Exchange Day 66 - Japan hour (Part 2)

I went to the Busan Modern History Museum next, which was just down the road from the 40 Steps Street. For those who drive, there's a parking space right beside the building so no worries about leaving the car elsewhere. Similar to the Center, the Museum has many floors but only two of its floors (2F and 3F) are dedicated for the museum exhibits.

I was greeted warmly by the receptionist upon my entrance and although admission is free, I had to enter my name in their guestbook before I could explore the place. For visitors with young children, strollers are available at the reception counter free of charge.

The lift was full so I took the stairs! Climbing makes good exercise.

Everything reminds me of Baca's class and Korean political propaganda. It's really interesting when you can actually see for yourself what you're learning in school. I'm glad I picked his class, although it's the really stressful.

I think this is some sort of a treaty signed between Japan and colonial Korea.

Map of Joseon. Baca's class again.

The original Japanese flag in colonial Korea.

Poster promoting less consumption of rice during wartime.

3D map of the Jagalchi-Nampo-Jungang area. There are buttons at the front of the exhibit, which are linked to various landmarks in the area. Pushing a button will activate an informative video about the landmark and the building lights up in the 3D map.

Gyeongsong (now Seoul) branch of something I'm not too sure of.

Liquor vessels and jars that were used in the brewery industries back then.

An old phonograph.

A realistic portrayal of the modern Busan streets.

A traditional sweets house selling cakes, pastries and candy.

I thought it was a real lift, but it's just a painting.

All that walking made me really hungry so I went to Kappa Sushi for lunch. I was googling "eating alone in Busan" when I came across a review of the restaurant in one of the links. I'm quite an independent (I wanted to say solitary but I think that's too extreme) person so I'm fine with going anywhere alone, and I enjoy doing that too. It's difficult to always eat with friends as a lot of time and effort goes into planning lunch dates and sometimes all we want is just a quick bite. For all lone diners like me out there, this restaurant is a safe haven for you! (cheers) But of course, parties with two or more are welcome too.

Kappa Sushi is located in the building opposite to the humongous Art Box in Nampo and you have to walk inside the building to get to the restaurant as there are no side doors. It's hard to miss the restaurant as it'll be enthusiastically adorned with eye-catching cartoons of the 'kappa', a Japanese sea monster.

According to the number of people in your party, the staff assigns you seats and similar to most conveyor belt sushi restaurants, you get to choose between a counter seat or a normal seat. Don't worry if you have a big party because the group seats can seat up to six comfortably. Hot green tea and soft drinks are complimentary and diners can help themselves to free refills at the self-service bar.

These are the larger group seats. I sat at an individual counter.

Apart from taking the sushi right off the conveyor belt, you can also order food through its electronic menu. It's easy for foreigners to use this menu as it is available in other languages such as English, Chinese and Japanese.

The food comes really quickly in a mini KTX train, which is really cute and also saves the waiters much hassle, especially during peak hours.

After your food arrives, you have plenty of time to take them down from the train before pressing the 'okay' button, which sends the train back into the kitchen.

The food came really quickly so I didn't have to wait long. For first-time diners at the restaurant, I recommend ordering using the computer as the restaurant does not have a hardcopy of its menu. Also, its conveyor belt is pretty empty most of the time as there's only one plate per type of sushi.

Each plate of sushi costs 1,700W regardless of type and sashimi costs 3,000W per plate. Other than sushi and sashimi, there are also proper meals (bentos and udons) and dessert. Bargain hunters can catch the lunchtime special of set meals for under 7,000W on weekdays. I would say that food is generally affordable but don't expect too much from the quality.

(clockwise) Teriyaki chicken yakitori, salmon belly sushi, basil sauce raw shrimp sushi.

This was surprisingly really good! My favourite out of everything I ate today!

Somehow I don't think this is salmon belly ):

The yakitori was too soft and disappointing.

I had a mini bowl of tempura udon, which was delicious! 2,600W for a mini bowl!

My room mate and I wanted to try the cakes from the bakeries here so we decided that every last day of the month would be Cake Day! Today it was my turn to choose the flavour so we got a Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Cake from PB. Chubby says I keep eating the same food in different forms, which is amusing, but I really love sweet potato and pumpkin!

17,000W for 500g cake!

The moment I opened the box I could smell the fragrance of sweet potato and the cake was so soft and yummy it melts in your mouth. In between the cake layers were tiny cubes of potato and the cream wasn't too rich even I could accept it. The flavour is really unique and unlike anything I've eaten before in Singapore so I'm really pleased! The only downside was that it made my throat feel really dry, even though I drank a lot of water. Since this cake was meant to be my dinner, I ate one third of it and we gave some of it away. Some day I am going to eat a whole cake by myself!

xoxo, ❀