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Eat, Sip & Wander
11
items Handpicked recommendations from home base in Florida and our travels north. Authentic eateries, perfect chai lattes, and real experiences—all road-tested and approved.
Sections
3
Outdoor Activities
Restaurants
Other Food & Drinks
Outdoor Activities
From fresh milk, eggs, and honey from a beekeeper through local meats, veggies and quick healthy meals (the gyros!) to gifts and ornaments - it has it all :)
Ocala Downtown Market | Home
Things you can do here: biking, birding, boat tours, canoeing and kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, rollerblading, scuba diving, surfing, star gazing and even getting married ;)
Santos Trailhead & Campground
Restaurants
I love Korean cuisine! And I love home-cooked food! Even though barbecue is high on my list, I rarely visit those popular K BBQ places. Instead, I always look for family-run restaurants, because depending on the region the owners hail from, they intr...
This establishment is no exception! All the staples of Korean cuisine are here, but my all-time favorites (next to K chicken wings, of course!) are their soups and stews. The signature Korean soup type I'm talking about is known as "tang," and it is ...
One Family serves regular galbitang (with radish) or galbitang with cabbage (and you can also get both in spicy versions), oxtail broth (Sokkori Gom Tang), which is a twin to galbitang, and a real delish and my recent favorite - bone broth with tendo...
So, if you're around Tampa, FL, this is a must-eat!
This establishment is no exception! All the staples of Korean cuisine are here, but my all-time favorites (next to K chicken wings, of course!) are their soups and stews. The signature Korean soup type I'm talking about is known as "tang," and it is ...
One Family serves regular galbitang (with radish) or galbitang with cabbage (and you can also get both in spicy versions), oxtail broth (Sokkori Gom Tang), which is a twin to galbitang, and a real delish and my recent favorite - bone broth with tendo...
So, if you're around Tampa, FL, this is a must-eat!
One Family Korean Restaurant
Seoul Garden Restaurant in the Orlando area is another favorite K food place. They serve galbi tang (beef short rib soup), bibimbap (a variety of veggies and meat, sectioned and topped with a fried egg and a dab of chili paste or gochujang on a bed o...
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Garlic & Ginger is our go-to K place in Gainesville. Having the advantage of living in central Florida, we are close to the other hubs, Orlando and Tampa, but Gainesville is by far our favorite. As a college town (UF), it truly delivers for all s...
But if you're a fanatic of home-cooked food, visiting this restaurant is non-negotiable. They offer all the staples of Korean cuisine: galbitang (aka kalbitang) and other stews and soups, rice dishes, japchae (sweet potato glass noodles) and other no...
A special mention goes to their barley tea, served hot or cold - a rare find in K spots, as the more popular ones stick to iced, sugary drinks for the most part.
This place, like all the best family-style restaurants, doesn't look like much from the outside, but herein lies its secret. If you're looking for depth of flavor and culinary diversity, pay a visit.
But if you're a fanatic of home-cooked food, visiting this restaurant is non-negotiable. They offer all the staples of Korean cuisine: galbitang (aka kalbitang) and other stews and soups, rice dishes, japchae (sweet potato glass noodles) and other no...
A special mention goes to their barley tea, served hot or cold - a rare find in K spots, as the more popular ones stick to iced, sugary drinks for the most part.
This place, like all the best family-style restaurants, doesn't look like much from the outside, but herein lies its secret. If you're looking for depth of flavor and culinary diversity, pay a visit.
Garlic & Ginger · 5847 SW 75th St #109, Gainesville, FL 32608
We often travel by car to the Mid-Atlantic sections of the US, and obviously, we need to make stops for dining. One venue we rarely skip is Bewon in Pooler, GA (on I-95, west of Savannah).
Since I cook regularly and we rarely eat out nowadays (quite contrary to what my food posts may suggest!), I take special care of what we eat on the road. Credible eateries that I make exceptions for are those serving Asian (but really, 99% of the ti...
This restaurant offers a true Korean BBQ experience and traditional staples, like galbitang, rice and noodle dishes, beef tongue, beef tartare, pork belly, ginseng chicken soup, grilled mackerel, and soybean curd stew aka soondubu-jjigae. You can get...
Throw in the authentic southern servers with their warm, unpretentious manners, and you get the best of both worlds!
Since I cook regularly and we rarely eat out nowadays (quite contrary to what my food posts may suggest!), I take special care of what we eat on the road. Credible eateries that I make exceptions for are those serving Asian (but really, 99% of the ti...
This restaurant offers a true Korean BBQ experience and traditional staples, like galbitang, rice and noodle dishes, beef tongue, beef tartare, pork belly, ginseng chicken soup, grilled mackerel, and soybean curd stew aka soondubu-jjigae. You can get...
Throw in the authentic southern servers with their warm, unpretentious manners, and you get the best of both worlds!
MENU - Bewon Korean BBQ - Korean Restaurant in Pooler, GA
Seoul Garden in Greensboro, NC is another stop in our travels up north. Home-cooked meals + BBQ dishes in a very casual setting.
Greensboro appears to only have two Korean spots, and the other one serves BBQ exclusively and has a bar area. If that's your vibe or you want some night fun, go for it. We never stay overnight in Greensboro, just drive through it, so we've never din...
We look for comfort food in a quiet setting instead. Seoul Garden has a broad menu with wholesome, tasty choices, the portions are big, the banchan is fresh, and we feel satisfied and nourished at the end of the meal. Bon appétit!
Greensboro appears to only have two Korean spots, and the other one serves BBQ exclusively and has a bar area. If that's your vibe or you want some night fun, go for it. We never stay overnight in Greensboro, just drive through it, so we've never din...
We look for comfort food in a quiet setting instead. Seoul Garden has a broad menu with wholesome, tasty choices, the portions are big, the banchan is fresh, and we feel satisfied and nourished at the end of the meal. Bon appétit!
Seoul Garden · 5318 W Market St C, Greensboro, NC 27409
Here's a cute, little story from a bygone New York City: My husband and I once became friends with an Asian guy who hailed from… Georgia. A tiny window of opportunity opened for the three of us to meet at that exact time, in those exact circumstances...
And we got lucky, because our new friend was a true gentleman - good values, exquisite taste, and a voice that could absolutely crush Sinatra during our karaoke hangouts, even though he was our age.
Let’s just call him John.
John introduced us to, hands down, the best pho place we have ever visited: District Saigon in the lovely borough of Astoria, where we all lived at the time. My husband, a genuine New Yorker - or really, a Brooklynite - was of course familiar with ph...
From the very first time we dined there, we were not hooked. We were enchanted.
District Saigon had that perfect New York neighborhood-restaurant magic: cozy but polished, casual but stylish, the kind of place that feels easy enough for a weeknight dinner but special enough to remember years later. They offer cocktails, happy ho...
Their District Pho came with a marrow bone in it. To be fair, if you did not grow up in a culture that values bone marrow, you may not immediately appreciate it. But for those of us who do, it is culinary gold: rich, nourishing, silky, deeply savory,...
They have other variations too, including the Wood & Herb Smoked Brisket Pho, which we also fell for and then stuck with for good. There are chicken and vegan options as well, plus a whole menu of bánh mì, dumplings, noodle bowls, fried rice, win...
Now, it has been a few years since we last visited, and I do remember a period when they pulled the marrow bone from their signature dish, so I cannot personally guarantee that the place is exactly as magical as it used to be. But the reviews are sti...
And let me finish on a sentimental note here.
There are times when I miss New York City like crazy, because I remember its last golden moments. I feel lucky that I got to ride that last epic wave before everything changed. My husband misses the long walks from Downtown over the Brooklyn Bridge a...
But I am happy that at least the three of us got the timing right... John, too, had plans to move back to his hometown down South, and we believe he followed through.
Maybe someday soon we will all get another chance to meet in the City That Never Sleeps - because it’s too busy dancing.
And we got lucky, because our new friend was a true gentleman - good values, exquisite taste, and a voice that could absolutely crush Sinatra during our karaoke hangouts, even though he was our age.
Let’s just call him John.
John introduced us to, hands down, the best pho place we have ever visited: District Saigon in the lovely borough of Astoria, where we all lived at the time. My husband, a genuine New Yorker - or really, a Brooklynite - was of course familiar with ph...
From the very first time we dined there, we were not hooked. We were enchanted.
District Saigon had that perfect New York neighborhood-restaurant magic: cozy but polished, casual but stylish, the kind of place that feels easy enough for a weeknight dinner but special enough to remember years later. They offer cocktails, happy ho...
Their District Pho came with a marrow bone in it. To be fair, if you did not grow up in a culture that values bone marrow, you may not immediately appreciate it. But for those of us who do, it is culinary gold: rich, nourishing, silky, deeply savory,...
They have other variations too, including the Wood & Herb Smoked Brisket Pho, which we also fell for and then stuck with for good. There are chicken and vegan options as well, plus a whole menu of bánh mì, dumplings, noodle bowls, fried rice, win...
Now, it has been a few years since we last visited, and I do remember a period when they pulled the marrow bone from their signature dish, so I cannot personally guarantee that the place is exactly as magical as it used to be. But the reviews are sti...
And let me finish on a sentimental note here.
There are times when I miss New York City like crazy, because I remember its last golden moments. I feel lucky that I got to ride that last epic wave before everything changed. My husband misses the long walks from Downtown over the Brooklyn Bridge a...
But I am happy that at least the three of us got the timing right... John, too, had plans to move back to his hometown down South, and we believe he followed through.
Maybe someday soon we will all get another chance to meet in the City That Never Sleeps - because it’s too busy dancing.
District Saigon Vietnamese Kitchen
Other Food & Drinks
108 Vine is a coffee shop in Gainesville, and so much more. For me, it's one of the best places to get a hot chai tea latte. I don't tolerate sugary drinks or over-sweetened lattes, and their hot cuppa strikes a good balance - yummy and not too sweet...
108 Vine
Technically a bakery-cafe chain, Panera Bread offers pastries, baked bread, soups, salads, sandwiches, coffee, and other cold and hot drinks. I like their soups and I'm always up for their hot chai tea latte with just the right amount of sweetener.
Perhaps the secret of the drink lies in the tea they use as a base - it is black tea as opposed to many other coffee shops, which use rooibos tea. Don't get me wrong - I love rooibos tea (and honey bush too), but most lattes I get from other places a...
I don't get my hot chai from the other popular chain, because it always manages to make me sick… (sic!). So, I am really grateful for Panera, especially when on the road and in need of a warm drink.
Perhaps the secret of the drink lies in the tea they use as a base - it is black tea as opposed to many other coffee shops, which use rooibos tea. Don't get me wrong - I love rooibos tea (and honey bush too), but most lattes I get from other places a...
I don't get my hot chai from the other popular chain, because it always manages to make me sick… (sic!). So, I am really grateful for Panera, especially when on the road and in need of a warm drink.
Panerabread App | Panera Bread
This is a place with character, no doubt. I had a revelation there - I realized I do LOVE chocolate muffins if they're baked THE RIGHT WAY. I'm not sure if theirs is called Double Chocolate Muffin, Chocolate Chocolate Muffin, or Brownie Muffin, but i...
The Standard