sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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 Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:09 pm Post subject: Robert Koehler's Seoul book gets mixed review |
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2914197
I thumbed through it at the bookstore. It's big but disorganized. I found information about attractions and landmarks that can be easily found on any official website. Here's what a reviewer had to say.
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Unfortunately, the guide falls short in the restaurant section. Most tour guides follow a standard format when it comes to restaurant reviews. They list the type of food served at the restaurant, the address, hours and telephone number, the rough price of dishes and whether vegetarian items are available. If you�re lucky, some guidebooks will even tell you if there is English spoken in or on the menu of the restaurant.
But Koehler�s Seoul seems to throw this rubric out the window. The end of each neighborhood chapter features a two-page spread on �Places to Eat.� Koehler lists a dozen or two restaurants with brief (sometimes snarky) anecdotes such as this one for Re in Seodaemun: �Possibly the only venue in Seoul where you can sit in a tent, pitched indoors, while drinking wine while listening to reggae. The bar is also associated with efforts to help Tibet - as if that wasn�t obvious.�
The descriptions include the restaurant�s phone number and where to find them on the guide�s map. But the lack of price guides, veggie-friendliness and hours on the restaurant listings made it difficult to go off book recommendations alone. For instance, with Re, I�m not sure what sort of food they serve, let alone how much said food and wine will set me back.
In the end, Seoul serves best as a coffee-table book for expats rather than a utilitarian, first-timer�s guide to the city.
Without an index page, the book lends itself to a leisurely thumbing through and not the down-and-dirty information hunt often necessary on trips.
And given the book�s weight and stocky dimensions, I found myself tearing out the pages to take along with me rather than dragging the entire book along.
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Anyone agree or disagree? |
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