6.178
2 (Thu) July 2015
Sliders
3.0
at Conrad Seoul [room service]
-Youido, Seoul-
solo
Mission to Korea + Personal Deviation, Day 2 (see previously 6.177 Bulgogi).
In Seoul. Arrived yesterday evening. Here to support a parliamentarian forum on global health — a high profile event, the Organization represented in full force by the RD, DPM, DSE, and … me — today and tomorrow. Going home for the weekend. Back to Manila on Sunday night.
Tasked with drafting the meeting’s Outcome Statement for review at breakfast tomorrow morning, I declined to join the Welcome Dinner, stayed in my room to complete the work, and ordered room service.
Bibimbap was a strong contender (see 6.043 Bibimbap) — if only for the opportunity to post on a bibimbap that would’ve cost 42,350 won (35,000 + 10% VAT + 10% service charge), an astronomical price that’s impossible to find, even half as much, outside of a hotel* — but the sliders won out — if only for the opportunity to post on mini burgers** that each cost 14,117 won.
*Once previously, I had a bibimbap for around the same price — maybe 36,300 won (30,000 + 10% VAT + 10% service charge) — courtesy of Number One Fan LY, when she’d visited Korea on a business trip — before the blog — and stayed at the Ramada Renaissance, where I’d dropped by at dinner time and, for reasons that I can’t recall, we ordered room service instead of going out.
**The “sliders” here were not actually sliders.
The mini burgers were pretty good. Too much “onion marmalade.” Cheese could’ve been more melted — and should’ve been something other than brie. But the buns were nicely toasted — fortunately, they weren’t really brioche, which are generally too sweet and fluffy for burgers. And the hanwoo beef patties were beyond reproach. Good enough per se — though certainly not worth the money.