Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Exciting Deli News

I'm a sucker for new food shops and this week sees the opening of High Street Market in Itaewon. Located next door to the Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel (head out of Itaewon station past the defunct Hard Rock Cafe, La Tavola, Helios, Macaroni Market and Spazio Luce, it'll be on your left opposite the Cheil building), this new deli promises many delicious things according to a recent Korea Times article:


Imagine most of the items a host would require to throw a memorable party, and you begin to see what will be available at this wonderland of gourmet pleasures. Among the hard to find food items are various breakfast cereals, European style bread (bread that doesn’t taste sweet!), reasonably priced foreign cheeses, imported directly for High Street market, and fresh roasted coffee beans by weight. Even scented candles to add that romantic touch to a homemade meal will be available for sale.


Plus according to 10 magazine there's a special competition on this weekend starting at the grand opening on Friday 17th December at 9.00 am:

Here’s a list of all the enticing prizes that can be won!
- 2 kgs of gourmet coffee (W80,000 value)
- mixed meat basket: rib-eye steaks, turkey breast, smoked turkey, breakfast sausages (W120,000 value)
- case of wine: 12 different bottles of wine (W300,000 value) sponsored by Perioth Wines International
- gourmet cheese: grok, parmesan cheese snack (10 gr, 1 ea); mini bri (10 gr, 2 ea); happy swiss (10 gr, 1 ea) sponsored by Gourmet F&B
And the grand prizes are as follows:
- 2nd grand prize: W100,000 gift certificate
- grand prize: Illy espresso machine


It all sounds wonderful, but I'll reserve judgement until I see the price tags. High Street Market could be a great addition to the Itaewon shopping scene, or it could be another over-priced, over the top, pretentious shop that caters to those with more money than sense.

In a perfect world this place would live up to its name by offering high street prices, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and will report back once I've taken a peek and snaffled all the free samples.

7 comments:

Breda said...

Thanks for the directions to the place! I may head there Friday.

Brendon Carr said...

You write: "High Street Market could be a great addition to the Itaewon shopping scene, or it could be another over-priced, over the top, pretentious shop that caters to those with more money than sense."

Check out the article in 10 Magazine where the High Street Market is introduced, and see the photograph of the owners. One of them, whose name I think is Dan, for some reason has chosen to pose next to a six-liter bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne, brandishing his Rolex like it is Green Lantern's ring. Not a good sign.

Paul Ajosshi said...

Brendon, I fear you may have hit the nail on the head.

David said...

Come on, guys - it's supposed to be comic, not the comics.

David

Paul Ajosshi said...

Apologies David, I'll be heading there this afternoon to see what it's like and I sincerely hope that it's a great place. However, after being charged 20,000 won for 20 slices of salami at the Hansel and Gretel Deli this week, I'm in a skeptical mood.

I've also visited Pieroth Wines in the past and think they have a fantastic selection, but the wines are certainly not in my price range.

I hope High Street Market will offer something for everyone and I can't wait to get down there to sample their goods.

David said...

Maybe I'll see you there!

As for prices - it just seems pretty darn hard to get affordable cheese into (and in) Korea. I doubt that the importers are making a killing on these things. Of course, I could be wrong...

D

Paul Ajosshi said...

Just come back from High Street Market and I have fallen in love with their meat counter...

Their pricing isn't too hideous and they've got some real gems on sale.

So far, so good...