A little FYI, if you're one of the people scratching their heads, having no idea what it is about, it's basically like a Korea-Cebu friendship day. Every year (since 5 years ago), the Cebu Korean Association (CKS) and the Cebu City Government put up this festival to celebrate the "harmonious and symbiotic" relationship between Cebu and South Korea.
Symbiotic in which Cebu has helped many South Koreans with learning English and even helped them create livelihoods and with South Korea helping Cebu become an investment hub. You can read more about this in this article.
For this year, the festival kicked off on October 1 and will end on the 8th. Activities include the Korean Culture Exhibit in The Gallery of Ayala Center Cebu. They are also pitching some tents in the Terraces of Ayala Center Cebu for the Korean Food Festival. They serve all types of Authentic Korean food, which includes 떡볶이 (Ddeokbokki/Tteokbokki/Topokki), some Patbingsu (Korean style to halo-halo), rice cakes, and many more. Also, one of the most famous activity every year, is the Cebu K-Pop Star, wherein K-pop fans all over Cebu perform a song-dance routine from their favorite K-Pop band. Another activity that is highly sought, is the Korean Film Festival Happening in SM City Cebu. They show Korean films with english subtitles for FREE through out the festival. I ended up not going, because the only movies I wanted to see were Miss Granny and The Thieves, which I've already seen countless of times.
I do have to admit that this year's festival feels a little more professional compared to the previous year's festivals. The show went on smoothly, contestants were screened properly, there wasn't a boring part in the whole production. I applaud their achievement on this.
 |
| Cebu K-Pop Rehearsal, The Terraces Ayala Center Cebu |
 |
| Patbingsu |
Anyways, I ended up going on the second day (which is today), because I wanted to watch the Cebu K-Pop Star and try out some of the food. I went early in the afternoon and there was literally no one around. I did watch the rehearsal before I started going around the booths.
 |
| Kimbop |
 |
| Egg Toast (in a cup) |
 |
Ddeok-ko-chi (Spicy Fried Korean Rice Cake Sticks) |
I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the Ddeokbokki. Anyways, the food were not exactly great, but they were still pretty good. Prices were somewhat expensive, but something you can still afford. The Egg Toast was PHP 30 for 1 piece, but PHP 50 for 2 pieces. The Ddeok-ko-chi has the same price. The kimbop I believe were around PHP 100 and the Ddeokbokki was PHP 30 for small and PHP 50 for medium. I didn't buy any Ddeokbokki this year, because I always end up disappointed. I have made Ddeokbokki from scratch before, and my recipe have always tasted better. So far, I haven't had great Ddeokbokki in Cebu. I think this calls for a trip to Korea (SOON!!!). I did love the Egg Toast, nothing special though, tasted exactly like french toast. The Ddeok-ko-chi was ok, it was really crispy and the touch of pepper paste tasted a bit out of place, I actually wanted to try it with honey but they didn't have that option.
After the little feast, I stayed a while to watch the performances. I kept an eye out for the ones who did great during the rehearsal. I actually was stupid enough to not take note of the names of the performers, rather I have a list, but I can't seem to put names and faces together, comment down below if you know. (note: sorry for the quality of the pictures, I was using my phone.)
Like I said, I kept an eye out for the ones that I liked during the rehearsal, so I took a video of those instead, and I actually remember the names of the groups. First one was Angel Fire to 2NE1's Clap Your Hands, and the second one is Miss Understood who did a cover of Warrior from the boy band B.A.P. You can check out their video below.
Anyways, I wasn't able to finish the whole show. I'm hoping I can still see the exhibit when I get back, I'll be going out of town this weekend. So, now it's time to say adieu! Till next time Honey Beez!
0 comments:
Post a Comment