Date Night

Night shift is kind of a bummer--even when Mike and I are able to be in the same place, we're not on the same schedule.  (Mike actually spent last Saturday while I was sleeping cooking me gourmet food for the rest of the week!  Do I have the best husband ever, or what?)  We definitely make the most of the time we have together, though.  A couple of weekends ago we braved the icy chill and headed up to Namsan mountain, which is visible from the ah-pah-tu, but which takes a good 20 minutes to reach by taxi.  And yes, I gave in and accepted the taxi even though I'm usually all for the bus and subway--it was date night, after all, and very cold, and I was in a dress. 

 Our reservations were at 5:30, which turned out to be perfect--we got there with just enough daylight left to appreciate the view, then got to watch the sunset.  In warmer weather, I'm sure this pagoda by the tower would be a great spot to linger; it was too cold for us though, and we headed inside as soon as we could.

We ate at N Seoul Tower, on the top floor of the observation part of the tower. The restaurant is laid out so that every table has a view, and the seating area actually revolves, slowly, around the kitchen, so diners get a chance to appreciate the view from every direction.

The view is pretty spectacular.

Of course I liked this view a lot too:

Dinner was a prix fixe menu with five courses.  Yum!  The first was an amuse-bouche of a kind of ceviche.  (Whew, three languages in one sentence, and none of them Korean!)

 Next an appetizer, then soup.  This soup--a tomato bisque with some kind of melty parmesan tofu block--was spectacular.

The sunset was pretty amazing too.

Steak (of course) for my husband.

And my favorite part of the meal:  a berry compote dessert with ricotta cheese and lychee foam.  Fancy!

The night-time view.  Those long strings of white lights?  That's Seoul traffic.

After dinner we explored the observation level just below the restaurant.

Fun!