The first gathering of the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians met Saturday at Sh-wing for wings and beer. On the way there, I found that Domino’s is now offering Satan’s pizza.
Even though I was late, I was the first to arrive. Sh-wing was empty, and there was a late middle-aged lady there. I explained to her in my bad Korean that friends were coming, and we both set up the chairs and umbrella outside. If one can sit outside at Sh-wing — do it. Half of the Sh-wing experience is the wings and beer. The other half is the people watching of Apgujeong denizens.
Sh-wing, we found, is under new management, and the all-you-can-eat special that was a staple for years no longer exists. They do have a 60-wing bucket for 43,000 won deal, but we made our disappointment known to management before ordering. Brant was there, along with Yeong-jun and Cathi, the proprieter of the Seoul Life blog.
The wings are still good. The cheeseburger and fries are still great. The service is actually a little better. Yet remember to order your next batch of wings fifteen minutes before you need them. They take a while.
The people watching was better than usual. The styles on the scantily clad plastic surgery-enhanced young ladies and men were not disappointing. Event the mannequin across the street showed a little for us.
At one point, the leggy singer Son Ji-yeon stopped in front of Sh-wing. She seemed to be waiting for people to notice and gawk at her. When people did so, she promptly walked away. I didn’t get any pics because I was in the bathroom at the time. (Darn you, beer!)
After Sh-wing, Brant, Cathi, and I went to my other traditional Apgujeong spot, Gustimo. It’s an amazing gelato establishment. Until recently, the flavors were only written in Korean and Italian. But now there is English in small letters by each flavor. The flavors are also designated by real life versions of their ingredients. The cheese gelato has a package of cream cheese on it. The coconut gelato has a coconut. The black sesame seed as a jar of — black sesame seeds.
They always have new interesting flavors. Sometimes I get the diablo, which is a spicy gelato. This time, I found they had a white wine flavor. Of course I got that one, along with dark chocolate and tiramasu.
Brant got the velvety chocolate and… I forget.
And I totally forgot what Cathi ordered. You’ll have to check her blog for that info. She also took pictures that I missed, such as the menu for “Calm Chowder.”
We did see a Hello Kitty fan. It brought up the subject of the Koreans’ urban myth that if you sleep under a fan, you could die. So that makes this model one killer pussy.
On the main street to Apgujeong’s south, a TV drama was filming. See the boom? The scene took place in the back seat of a car driving off. The blurry guy in the suit was one actor. The fruity-shirted guy was the director.
I was trying to get a good shot of the actress in the car when other actors told me to stop taking pictures. Brant said to me, “It’s a public street. You can take pictures.”
But I really didn’t want fruity-shirted director guy to chase me down. I mean, he had a car.
The other significant find in Apgujeong was the cigarette bar. This made me think of Tony Bourdain (I’m glad he got out of Beirut). This is the future.
People will no longer be allowed to smoke anywhere except this depressing cigarette bar. And it looked like there was nothing else they served there but cigarettes. I can understand a cigar bar. Cigars have a woody aroma that can be intoxicating. But a cigarette bar would smell like an old person’s breath. Also, was that guy following my camera?
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