“You can’t buy happiness but you can buy ice cream and that is pretty much the same thing.” Yash, for me ice cream is one of desserts that will make you happy. When you sad or disappointed, eating some ice cream could be a cure. It will brighten up your mood instantly. Ice cream is also suitable for both hot and cold weather. Who could refuse ice cream?

There is one oldest ice cream store that still open until now at Jakarta. It is called Ragusa Es Italia. This ice cream store already served their customers since 1932 and opened by Luigie Ragusa and Vincenzo Ragusa. Let’s go back to the past for a moment. One time, Luigie and Vincenzo went to Lembang, Bandung and saw cattle farm in there. After that, they came up with an idea to use fresh milk from the cattle farm and change it into ice cream. Finally, they opened their ice cream business for the first time at Bandung. After some time, they opened their ice cream store at Jakarta too.

Now, there is only one store that still open. Ragusa Es Italia is located at Jalan Veteran 1 no. 10, Central Jakarta. They sell 4 categories of ice cream; regular flavored, premium flavored, mixed flavored, and fancy flavored. Other than that, they also serve some drinks menu such as orange juice and ice lemon tea. In my opinion, there is no particular favorite menu here because all of their ice creams are so appetizing. Ragusa uses fresh cow milk and without preservatives so their ice cream texture is really soft. 

I visited Ragusa Es Italia when it was raining heavily and past lunch time. It was not crowded with people. At certain hours, this oldest ice cream store will be full of people and you have to wait for an empty table. The store is small, cozy and you can still feel the old feeling from this place. There are many old photos on the wall. Although some furniture had been change, an old atmosphere still lingering. The prices for ice cream here in Ragusa are between Rp 15.000 – Rp 35.000. Cheap enough, right? 

In front of the Ragusa Es Italia store, there are some food stalls like chicken satay, gado-gado (mixed vegetables with peanut sauce), otak-otak (fishcakes), and rujak juhi. The chicken satay is some kind of popular. Customers usually order it too when they visited Ragusa. However, for me it tastes not so special. 

For ice cream lovers, you should visit Ragusa Es Italia store here in Jakarta. The ice cream is so soft, not to sweet, and no preservatives. You can also feel Batavia old town atmosphere here. Enjoy!!

Address : Jl. Veteran 1 no. 10, Gambir, Kota Jakarta Pusat

Open Hours : 10.00 - 21.30

After Busan, now is Seoul’s Foods Time!! I had a chance to eat some popular Korean Dishes at Seoul. Let’s see, what foods that I ate? From street foods to popular restaurant foods :9

Dosirak Cafe 

Dosirak means lunchbox, so in this café you will use some kind of plastic tray to eat. It located at Tongin Market, a traditional market in Jongno-gu area. This market is not as big as Gwangjang Market; however you will find many kind of local Korean dishes like sundae (blood sausage), japchae, mandu (dumpling), jeon (Korean pancake), and many more. One special food that you will find here is Gireum Tteokbokki or oil tteokbokki. This tteokbokki is different because it has no soup at all but it is stir fried with oil.

Dosirak Café at Tongin Market has uniqueness in their payment concept. They use an old coin or brass coin called Yeopjeon for the transaction. So, you have to exchange your money with Yeopjeon. One bundle of yeopjeon contains 10 coins and is valued for 5.000 KRW. I only buy 1 bundle and it’s enough to get some foods that you want.

How to Get There :

Nearest Station - Gyeongbokgung Station

Take exit 2 and continue straight for about 700 m

Address:

18, Jahamun-ro 15-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Contact : +82-2-722-0911 

Closed every Third Sunday of each month (Dosirak Cafe is closed Mondays)

Meokshidonna Tteokbokki

Actually, you can find tteokbokki easily at Seoul. They sell it in street even in a restaurant. Mukshidonna is one of popular tteokbokki restaurant. The main menu is of course tteokbokki but you can choose other ingredients to mix it in your tteokbokki. Cheese, budae sauce, ramyeon (ramen), vegetable, fish cake, egg, or meat dumpling; you name it! The price is also affordable. I went there with another 3 people. I only spend like 4.000 – 6.000 KRW for this delicious and big portion of tteokbokki :)

How to Get There:

Nearest Station - Anguk Station

Take exit 1 and walk for 10 minutes.

Address:

19-1 Anguk-Dong,
Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

Contact: +82 2 723 8089
Opening Hours: 11am – 8.30pm

Gwangjang Market's Food

Gwangjang Market is the largest traditional market in South Korea. It is so popular with local even international tourists. When you go to Seoul, you definitely have to go here. They sell many local Korean dishes from dumplings to a little extreme one beondegi (boiled silkworm pupae). Let’s see what food that you can find in this large market!

Jeon 

Jeon as I already stated previously is a Korea Style Pancake. It is really different from Western style pancake which like a cake. Korea Style pancake is basically a flour batter that has been fried. You can choose which ingredients that will be mixed with the batter like kimchi, green onion, or mung bean. These three ingredients are the most popular kind of pancake in Korea. They also will give you soy sauce mixed with onion. 

Bindaetteok

Bindaetteok means mung-bean pancakes. It is one of the most popular Korean pancakes variety. This pancake is made from mung beans that have been grounded and mixed with green onions, kimchi, or peppers. After that, they will fry it. The taste is nutty because it has beans in it and this pancake really goes well with Makgeolli (Korean Rice Wine). 

Makgeolli

Makgeolli is one of the most popular alcohol drinks from South Korea. This drink is originally made from rice that fermented however nowadays there is another flavor like apple, chestnut or corn. The color of this drink is milky white and it has like 6-7 % of alcohol. I prefer makgeolli than soju (another alcoholic drink from Korea) because of its sweet taste. Now, you can find this drink easily in a plastic bottle at the supermarket but in my opinion, makgeolli in traditional market is tastier. Drink this with side dishes like jeon. 

Mandu

Mandu is a Korean type dumpling and is a well-known food in Korea. It is different with Chinese dumpling or japanese dumpling. There are many stores that sell mandu at Gwangjang Market. Mandu is usually served with kimchi and filled with minced pork meat, minced beef, green onions, garlic, or ginger. When you eat it, dipped it with soy sauce. It taste really delicious with fresh kimchi and chewy with it's minced pork meat.

Kimchi Mandu - 5.000 KRW

Tteokbokki
I can say that the tteokbokki at Gwangjang Market is different with the one in Mukshidonna. The tteokbokki here is more traditional with no added ingredients. Just pure tteokbokki. Me personally prefer the Mukshidonna tteokbokki. It's taste kinda weird for me. However, when you go to Gwangjang Market, you should try it :)

Tteokbokki - 3.000 - 5.000 KRW

Bibimbap
Who doesn't know bibimbap? This Korean dish is internationally popular. Bibimbap means mixed rice. Warm white rice with many kind of vegetables like spinach, beansprouts, mushroom, or zuchinni on the top of it. After that, you mixed all of that with gochujang (chili pepper taste), soy sauce, or doenjang (fermented soybean paste). Bibimbap served in a large silver bowl here and also with a warm soup. It will give you a local experience :)

Bibimbap - 4.000 - 5.000 KRW

Fried Mandu - 1.000 KRW

Odeng with Sausage Skewer - 3.000 - 4.000 KRW

Bungeoppang - 2.000 - 3.000 KRW

Yeoltan Bulgogi - 8.000 KRW

Gooso Dakgalbi

This restaurant is famous for its spicy stir-fry chicken. Actually, it is already modernized because its different with the traditional one. I really recommended this restaurant. The chicken meat is tender and the sauce is an art itself. With addition of melting cheese. Don't forget to order a fried rice when the dakgalbi is almost finished. They will mix the rice directly in front of you. So perfect to end this eating session :)