Songtan Delivery: 2 Week Beta Test

At South of Seoul our volunteers are truly dedicated to listening to the community and finding solutions for issues people are having while living in Pyeongtaek. Over the past three years we have had regular requests for the following:

• access to online menus in one central location.
• an English language app for ordering delivery or pickup from restaurants. 

Up until now, we have tried to find another service to fill this void, however, there never has been anyone or anything that did it quite right. So we finally took it upon ourselves to build a simple solution that we hope will fill this niche. The Beta Test for this new pickup and delivery ordering system begins today. We are testing with three businesses in Songtan: Wings and Things, Happy Teriyaki, and Sawatdee Thai. Here is where you can find it in the app:

As always, we run on no budget and we don't like to get between businesses and their money so we were creative in how we put this together. It absolutely wont be as flawless as something built by Google or funded startup. Instead, it's going to be a simple solution that addresses the unique needs of our community built as simply as possible. That means we all still might need to learn a few tricks to make it work as smoothly as possible. Go slow, click all the buttons, discover how it works and let us know if anything is so confusing you can't figure it out. This is the Beta Test to make sure it's feasible and helpful so feedback is important.

Even though we are nervous as heck about launching this we are also VERY excited about the new Pickup and Delivery system! It's way cooler than we ever dreamed we could create for you guys. It's especially good because it gives each business control over their menus, store hours, delivery fees, and more.  That means it's a sustainable system for us and them. Here is how we are handling two of the most sensitive aspects of building a system like this: 

• PAYMENT: Although you will order through South of Seoul, you will not pay through the app. Just like with the Ride-share Reservations, money will be COD or handled through each individual restaurant. If everything goes well for users, for us, and for businesses we may try to add payment integration later, but for now, it's outside our comfort zone.
• DELIVERY FEES: Each business will have their own delivery fees which will be added after checkout. We have placed these in the banners so that you can clearly see what they will be. Some businesses may charge more if you are further than 2km from their shop.

The app will make it easy for you to get delivery because you pre-load your address and phone number into your profile. When you enter the Delivery area click on the three lines with a down arrow. This is going to allow you to access your orders and your account information. You can get your address all pre-loaded here so that it automatically sends when you place your order. Pretty awesome! Make sure this is accurately filled out to make this as easy as possible. Ask your realtor to enter your physical address if you don't know it.

In addition to having your address loaded in your profile, there is also a white field in check-out where you can add more specific information about your location.

This system is for Pickup AND Delivery! That means you need to clarify which you need when you check out. When we built this addition to the app we realized that there is as much need for pickup ordering as delivery. Lot's of us want to order ahead when we are in the area. Please let the business know if it's pickup or delivery when you check out. Just write it in the white box (the grey area always says pickup IGNORE THAT FOR NOW!lol) :

We have based the structure off of how reserving your ride-share bus works:

• To add to your cart you hit the plus sign.
• To check-out, you tap the cart in the top right.

Once you have put in your order to might get a call to clarify payment options if they have any questions, so once again, make sure your profile information is all updated and accurate. 

FINGER COSSED THIS ALL GOES WELL!!! Easy pickup and delivery ordering is soooo needed.

Delicious Food For Lazy Foreigners

By Lanae Rivers-Woods, South of Seoul Volunteer

Sometimes things like leaving the house and putting on pants are just too much to ask. Just because we are at home with nothing to do, doesn’t mean we want to cook. Our heads are exhausted from figuring out a new culture, the language, building new relationships, and our jobs. We want to walk into the kitchen and have delicious homemade food waiting to comfort us. Sure we love many of the new foods we are trying, but when we are home we just need food that tastes like what we know. Food we can pop it in the microwave or steamer and get right back into our heated beds to read books and write blogs. We want to be MAXIMUM lazy.

Thankfully we live in a magical land called Korea that makes this possible. There are always different expats cooking up new businesses to keep our bellies full. Need homemade tamales to live? Done. Some sourdough bread? Yah, they ship that. Hummus or pita more your thing? They have you covered.  Even lazy vegans can find what they need. This is a short list of a few places that you can order your comfort foods from, delivered right to your door.

Stop putting on those pesky pants and put in your orders today! Then go tell all your friends. These businesses often rely on word of mouth to be successful. We just had Oh Mandu for breakfast. YUMMMMM!!!

These businesses are listed in the South of Seoul app in the Pyeongtaek Directory > Businesses > Food. Makes it easy order without having to remember their websites and Facebook pages names. We add to it when new places we like pop up. Happy eating and tell them South of Seoul sent you.

France Gourmet

For all the fancy people who like to say charcuterie and make cheese boards. This company started as the first French sausage makers in Korea. They have grown and expanded to offer many imported items as well products produced in Korea.

Jack's Bean

This the first hummus and falafel delivery in Korea. They used to have a shop, but now they are committed to shipping right to your house. 

Kebab Plus Food Truck & Delivery

First of all, they have affordable (for Korea) homemade pita. This is super hard to find so keep these guys bookmarked. Secondly, they also have a wide variety of delicious hummus flavors that ship right to your house.

Bob's Bread

There isn't a place in Korea who does bread better. Plus, sourdough. A great place to order a few times a month for that authentic taste of home.

Waeg Farm Goat Cheese

If you love cheese, then you are going to want to order some of this. It can be nearly impossible to find goat cheese anywhere else. It's expensive, but it's also right from the farm so who cares. Free shipping on larger orders. Cheese keeps well in the freezer. (No Cheese available Dec-Mar due to birthing season)

Sprout Meal Kits

Delicious pre-made vegan meals. Highly recommended for the busy person who wants to eat healthy.

Mogo Meal Kits

Delicious pre-made vegan meals. We were actually able to share one box between 2 people and feel full. They are hearty portions.

Oh Mandu

Chinese Fusion mandu with unique and classic flavors. They have free shipping if you buy over 40 (which we always do because they are AMAZING). Highly recommend the Chinese pork and Mexican flavors. They have vegetarian options as well.

Tamales In Korea

Trained Mexican chefs that ship the best, authentic flavors of Mexico right to your door. They have a wide variety of items beyond tamales so be sure to search their website. They do small batch and large batch orders. Everything is made to order. They have gluten free and vegetarian items.

Now it's time to go try them all and leave your reviews in the South of Seoul app. Just go the app, open the listing, and click the star in the banner. You can tell us all what you thought. Remember to include useful tips like where you parked, if they had chairs for kids, or other details you found important. Reviews help us build a beautiful life together. One Star reviews submitted with no comments may be rejected. Please explain 1 Star reviews without being crude or profane. Simply explain the situation. For example: "the food was not fully cooked, the waitress never brought my friend's food, and the taste wasn't what I prefer." Korea has strong anti-defamation laws so keep explanations clear and fact based.

For address and WAZE directions to anything on this blog download the South of Seoul App from either Google Play or Apple App Store. 

Why we do this:

We made the app to accompany the blog because it's easier to keep update with current information. In the past we've tried keeping the information on the blog but it's too hard for us to maintain the information in two places at once over time. Since we compile and write blogs around a full time jobs without compensation, we need to do it the most efficient way possible with as few steps as possible. 

Oh Mandu we love you

Chinese

Yesterday we arrived home from work to a special delivery of mandu from Oh Mandu in Cheonan. They are a small home business that just started up a few weeks ago. They specialize in small batch, hand-made, traditional and unique mandu flavors. They currently offer Chinese, vegetarian, and Mexican flavors but have others they are working to perfect. They are very new so it's an exciting time to try them. I love ordering from new ventures like this because it's like going on a taste adventure.

Since we were way to busy to coordinate a pickup and drop-off, Oh Mandu was wonderful enough to accommodate us by shipping ours to us. Since we are fine with paying a bit of shipping fee to have quality food like this arrive like magic at our home, this system worked great for us. The order came packaged in a Styrofoam box with ice pouch. So easy. So worth it. (Shipping prices vary base on order size.)

Honestly, we had no idea what to expect. Random person starts making mandu in their kitchen and selling them, anything could happen. We never let that bother us though and we jumped in with booth feet. We cooked up 5 Chinese and 5 vegetarian mandu straight away.

Although Oh Mandu recommend using a microwave to warm the mandu, we don't own one and instead prefer traditional ways of reheating so we created a makeshift steamer. We steamed for around 3 minutes each (rough guess) and figured we had probably ruined them completely, but we hadn't! They came out like little dreamy clouds of deliciousness. They just melted in our mouths. So friggen good. We ate them until we could barely move. So much having them for snacks later.

Vegetarian

We our favorite was by far the Chinese Mandu, although the vegetarian was still very good. It just didn't pop like in quite the same way. Still, if I was vegetarian I would be ordering these Mandu constantly. Honestly, so friggen good. We were just seduced by the meaty goodness in the Chinese version.

We still need to try the Mexican mandu. It's at home calling our name in the freezer. After we eat it up we will definitely be putting in an order for more. Goodbye e-mart mandu and hello Oh Mandu.

If you would like to give Oh Mandu a try just you can find them on FB at Oh Mandu where you can place an order, like their page, and leave a review.  Please keep in mind this is a small, family owned mico business just starting out. If they make mistakes be kind. Give them healthy feedback for improving their systems and offer solutions when you can. We had a great experience, but we always like to remind people that small businesses have growing pains and responsive consumers can help them move through them and grow into something wonderful.

And - of course - Happy eating.

BRIX Delivery now in Songtan

BRIX Delivery

OPEN 10am - 10pm CLOSED ON TUESDAYS

Cash only. Won or Dollars

For those living near the Osan Air Force Base main gate who have struggled to find enough delivery options, your life is about to get a lot better. BRIX Delivery has launched expanded service in your area.

For a 5,000 won/$5 they will pick-up from any of the restaurants or cafes in the SED to and deliver it within 2km of the Osan Air Force Base Main Gate.

Want some Thai food? No problem. Feeling life fish tacos? They can make it happen. Need some cake and coffee stat? Just give BRIX a call.

Since we at South of Seoul feel like this is a service that needs to stick around, we are partnering with BRIX to make it super easy for you to figure out where you can order from. Here is what you need to do:

Grab your smart phone, open the South of Seoul app and then...

• SEARCH for BRIX Delivery in the Pyeongtaek Food & Fun section of the app.

• SELECT the restaurant you would like to order from.

• CALL directly to BRIX Delivery via the app by clicking on the black scooter icon.

• SEND BRIX a picture of your address. You can find this on a utility bill. Keep this in your phone for future orders.

• PRESENT your app to your delivery driver who will validate your delivery via the BRIX Rewards program in the app. You will recieve the 11th delivery FEE free.

Now those living in Songtan can get burritos, tacos, pasta, kebabs, pad thai, adobo, sushi and much more delivered right to their door.

You can download the South of Seoul App from:

France Gourmet

If you are a bit of a Francophile (someone in love with all things French) this recommendation will make you very happy.

As you know, importing cured meats is a pain in the arse in any country, especially in Korea where importing foreign specialty foods is a fairly new situation. Faced with living a life without smelly sausages, a couple of savvy French expats decided they could get around this by simply curing their own meats IN Korea. Thanks to this moment of genius and intense dedication to Charcuterie (the art of curing meat) France Gourmet was born. Although it's not always cheap, it is always tasty.

So there you have it. French foods shipped to your door www.FranceGourmet.com and you can order in English. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Gringos Burritos: Delivery Across Korea

For years, before all the fancy new restaurants, Gringo Burritos has taken care of expats across Korea. They ship fresh, tasty, homemade burritos and sides right to our doors. They are delicious, reliable, and a blessing to have around.

If you find yourself wishing your freezer was filled with magical prepared food, I highly recommend keeping your freezer full of Gringos.  They are the perfect solution for those pesky, late night burrito cravings. 

Order your own: 

www.gringoskorea.com

www.gringoskorea.com