet Pumpkin 'Sikhae'. actually, it was more like Sweet pumpkin shaved ice.

Never tasted something like this before and it was very yummy

Lemon Ginger Ice 

If you are feeling hot and don't fancy sweet stuff, this drink will please you. Love the ginger taste (it's not overpowering gingerness. just nice)

And, now, this is their signature Sweet pumpkin rice cake. When you are order, they make on the spot!!!
Once it's steamed, they will bring the whole thing to your table,

and, remove the cover

And, ta-da~~

It only took about 2 minutes to wipe out this magical soft, hot,sweet-but-not-so-sweet goodness. This is 'must try' when you visit this place~

If you visit in cold weather, try hot tea and the rice cake. It will warm your body~
enjoy!

떡볶이! Spicy rice cake

떡볶이 (spicy rice cake) was always regarded as 'bad food' when I was growing up and students were not suppose to go to those stores (mostly make-shift places without proper water source). But now, 떡볶이 became more 'modern' and 'franchised' thanks to a few big players who started clean/modern 떡볶이 stores.
One of the first player is 죠스 떡볶이 (Jaws Food)

When you walk around busy shopping area, you will see one of this easily.
If you can eat spicy food (Jaws 떡볶이 is spicier than other traditional 떡볶이 stores, in my opinion), make sure you try once before you leave Seoul.

The menu is pretty simple, so, you can order 1 portion each or order a set.
The menu below is 떡복이 (spicy rice cake) 2,500 won per portion, 순대 (blood sausage with glass noodle inside) 3,000 per portion, assorted tempura (fried vegetable/seafood) 2,500won per portion (one type) or 4,000 won for assorted items, fish cake (comes with soup) 2,000won per portion (one type) or 3,000 won for assorted items

Set menu is combination of 떡볶이+순대(blood sausage)+tempura+fish cake
Set A comes with 5 pcs of tempura and Set B comes with 8 pcs of tempura.
Both set menu come with free drink. Set menu and free drink will change according to different season. So, you can choose based on available set when you visit.

I ordered below for 3 person when I last visited and we were very full by the time we finished them~!
So, it can be full meal or afternoon snack (if you order less).