일마레 카페를 찾고 싶어

일마레 카페에 가고 싶어. 어느쪽으로 갈 까요?

(주)일마레 서울시 강남구 청담동 100 루미안빌딩 1층

With the above address, I went to search for the Il Mare Cafe & Pasta outlet at Cheongdam. I thought it was going to be easy but without a map location of the restaurant, I was lost in Cheongdam. After about an hour of futile search, I decided to flag down a taxi. Actually, I was enjoying my walk down the streets at Cheongdam and was in no hurry to find the place. So it was only after an hour that I decided to ask for help.

After flagging down a taxi, I told the taxi driver in Korean that I would like to go to Rumi-an Building. He did not know the place and asked me for the restaurant phone number. I gave him the number and he made the call to the restaurant using his handphone. After a while, he told me something in Korean which I did not understand. I told him, "한국어를 잘 못 해요". He used his handphone to call again and after a short conversation with the other party, he handed over his phone to me. I thought he was asking me to speak to the restaurant receptionist. I reiterated that I do not know Korean well. He said, "영어". So I took over his phone and a lady at the other end told me in English that the restaurant was under renovation and there was no one picking up the phone. I was disappointed. I thanked the taxi driver for his help and he drove off.

Apparently, the taxi driver had called the hotline for language translation after knowing that I could not understand Korean. What surprise me even more was that he was patient and even offered the use of his handphone so that I could understand through an interpreter what he was trying to tell me earlier. I thought, he could have just driven off because I would probably not take his taxi after knowing the restaurant was under renovation. I may be wrong but I think Singapore taxi drivers have a lot to learn about giving good customer service.