abbles in stereo: Dalmaji-gil in Haeundae (해운대 달맞이길) (Day 2)

After visiting Haedong Yonggungsa, we took a taxi to Dalmaji-gil for lunch. The vibrant, yet tranquil neighbourhood is often called the “Montmartre” of Busan by locals, because it is located on top of a hill overlooking the sea and has many upscale restaurants that are perfect for a romantic night out. I hear this is also the place where the elite kids from the upper class (think Heirs) and celebs like to hang out, and indeed, it is not uncommon to see a line of luxury cars parked along the side of the road!

The cab driver was a bit puzzled when we told him that we wanted to go to Dalmaji-gil. From what little Korean I know, I think the driver was trying to tell us that Dalmaji-gil was a long stretch of road and he wanted to know where we wanted to alight. Thankfully I had a photo of the place I wanted to go on my phone and he instantly recognized the place when I showed him the picture.

We alighted the cab near the peak of Dalamji Hill where a cluster of cafes congregated (you can find Tom N Toms, Angel in Us Coffee, and A Twosome Place all in a row). We had trouble deciding where we wanted to eat because there were way too many choices. In the end, we choose the Italian restaurant, Alexander (알렉산더), because its exterior looked the most gorgeous!

The four-storey restaurant looks like a European chateau / ski chalet, complete with dark wood interiors and granite stone walls. The owners must like Roman architecture too, as the bathrooms were tiled with marble and there were also many neoclassical Roman statues and busts decorating the place.

Spread over 1,650 square meters, Alexander has five unique and stylish themed halls as well as an outdoor terrace, but on the day we came for lunch, only one of the halls was open. Despite the humongous floor space, diners were surprisingly sparse with only three tables taken including ours. There was also a group of super rowdy rich ahjummas who occupied one of the many private rooms in the restaurant. One of them saw me walking past their private room, gave me a death stare and slammed the door. I wasn’t even looking in!

Judging from the demographics of all the patrons in the restaurant, I gather that this is the favoured place for taitais who lunch. There is quite a wide selection of Italian food, from pastas to risottos to pizzas to other light bites. We ordered the set lunches coz it was the most value for money option! The bill came up to be less than 40,000KRW after taxes. Not exactly affordable but I guess you have to pay a premium for dining in such luxurious surroundings.

(Another section of Alexander, which was closed on the day we visited. Perhaps they only open up at night)

We took a walk after lunch and stumbled upon a pretty little pagoda in a small park along the way. There was a film crew filming at the top floor of the pagoda so we couldn't climb upstairs. I don't think there were any celebrities involved, otherwise there surely would be a ruckus. There were also forest trails by the coast that led down to Haeundae Beach, but we were too lazy to walk so we tried to hail a cab.

There were no cabs in sight (is it because most people are chauffeured here?) so we decided to walk on further down the hill. We came across even more restaurants and cafes (many of which with outdoor terraces overlooking the coast) as well as numerous art galleries.