Ponsonby Pies at Emart

Good news Kiwis (and Australians), Emart has a nice new addition to their shelves. You can now buy Ponsonby Meat Pies here in South Korea. Reports have that they are in most Emarts across the country and I know that you can get them at two of the large Emarts in the Ilsan area - the Madu one and the one over in Daewha.

These are frozen pies so you will find them in the freezer section, usually around the frozen meat patties. There are three different flavors - Beef Mince and Cheese Meat Pie, Steak and Cheese Meat Pie and Chilli Beef Mince and Cheese Pie.

They come in packs of two for just under 5000 won. I only tried the Beef Mince and Cheese because it is the only flavor that I like. They were quite tasty for a frozen pie, definitely better than the Jesters ones at any rate.

Monteith's Beer and Cider in Korea

A few years ago when I first arrived in South Korea you could not find cider (the alcoholic beverage) anywhere and for someone who does not drink beer this was very disappointing. About six or seven years ago in New Zealand cider underwent something of a renaissance and I for one was very grateful. I have mentioned before what a picky eater I am and this is seen through in my drinks as well. It is nice to have something that you can drink when others are drinking beer e.g. at BBQs or for an after work drink. I like spirits and cocktails but for the casual drink they don't really work as well. Cider is a great alternative in this instance.

While I like cider I don't like all cider, I find many of them too dry. However through trial and error and many a tasting of my friends beverages I finally found one that I liked and could drink more than a few sips of. This delicious drink is of course Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider, it is quite a sweet tasting one and has a fresh crisp taste which I really enjoy. The other one that is OK if I can't get Monteith's is from Mac's Brewery and is 'Isaac's Cider' but I don't like that one as much and I prefer the Berry one in their range which I discovered when I was home this time last year. Monteith's also has a 'Crushed Pear' flavor which I did not like as much being that I am not a fan of pears but my friends really liked it and since I have been in Korea they have also come out with a berry 'Crushed Summer Berries Cider' one as well but I have yet to try this.

Monteith's Brewing Company is a New Zealand company that originally started with beer and has gradually expanded it's product line over the years to include many different types of beers and ciders. The brewing company in some form or another has been around for about 150 years on the West Coast of New Zealand. The brewery today is located in Greymouth and the label is currently owned by DB Breweries - the name Monteith's came about in 1990 named for one of the original founders.

Now, I have seen Monteith's beer in Home Plus (owned by UK Supermarket chain Tesco's) here in Korea and at the end of last year I found the Apple Cider and the Berry Cider in the Itaewon foreign store 'High Street Market' but it was a bit pricey. Recently I have been making a point to go down the beer isle in the supermarket just to check what is there and a few months ago I noticed that there were a lot of ciders on offer and also the range of beer has increased; I noticed the 'NZ Pure' beer is there. So I've been checking regularly to see what is available and tonight to my surprise and delight I found Monteith's Cider is now in stock here too. All three options, Apple, Pear and Berries are available and I also noticed Bulmers which was new too, I know lots of people love that brand but it was one I found to dry for my tastes.

Of course my Homeplus is in Ilsan but I am sure that a lot of them will stock it as it is a chain, so if you enjoy cider go and check it out. It's not a bad price at 4,100 won. Now just to get my local pubs to stock it and I will be right.

Note: In Korea 'cider' is the word for a 'Sprite' like soda drink, it's clear and carbonated and has a lemon/lime flavor. In Korean it is 사이다 (pronounced si-ee-da) so if you see this on a menu it will mean the soda. I actually really like it, I think it's better than Sprite. The main brand is Chilsung Cider and is of course made by Lotte (what don't they make). Also another tidbit - in New Zealand we call this kind of lemon soda 'Lemonade' which is really confusing for others.

If you are looking for further information on cider and a review of some of the brands available in Korea go to this blog - A Fat Girl's Guide to Eating in Korea. She has a great article here.

Music Monday #24

This week I thought that I would introduce some New Zealand Punk, I've talked about a few New Zealand bands but not really the punk scene.

Punk was and still is pretty popular in New Zealand, there have been many bands over the years mostly on the underground scene but a few have been a bit more widely received.  It's pretty hard to make it mainstream at the best of times and if you add to that a very small country with a limited fan base and you can see the obstacles that face many alternative bands from New Zealand.

One band that did pretty well is Kitsch - (note there are a few bands in the world with this name), they are a Punk band from New Zealand and have been around for over fifteen years - on and off. They play the more melodic punk and have released a couple of albums over the years, they have also supported many international bands like NOFX and Bad Religion to name just a few.

Kitsch - Stay Right Here

A Little Bit of New Zealand - JGeeks

I was just checking out some New Zealand stuff on YouTube to see what was popular over there at them moment and I stumbled upon this group.

They are currently competing in 'New Zealand's Got Talent' as a dance group, well maybe dance/comedy group.  I thought they were really funny, totally fresh and with such a passion for their New Zealand culture but with a healthy dose of not taking themselves to seriously. 

I was thinking about putting it up for Music Monday but it's not really a song and I thought this bit from the show was pretty good.  They do have some songs so I might put one up in the future but if you are interested check them out on YouTube.

The group is called JGeeks and this video is from the Semi Finals of  the New Zealand's Got Talent competition.

More V Energy Drink in Korea

Another update post - this one is about V Energy Drink.  I posted a while ago when V made its debut here in South Korea.  You can now find the 250ml cans at some of the GS25 convenience stores, which is great news.

I wanted to do a quick follow up to say that you can also get the new V flavour 'V Blue' here too. I just saw it come to my local store in the past week or so. 

I'm not such a fan of this one, I tried it in New Zealand when I was home a few months ago and thought it was OK.  I also just tried it again, they currently have a 1 + 1 special here in Korea (this just means two for one), but at the store that I usually go to they only have one line in the fridge for V - they had one green one left and then had filled up the rest with the blue ones. So I got one green and one blue - I have to say I prefer the original one.

More Whittaker's Chocolate in Korea

I did a post earlier this month about finding some blocks of Whittaker's Chocolate in the Galleria Department Store in Ingye-Dong Suwon.

Just a quick update to say that they have two more new flavours available  - Berry & Biscuit and Dark Almond.

It's still expensive at 11,000 won for a block, but sometimes you are willing to pay that extra for a bit of home.  I took some into work and it went down really well.

Whittaker's Chocolate in Korea

I have heard that Whittaker's chocolate sometimes appears in random shops here in Korea, someone I was talking to said they found some in Paris Baguette once for example.  I have been here about 19 months now and have never seen it - until now.
 
I just happened to be wandering around the small grocery shop in the bottom of the Galleria in Ingye-dong today.  I don't really shop there as its a bit more expensive and the selection is smaller than the nearby Homeplus so I don't usually bother.  I was down there to get some fast food - the American chain 'Popeyes' has a branch in the food court there.  I thought I would have a look around while I was there and see what they had, sometimes they have things that you can't get at the bigger supermarket chains.

So this is where I found some Whittaker's chocolate - they have three of the 250g slabs available - Fruit & Nut, Creamy Milk and Almond Gold.  The kicker is that unless you are really craving it or are a die hard fan you probably won't want to pay the price.  One slab cost 11,000 won, they didn't have a price on them so I didn't find this out until I got to the counter.  I thought it would be a nice gift to take in to work after the holiday - I hope they appreciate it.

V Energy Drink in Korea

Fellow Kiwis you will be pleased to know that V Energy Drink is now available in Korea. 

For those of us addicted to the little green monster you will be very excited to find that you can get your fix so far from home.

Up till now I have been drinking Red Bull and when I first got here even that was hard to find, only one convenience store around my neighborhood stocked it.  Now you can get Red Bull almost everywhere including the supermarkets.  There are also a few other brands - the Korean 'Hot 6', 'Burn' by the Coca-Cola Company and a few others that are trying to get in on the emerging market.

I had not had V in a very long time as I've been here over a year and a half now but I went home to New Zealand the week before last for my summer vacation.  I quickly got reacquainted with it and even tried their new V Blue flavour.  I drank my last one on the morning that I flew out and was disappointed that I could not find any shops selling it at Auckland airport, I wanted to buy some for the plane once I got through customs but I had to settle for Red Bull.  I thought it was a bit silly when V is a New Zealand product.

So that was the Sunday and I had to go to work the next day on Monday. At lunch time I went to grab a Red Bull from the convenience store and was excited when I saw a flash of green sitting next to the Red Bull - it can't be I thought, but it was and I was super excited. I had to wait untill I got back to work so I could gush about it with people who speak English, the Korean teachers that I work with all know about my addiction to Red Bull but I told them that New Zealand has a better one and now I could show it to them.  Some of them said they will try it too  - I figure the more that buy it the better as I am sure it will only stay here if it sells well.

Logistics:

• It is currently selling for 1,800 won which is super cheap.  Red Bull is 2,900 won (2,500 in supermarkets and 3,000 sometimes in Seoul) so V is a bargain compared.  It's also cheaper than what you would pay in New Zealand.  I would guess that this is an introductory price so if it stays be prepared for the price to go up.
• They are selling them for 'buy two and get the third one free' at the moment so you can stock up. 
• The only place I have found it in so far is the GS25 convenience stores.  Unfortunately even though convenience stores are ubiquitous across Korea the GS25 ones can be hard to find sometimes. 
• They only have the green original can so far, I quite like the sugar free version but Korea does not really do diet stuff very much so there is probably not the market for it. 

If you have a GS25 near you then you are in luck, it took me ages to find one in Ingye-dong where I live.  I knew there must be one but all the convenience stores I go to are Family Marts or 7 Elevens. I walked around the streets near my apartment for ages looking at all the ones I knew and they were all wrong.  I got a bit excited when I went to one across from the park, I saw the 25 but then realised it was the wrong color and it was '25 For You' not GS25.  After walking around the backstreets behind the CGV for ages on a very hot day, I finally found one as I was heading home about to give up. 

If you are looking in Ingye-dong the one I found is on the side street opposite the hi-Mart (on the Home Plus side of the street). When you are walking towards Home Plus from Galleria direction you turn right into a small street before you get to Home Plus - when you can see that Hi-mart is on the other side of the road. It's not very far down and is on the right again.

Also if you don't see it at first in your local GS25 have a look around, it might be in a different fridge than all the other drinks as they are promoting it with the buy two get one free.  I was about to leave empty handed when I spotted it on my way out the door - it was in a small fridge behind the door.

Thanks Frucor for making one kiwigirl far from home a very happy Kiwi girl.

Music Monday #12

A bit late -  but better late that than never.  In celebration of me being home in New Zealand for my vacation, this one is from New Zealand band Shihad.

Shihad - Home Again

Summer Vacation

Yay it's finally here - Summer Vacation.

For many of us teaching here in Korea this coming week is Summer Vacation and I for one am super excited for it.  It will be the first real holiday I've had since coming here, I took a short one to Jeju Island for Winter Break but last Summer I worked at a camp so didn't get a holiday.

Also super excited as I decided to spend a bit of money and go home, I feel like I should go an explore Asia more but to be honest its been a year and a half and I'm a bit homesick.

So I fly out this afternoon and will be in New Zealand by this time tomorrow - I will do Music Monday from home but not sure if I will get to do any other posts.  We will see how we go but I only have one week so will probably be busy trying to do everything and see everyone I want to.

Music Monday #9

What's not to love about this one - New Zealander making good, Muppets and happiness.

Bret McKenzie (feat. Kermit the frog) - Life's a Happy Song

Music Monday #7

Back to New Zealand for Music Monday #7 and this one’s an oldie but a goodie.

They broke up in 1997 but did reform in 2007 and have done some touring over the years since. This was the first live band that I ever saw so has a special place in my heart. If you are in New Zealand and any of their most popular songs come on you can guarantee you will have most of the kiwis singing along.

Although I went on to develop different musical tastes as I got older I can still appreciate that Supergroove are a classic act. They had a great sound and some catchy tunes and are still considered one of the best bands from New Zealand.

Supergroove - Sitting Inside My Head

Seoul and Hell Pizza - A Day Out

Today I met a friend in Seoul for the afternoon, we met for lunch in Apgujeong because I really wanted to go to Hell Pizza.  Hell Pizza is a New Zealand pizza chain that has recently opened three stores here in Korea.  I've been wanting to go for awhile but wanted to go with another Kiwi to fully appreciate it.  My friend is recently back in Korea after a trip round South-East Asia so this was a good chance to catch up.

We were wondering if it would taste that same, although my friend has not lived in New Zealand for about six years so did not really remember it anyway. For me it was a bit different as I've only been here just over a year. One of the apartments where I lived in Wellington was really close to a Hell Pizza store so I ate it more that I usually would have. I'm not actually much of a pizza fan, I only really like Hawaiian flavor but I do like Hell's Pizza and its great that it is New Zealand owned and operated (in New Zealand).

There are three stores in Seoul, South Korea now. Two were opened first and then they have since added a third.  You can visit the Hell Korea website here for directions and details if you are interested (its in Korean but you can use the maps at the very least).  The locations are Apgujeong, Cheongdam, Jamwon (Bampo area). We went to the Apgujeong one and it was pretty easy to find although we were following some directions from online which seem to be a bit out of date so I will update here.

Directions to Apgujeong Hell Pizza:
Take the orange subway line number 3 to Apgujeong Station, take the exit number 2, when you come up out of the exit turn around and walk a couple of meters and then go around the first corner that veers off to the right.  Once you round the corner continue to walk straight for a while, you will pass a Dunkin' Donuts then a KB bank and then you should see the familiar black.  You can't miss it, there are lots of delivery scooters out the front.




Hell Pizza - Apgujeong in Seoul, South Korea

Our Experience in Hell:
The place is pretty small as I think their main business, as with most Pizza, is deliveries - while we were there we watched the bikes go out numerous times.  There are a couple of tables inside and a bench along the window that you can sit at so if you do go there you can eat in like we did.
The menu contains most of the favourites, its not as big as the New Zealand menu as Koreans apparently don't like a lot of choice.  I was happy however as my favourite was there - the 'Greed' pizza which is basically a Hawaiian (ham, cheese and pineapple).  My friend got the 'Wrath' one and we got some wedges to share.  All in all it was a pretty good meal, the pizza tasted just like it does back in New Zealand and the wedges were good too.

It was a nice (albeit expensive for Korea) lunch and I was a very happy Kiwi. I had been really feeling like something from New Zealand so it hit the spot.  Will definitely go back there some time.



Decor

After a long lunch we wandered around Apgujeong but there is not that much there unless you want to have Plastic Surgery (its the place to go for cosmetic enhancement). We decided to go over to Itaewon and go to the bookstore and foreign markets etc.  We taxied over to Itaewon because by now we had been walking for a while and it was hot. It only cost about 6,700won so that was pretty good, thankfully the car was air conditioned so we could cool down.

Itaewon:
In Itaewon we visited the English book store 'What the Book?' - you can find the link in my useful links list on the side. I couldn't really find any books that really jumped out at me and I have lots to read at home anyway so I was very good and resisted the urge. I did buy a magazine - crazy expensive (11,710won) but a bit of a treat as I don't go to Itaewon very often.

After that we wandered again and then decided we were thirsty and needed a nice air conditioned cafe for something to drink and a sit down.  I decided on iced chocolate for me and then looking around saw a sign for a chocolatier cafe. I figured they would have iced chocolate and boy was I right.  Turned out they had several different kinds, I was not sure which one to pick - they also had lots of handmade chocolate and desserts available.  It was an upstairs cafe and nice and big and airy and I think it might be a chain.

It's called Cafe Jubilee and it's on the corner above QuiznosSub (at an intersection on the main drag). I had an iced chocolate the 'pure' one simply because it was the first one on the list and I was overwhelmed with having more than one choice. It was OK, kinda thick and not the best I've had but not bad or anything.  I think I will try a different one next time I go there and I am sure I will go again.  I noticed on the way out they had some little ice cream desserts that looked nice.


We split a choice of six chocolates, the selection at the front counter are all numbered and you pick how many you want and then which numbers to make up your selection.  We had the Dark Truffle and the Heart and then I had a hazelnut one and my friend had a caramel one.  They were all really good - the heart one was a pretty red colour and was not what we were expecting taste wise, you would think it would be something red but it was passion fruit (which actually makes sense).  It was our favourite anyway, nice presentation and nice taste.

We finished off the day by checking out a couple of the foreign markets, I didn't really need anything but I picked up a few things anyway - some Milo cos its always good to have some in your cupboard if you need some comfort, some Salt and Vinegar chips I think they are a brand from England (they were pretty good, I was eating them as I wrote this) and some Tim Tams - you can get these at Home Plus but when I bought them I found they were from Indonesia and they obviously make them different as they did not taste as good.  I checked the back of these and they are from Australia so they should be the good ones.



My Goodies

The last thing I bought was just on a whim as I was so enamoured with it.  You have to say one thing about Americans they think of it all.  Where as the rest of the world would think why put marshmallow in a jar the Americans say, "the hell with you" and go ahead and do it.  So I give you 'Fluff' its marshmallow in jar and apparently you can put it on bread (cos I've always wanted a marshmallow sandwich?), in drinks and on desserts; the possibilities are endless and I was intrigued. There is even a serving suggestion for a 'fluffernutter' which you mix it with peanut butter on a sandwich - ummmmm I think I will pass on that one all the same. Thank you America for making all my (never even imagined) dreams come true.


Marshmallow Fluff (America in a Jar)

 

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Music Monday #3

This week it's back home for Music Monday.  A little bit different as it is not a video clip but the movie trailer for the new documentary about my favourite New Zealand band.  If you are a Kiwi then you will have already guessed the topic of today's post - Shihad.

Shihad are New Zealand's greatest rock band and this month they have released a documentary about their journey - the highs, the lows and above all the music.

I have not seen it yet but its on my list of things to do when I go back home for a visit in July.  So please have a look and a listen and see what you think.


Shihad - Beautiful Machine (Documentary)