Exchange Day 78 - Cheapskate no more

Breakfast was a purple sweet potato rice cake that I bought from the station yesterday and a huge banana! I bought the bananas from a truck near the station too and they were really cheap (and delicious) at six for 3,000W. The banana I had was a little tart though, perhaps I should wait a while more before I devour the rest.

I was a sloth the entire morning but I can't help myself. I thought if I refrained from storing food in my room, I would go out more often because I had to eat but I guess I didn't know myself well enough. It's so true how they say that when you go on exchange you learn something new about yourself every day. I always thought that hunger was my achille's heel and I'd brave fire and water to eat, but I guess I was more resilient than I thought.

Thankfully for my tummy, us poor students have to attend classes whether we like it or not, so I headed out although I very much preferred loafing in the warm comforts of my room. I usually eat the same old things around school so that I'll be in time for the free shuttle bus but today, I am a changed woman.

I resisted my cheapskate urges and walked all the way to the subway station in the chills, determined to eat some good food for a change. Since I wasn't familiar with the area, I decided to just go for the first restaurant I saw and that was how I ended up in Outback Steakhouse. Prices at Outback Steakhouse are outrageous for the average Joe and you won't find anything lower than 10,000W (apart from drinks) in the standard menu. It would be cheaper to order a combo to split amongst friends but expect to spend an average of at least 25,000W per person.

However, luckily for single diners, they do have heavily discounted set meals from 12:00 to 17:00 every weekday, which I would say still isn't cheap but was very worth the price. These set meals start from 10,250W and are split into various price ranges to suit customers of all budgets. For each price range, there would be an option of a pasta, salad or steak. Since I was intent on being lavish, I ordered a Carribean Steak Salad for 19,250W, part of the middle-range courses.

(clockwise) Sweet rye bread with butter, Carribean steak salad, strawberry ade and cream of corn soup.

Each set meal entitles the diner to a main course, fruit ade of his choice, bread and butter, a bowl of soup and a cup of Outback Steakhouse's home-brewed coffee. For the health-conscious, the ade can be upgraded to a cup of healthier fruit juice for a small fee of 1,100W. Coffee is served after the meal but I opted out since I didn't like coffee.

The portion of soup was generous and I'm grateful that it was heartier than the effortless Campbell concoction.

I was given a choice between cream of mushroom and cream of corn, and naturally I chose the one that wasn't so common but I'm not sure if these soups are seasonal or kept fixed on the menu.

I was expecting the ade to be a cheap ripoff of a flavoured soft drink but it turned out more like fresh juice with fizz!

It's fun when you get the bread served on a chopping board and you have the liberty to slice your own bread but I didn't like that both the butter and the bread were so sweet they felt sugared.

The highlight of my meal, look at those juicy cubes of steak!

The salad was really flavourful, perhaps a little too much I would say. I like my greens raw and fresh but the ones in the salad were drenched in salad cream and spicy salsa and that was after they had been marinated in olive oil. I felt that this took the whole point out of eating a salad as I might as well have been eating a steak with all the trimmings. The fried crisps added a bit of crunch to the salad, which would have been great had the calorie count not already been skyrocketed by the excessive dressing. The beef cubes singlehandedly salvaged the salad and I have to say I didn't regret my order. They were succulent and not overdone, with an even distribution of meat and tendon. Amazing.

Dinner was at DB Roll, a cafe in the basement level of the Dong-A Bumin campus. I had been wanting to eat their tempura ever since I saw my classmate having it that day and now I finally have my chance! The tempura (튀기) comes in a set of standard 4pc or premium 6pc, and since I wanted hot 오뎅 (oden) as well to warm my freezing self, I took the standard set for 2,000W. The difference between the two sets, other than the quantity, was an absence of tempura prawn, which was only available in the premium set.

(left) Oden and (right) tempura.

Normally I won't order this as I don't like its plain taste but the one here was umami and it helped warm me up!

There's a variety of fried sweet potato, yam, dumpling and kimbab. Too delicious!

The weather's really cold now and I'm starting to miss sunny Singapore so much. I have come to realise that as much as I hate getting a tan, I cannot live without the warm embrace of the Sun, which is probably why I will never be a fair maiden.

xoxo, ❀