Garosu-gil

In our Fashion Marketing class in Ewha, our professor asked us to describe the “fashion” in Hongdae, Myeongdong, Gangnam, and Garosu-gil. We’ve already been to the first three so we didn’t really have trouble jotting down our observations. We got really curious about Garosu-gil so I decided to look it up in the internet and the rest of us agreed to go there one weekend cause why not?

Garosu-gil is in Sinsa-dong which is around 30 minutes away from Edae. It’s known as a cafe haven, a shopping promenade, and a photoshoot area because the building facades are artsy and totally hip!

You can find a lot of well-known fashion and cosmetic shops in Garosu-gil, including some of the most prominent designer brands. There were also a lot of cafes in the area, some well-known while others I’ve never heard of but I’m compelled to try because of their unique themes.

We wanted to go Cafe hopping so we searched for the best and hippest cafes located in Garosu-gil beforehand. But once we got there, our eyes glimmered at the sight of the discount signs in H&M and the fabulous architecture of the 5-storey Forever 21.

When we went inside H&M, we didn’t really plan on having a shopping galore but when we found this sales rack in the basement with a “1+1” sign, we freaked out! At first we really didn’t understand the “1+1” rack because the items are also individually discounted so we assumed that some pieces are 1+1 while some are just heavily discounted (heavily as in 70% off!). Bea and I just got one item each because #DISCIPLINE (lol) but when we got to the cashier, the person behind told us that the items are discounted AND 1+1 for an item in equal or less of its price! THAT IS WHEN WE FREAKED OUT. Imagine an item that costs 25,000KRW (1000php) sold for 9,000KRW (360php) and is 1+1 for another item that’s also originally 25,000KRW but discounted to 9,000KRW!!!

We all rushed back downstairs and hoarded more of this ridiculously good deals and even bought matching skirts! ❤

We hopped to F21 next and let me tell you that we literally squealed when we found out that ALL ITEMS ARE 30% off, and those in the 5th floor has further markdown of 50%!!!!!!!!! CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We spent more time in F21 because it was huge and because literally everything was on sale. What’s best about this is that there aren’t that much people unlike in F21 stores in the PH during a sale. You can just grab anything you want and go to the enormous fitting room that you have all to your self!

We were so exhausted and overwhelmed that by the end of a good 2-3 hours we’re just too tired to look around for more good deals. In our own words, “ikaw na lang susuko sa sale”.

Nonetheless, we had really amazing deals and we all looooooove our purchases! Some of them were ones that we can use back in the PH so yaaay for us!

FINALLY, we decided to go to Banana Tree Cafe. We got lost in the process and had to ask a few couples (that’s right, we have a fondness in asking couples) about the location of the cafe. We went around and walked for so long through dark and sketchy places only to find that the cafe was just a few blocks away from F21 had we gone to the other direction LOL. Also, we were sure that we were in the right place because we followed the directions carefully and found the CU landmark that was supposed to be the sign that we’re already in the right place. We stood out there for quite some time and was just mind-boggled that we couldn’t seem to find the cafe. We went around again and emerged from another street that led us to the exactly the same CU but voila! The cafe was there all along! It’s kind of hard to spot from the initial street we got from because contrary to what was expected, Banana Tree Cafe was just a little opening in a building with a little sign that says “Banana Tree”.

Sometimes, you just have to look at things from a different perspective. 😛 #Hugot #Apathy (lol this is an inside joke)

The cafe serves cakes in little flower pots with shovel spoons. They also have cotton candy latte where they literally put cotton candy above your latte! It was so creative and unique. The desserts and the latte were good too. A bit pricey though but I’d still recommend it because hey, where else will you be able to eat pudding from a flower pot and sip your latte through cotton candy?