Just ask James!

The best words to describe Concierge K are their own:

"Concierge K is the first nationwide lifestyle management company for Expats residing in Korea.
Our main issues include buying service, travel service, entertainment And relocation packages plus customized demand on request.  
The key value we focus on is to end the information imbalances between Ill-communication and lifestyle difficulties leading to financial damages And time wasting, if so, we can prevent things from happening."

You can ask Concierge K for anything you need! They can help you buying from a car to furniture, from electronics to flight tickets. At good prices.

They help you organizing events (they helped us finding a place and organizing our Korean Style wedding)

They help you finding the services you need. They helped us finding someone who can clean curtains or put wallpaper on. 

They work with a commission for each request or on a monthly rate. All the prices and services are described in their website!

It's the best help we could find in Seoul. James is the person who deals with most of the clients and by now we know him and he know us and it is very pleasant to work with him and his company!

Try it out!

http://www.conciergek.com/

Helpline 120

02-120 is the magical number for Korean expats! If you dial (2)120 you reach the Seoul Global Village helpline. Press #9 and they connect you to an English speaking operator.

They can help you with everything! Directions, emergencies, information on events happening in and around Seoul and most of all TRANSLATING! 

If I have to call a Korean company or a Korean person that can't speak English, the operator calls them for you and makes a sort of conference call. I tell the operator what I want to say and he/she translates to the other person. So through the operator I can make calls to any Korean with simultaneous translation. It's so useful and awesome!

If you call them with any matter they always call you back if they can't help you right away!

The best is if you try it out yourself!

The helpline provides services in 6 different languages and it’s open Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm.

Pizza in Seoul / Casantonio

Casantonio is one of the best Italian restaurants in Seoul! I wish I could go more often. They have delicious pasta and good pizza. And a lot of things I miss from Italy that found only there. The owner, Antonio, is very often in the restaurant and very nice! He told me that their prosciutto cotto is home made as several other things. They have buffalo mozzarella and burrata.
Since I live in Gangnam and the Casantonio is in Itaewon I can't go as often but it's totally worth it! They often host events where wines are presented or musical entertainment is offered.
The prices are high end but not exaggerated. It depends on what you order. Of course when you look at the card you would like to order everything they have on the menu!

http://www.casantonio.co.kr/

Casantonio

2F, 124-6 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu,

Seoul, South Korea

Tel: 02-2794-8803

Bread in Seoul / Retro Oven

Brezeln in Seoul! German Bread in Seoul!

It is not so easy to find good bread in Seoul. The chain Bakeries have usually just baguettes and the rest is just pastry. 

Growing up in Germany I am very spoiled with the huge variety of bread and especially Brezels. The real ones, not the American versions.

So I was very happy to find Retro Oven. It's a small bakery in Gangnam who's chef has learned to bake in Germany and came back with awesome recipes for good quality bread.

Since the bakery is quite small and hidden in the Gangnam neighborhood, you can order the bread in advance instead of going there spontaneously. Often they are sold out very quickly.

They offer from country loaf to ciabattas, of course the German-style pretzels, croissants and delicious buttery pain de chocolate. The prices are quite high compared to other standard bakeries but it's totally worth it!

Gangnam-gu, Nonhyeon-dong 254-22

02-544-9045

Exit Gangnam-gu Office Station (Line 7) Exit 2. Walk to the first corner with a steep small street and take a left. Walk 5 minutes and when you see a GS25 on the corner, on the first floor you will already smell the bread!

 

IT'S ALL ABOUT S(E)OUL!!!

Dodot Furniture

If you search for furniture in Seoul you will soon realize that it's quite a frustrating thing to do. Either the shops are too expensive and only have imported stuff or they sell really cheap ugly things with poor quality.

Koreans are used to shop most of the things they need, online. So most of the good shops are actually in the web!

A nice one that has good design and reasonable prices is dodot. Is a Korean brand but the style leans a little bit on the Ikea one. We managed to order chairs and a table with a little bit of translation help.

They have a few shops in Seoul if you desire to look at the furniture live (One is near Sadang), but the ordering online is the easiest and fastest way to get to your dream furniture!

https://www.dodot.co.kr/

IKEA in KOREA!

I [love] company.tv is a website that sells IKEA furniture and accessories. They have the best prices for the imported swedish brand as far as I could compare to other websites.

Some items are, compared to the IKEA shops, almost double but many items also have the same price as in the original shop or sometimes less. It's worth to have a look at this website if you search for a specific IKEA product.

We bought a few things from this site and everything went smoothly and fast. It's also relatively easy to navigate because some headlines are in English.

If you have patience, IKEA will open its first shop in Korea in 2014!

Enjoy shopping!

http://www.icompany.tv/

Pizza in Seoul / D'Buzza

I love pizza. I'm an Italian, what else do you expect?

That is why I always try to find in Seoul the best pizza place!

Today I went to D'Buzza pizzeria for lunch and I really really liked it. The dough was perfectly baked and the ingredients were very tasty. We were 3 so we ordered a Pizza Bufala, Pizza quattro funghi with truffle oil and a parmiggiana. All three dishes were very good. I would say, one of the best pizzas I've tried here so far. All the pizzas a re baked in a wooden oven.

They also have Italian drinks like San Pellegrino lemonade which pleased me a lot!

The restaurant is quite small so it's very packed at the rush hours. You can make reservations in advance during the week. In the weekend you just have to be patient and add your name to the waiting list.

The owner and the cooks are all Koreans but they have learned it very well to make pizza! The two waiters that served us spoke perfectly English.

http://www.buzzapizza.com/

D'Buzza Pizzeria

743-33 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

서울 용산구 한남동 743-33

Tel:02-794-9474

E-mail:buzzapizza@buzzapizza.com