IT's all aBout tHe fOoD

Saturday we found the most gorgeous little second-hand book shop in Itaewon.

Itaewon is a westernised area of Seoul near the US military base where all the "GI"s hang out, so it's filled with brash accents and lots of different international restaurants which charge through the nose.

Anyway, anyway.

Abby's Book Nook is up in a little alley running along the main street, and as soon as we walked in it was just such a nice feeling. First, English books everywhere. Second, the lovely Korean owner and her young daughter floated around the shop spreading good vibes. And third, there was apple pie and flourless chocolate cake.

I haven't seen real desserts since I left home - so that's six months. Coffee shops have kind of odd-looking excuses for cake here. For one, there's rice cake, which I have no idea how to explain, except that it appears fluffy but feels like a brick, sits like a solid mass in your stomach and is not sweet. That's big for kids' birthdays.

Then at the bakery the cakes are fluffy sponges lacquered with 2cm-thick fake cream and topped with sugared fruit and tomatoes (which I know is a fruit, but really needs its own special mention).

We felt compelled to try the pie. And it was so good - crunchy pastry leaves showered with cinnamon and sugar and plump with sweet apple. No cream and no icecream, though. That was a bit of a bugger.

So I found a few books. Listened to Andrea Bocelli playing in the background. Eavesdropped on other customers ('cos I can't do that often here). Couldn't help myself and answered some guy's question about who was singing on the CD, even though he wasn't talking to me. And then we sat down, had a coffee and some pie, and butted into another conversation with an older Canadian fellow who actually baked the pie and cake, to tell him it was great.

The owner really sealed the deal when she sent us off with a free lemon and choc-chip cookie, which Wes raved about the whole time he ate it, then told us "you just have to have the flourless chocolate cake" next time we were in.

I reckon we'll be back.