Day 22: Infinite Dongwoo's Family Restaurant, Lotteria, and Not Attending Toheart's Sinchon Fansign Event

Today, Friday, July 11, is Toheart's rescheduled fan signing in Sinchon, at U-Plex! Sadly, the venue is on the 12th floor, where it only consists of a large, enclosed room and a narrow walkway beside the escalators. While I live in Sinchon, the sad reality of not seeing (or hearing through the walls) Woohyun, I decided to visit Dongwoo's family restaurant (and speak to his parents) instead!

By subway, get off of Guri Station (구리역)  and take exits 1, 2 or 3. Take a right and at the end of the block, cross the intersection both ways to the street with Woori Bank (우리은행) and continue down that street until there's another intersection. Staying at the corner, turn right and walk two blocks until there's a dead end. Dongwoo's restaurant is the last business on the right, first floor! You can see the sign that reads 인창 쭈꾸미, then you know you're in the right place.

When you step into the restaurant, there is just Dongwoo everywhere! But first off, you take off your shoes and sit on the floor. This restaurant is known for grilling octopus, so we ordered two orders of octopus, along with some other sides (cheese was one, but I'm not sure what the other was). If you don't know what to order, I recommend what we ordered, shown above! 

You wait for the octopus to cook thoroughly, then cut the octopus into bite sized pieces and add the cheese and bean sprouts on top. Next, take a mint leave, top it with a piece of seaweed, then octopus, and wrap it up and eat! It's so delicious! The waitress also pointed us to a rack of aprons for customers to use, as the sauce can be messy.

After we finished the octopus, the waitress recommended adding an order of stir fried rice (marked as the last item on our order form), which was white rice with seaweed, to mix it with our leftover sauce. I highly recommend this, it's a perfect end to a wonderful meal!

Later on, a man came in, sat down and started talking to a woman. The man later appeared to be Dongwoo's dad (as he also stayed around the counter) and was talking to a family member!

Afterwards, I stared in awe at all of the photos. There were so many official posters (including those life size Japanese posters!), photos, fanart, everything lining up the walls and columns of the restaurant. There are too many to post here!

The waitress saw me taking photos and quietly pulled me by the waist to an enclosed room, turned on the lights, and revealed more Dongwoo photos on the walls! I was so touched by her gesture, and glad she didn't find me creepy for appreciating these photos for such a long time. She even came back a few minutes later and offered to take my photo!

There are also Infinite's autographs on the wall, along with Infinite clocks and news articles.

I still had my shoes off as I went to the restroom. When I came out, Dongwoo's dad chuckled and told me there are slippers I can use...I felt so embarrassed, but happy he was so lighthearted and funny! I then went to pay, but Dongwoo's dad was sleeping at the counter, which is also filled with lots of photos and photocards (BTD exterior postcard!) so I felt too awkward to take pictures! Also there is a stack of fanart postcards of Dongwoo on the counter. Once he woke up, I got a few pictures and this time didn't say I was a fan of Dongwoo as it was already obvious by the staff. Overall, I loved my experience so much here! I'll definitely come back soon! Here is the business card for more information.

On my way through the subway, something caught my eye in the trash can: an Infinite Lotteria cup! I was so temped to be a bum and pick it up..,until I came to the conclusion that Infinite cups were still available at Lotteria. Lotteria is a fast food burger chain by the Lotte conglomerate, and in the entire month of June they offered an "Infinite Pack" that didn't actually include anything Infinite-related, except for their cup and a Korea World Cup cheer towel that Infinite is seen modeling in these posters (which have since been removed, as it's past June).

So after Dongwoo's, I decided to step into Lotteria for a soda! I couldn't order just an empty cup because they had to do an inventory count or something, so I got a Cola (...they didn't offer Pepsi?) and cleaned the cup with a wet nap. This cup is so beautiful, how can someone throw it away...

As I live in Sinchon, after leaving Lotteria I got off at the Sinchon Station, which is directly underground of U-Plex. It was now 9PM, one hour into the fansign event, so I decided to stop by and check it out. On the 12th floor, about 15 other girls my age were sitting around and waiting. There was a TV tucked in the corner playing the "Delicious" music video on a loop. There were a couple of guards standing behind a podium, answering several passerby about the event taking place. At times this man would sneak into the venue from the back door (located directly in front of the podium), and now I regret not following him. At 9:33 I hear three bursts of fans screaming, then at 9:35 a worker opens the back door and I can hear on the microphone Woohyun briefly, then Key speaking! This lasted two seconds, then the worker closed the door again. By 9:42 the doors open and fans flood out. I later walked to the main entrance, which revealed about 100 seats. I saw the stage up front and wishfully thought Toheart would still be there...oh well, I'll try to see them at their next fansigning in Myungdong!