Come to Korea with me -1

The 11 hour flight to Korea was dreadful, I even thought to myself that I will never come back.  Holy moly, I don't know how people do it because I was just dying inside in my tiny chair for 11 hours, unable to sleep.  So when I arrived at 8pm I was exhausted and wanted to just sleep right away without unpacking but I needed to unpack in order to get my things out of the suitcase and afterwards I couldn't fall asleep because it was morning in Vancouver.  Aiyahyah....I've been in Korea for 3 days and I've finally overcame my jet lag. 

I haven't been to Korea for 4 years and a lot has changed since then for example  I was suppose to meet my friends at Shinsa station on the 2nd day of my stay but I had no clue where that was... I had to look at the subway map and managed to embarrassed my friends slightly by acting like a tourist (they usually look it up on their phones).  I don't think I am 'acting' like one.. I am one..   Everything in Korea feels new and slightly awkward to me because I've lived in Canada for a long time.

 Saying my goodbye to moosey at YVR

  $10 (left- the men on the bill is King SeJong, creator of the Korean language, Hangeul), $50 (right- Shin Saimdang  who was a famous writer, artist, calligrapher, noted poet in the 1500s.)

 My first breakfast in Korea.  

L'abattoir in Gastown

So I've been trying to go to L'abattoir for about 4 months now.  It didn't work the first time because we thought they don't take reservations (silly us)  and the 2nd time, my friend made a reservation on a wrong day.... ha... ha... We were even deciding on what to order on our walk over to L'abattoir on that day... We did end up going to Bao Bei, hence my previous post and my friend who made the mistake got crapped on my a bird on our way to Bao Bei.  XD (karma?)

I finally got the chance to make a reservation just before my departure to Korea.  I really wanted to sit in the atrium so I wrote it down in the little blurb while making the reservation through Opentable and we did get the seats in the atrium!  L'abattoir is beside Blood alley and it was originally the site of Vancouver's first jail.  In the 19th century, the restaurant apparently supported the city's meat packing district hence the name L'abattoir (The slaughterhouse).

The menu

Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie

My friends and I've been trying to go L'battoir in Gastown for awhile and it seems like the universe is against this idea and we somehow failed twice.  Instead, we decided to go to Bao Bei in Chinatown which is about 10 minutes walk from central Gastown.  Luckily, we were able to get seats right away even though the place was packed with happy customers.  

I've  heard of Bao Bei long time ago and I never thought of the place to be like what I saw.  I guess I expected it to be a typical Chinese restaurant with spinning tables but when you walk in, you would have never guessed that Bao Bei serves Chinese food other than from its name. 

The interior design is modern yet vintage with a cozy feel to it.  It's full of dark woody colours and vintage wallpaper, photos and quite a big bar and a mini waiting area near the entrance.   As you can tell from reading my blog posts, the ambiance of the restaurant means a lot to me XD.  I think it makes the dining experience complete.

*I apologize for the mixture of photo qualities.  I had to use my iphone in between because my camera battery was running out.  

 cute plants at the entrance of the restaurant

 Interior. I think it will fit about 50 people.

 Vintage wall paper, photo