Latest news with #JinJin
Hype Malaysia
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hype Malaysia
ASTRO Rapper JinJin Exempted From Military Service Due To Autoimmune Condition
In South Korea, men have to serve in the military when they become adults, as mandated by the government. K-pop idols are not exempt from this law, which often leads to a heartwarming goodbye to their fans and promises from the other party that they will always wait for their favourite stars. On the 2nd June (Monday), entertainment agency, Fantagio (판타지오), revealed that K-pop group ASTRO's (아스트로) leader JinJin (진진) has been excused from serving in the military. The rapper was exempted from military service because of health reasons involving an autoimmune condition. With ASTRO member Cha Eun Woo (차은우) releasing his enlistment dates last month (29th May), AROHAs (ASTRO fans) have been wondering when the 29-year-old leader would start serving his country. Speculation grew across fan communities, with many expressing support and curiosity about JinJin's plans. According to Fantagio's statement, JinJin had been going to medical checkups but was deemed by his doctor to be unfit for military service. The idol had been suffering from issues relating to a disorder where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its healthy tissues and cells. While the condition isn't too severe, it requires the idol to have frequent visits to the hospital for examinations. While the singer himself hasn't made any updates on how he is doing, AROHAs shared well wishes on JinJin's Instagram to wish him good health. We also hope that JinJin would focus on his health following this recent diagnosis. Source: Soompi Zaima Humaria contributed to this article What's your Reaction? +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0
Pink Villa
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Why is ASTRO's JinJin exempt from military service? Fantagio reveals diagnosis amid Cha Eun Woo's band acceptance
ASTRO member JinJin's autoimmune disease diagnosis was revealed to the fans. In an update shared by the group's management agency, it was announced to fans that the leader of the team will not be enlisting for mandatory military service. An examination from South Korea's Military Manpower Administration, a body under the ROK's Military Defence, found him unfit for service, thereby exempting the singer from mandatory service. The update from Fantagio shared very little information about the diagnosis, however, it was clarified to fans that it does not affect the singer's regular functioning. Check out the full notice below. 'Hello, this is Fantagio. This is in regard to ASTRO member JinJin's military service status. JinJin has been judged unfit to serve in the military after a detailed medical examination by the Military Manpower Administration due to health issues related to an autoimmune condition. We would like to inform you that while he has been exempt from military service, his condition does not cause any problems in his daily life. He is required to visit the hospital regularly for checkups and to manage his health. According to a medical opinion, it would be difficult for him to enlist for military service, and hence, he has been granted an exemption from mandatory military duty. Above all, we will continue to support his activities as an artist, with his health as the top priority. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the fans for your constant love and support, and we kindly ask for your continued interest in JinJin's future work. Thank you.' Recently, it was revealed that singer and actor Cha Eun Woo, who is also a member of the K-pop group ASTRO, has decided to enlist for his own military service. After careful application and approval, he has been admitted to a special arm of the ROK military band. The True Beauty star is set to begin his compulsory service on July 28, making him the 2nd member from the JinJin-led team to enlist for service. Previously, the oldest member, MJ, completed his national duty, returning on November 8, 2023, after serving for 18 months, also in the military band.
CNA
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
JinJin of K-pop group Astro exempted from military service
K-pop boy band Astro's leader and rapper JinJin has been exempted from military service. Astro's agency Fantangio released an official statement on Monday (Jun 2), saying: 'JinJin has been deemed unfit for military duty following a detailed medical examination by the Military Manpower Administration due to health issues related to an autoimmune condition.' In South Korea, upon turning 18, all able-bodied men are required by law to perform 18 to 21 months of military service. The agency said: 'While his condition does not interfere with daily life, he requires regular hospital visits for examinations and ongoing management. Based on the medical opinion that it would be difficult for him to participate in military service under such circumstances, he has been granted an exemption from mandatory military duty." 'We sincerely thank all the fans for your constant love and support, and we kindly ask for your continued interest in JinJin's future endeavours," they added. JinJin's fellow bandmate Cha Eun-woo will enlist in the military on Jul 28 and serve in the army's military band. The location and time of his enlistment will be kept confidential 'in order to prevent safety accidents due to crowding", according to Fantangio. JinJin debuted as part of the six-member boy group in 2016 and was part of JinJin and Rocky, Astro's sub unit from 2022 to 2023. In February this year, he held his first solo concert titled Jin Lab Vol 1 Find Your Groove at South Korea's Yes24 Wonderlock Hall.
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dove, London: ‘inventive, unusual, tantalising'
Dove, 31 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU (020 7043 1400; Starters £4-£16; mains £12-£33; wine from £35 I am a potentially dull person to eat with. However much I love and relish food, food is not my friend and I have a host of verbotens, ranging from garlic, onion and chives, which for me are headache-inducing, to butter, which I have always hated. Each meal in a new restaurant where I'm not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the menu begins, 'Do you have anything without garlic?' My meal might end up seeming plain to an onlooker, but this plainness divulges so many nuanced flavours – a grilled chop floods my nervous system with relaxing endorphins. The pleasure of eating something that agrees with me is in itself a huge delight. Offered the chance to be a restaurant critic for a day, my first thought was who would be the most fun to invite as my date. A sadly long-departed film producer friend called Hercules Bellville – Hercy – pronounced that the most important thing about a restaurant was the amount of space between the tables. In his book, food came about third on the list. I agree in part – for me the thing that matters most is the atmosphere. But my number one priority is who I get to converse with, and how much they will enjoy all the things denied to me that I can vicariously experience. For the last 10 years I have been going for lunch with the brilliant fashion journalist Tim Blanks. He has taken me for birthday lunches at our local Japanese. We have discussed music, fashion and politics in great detail. He normally drinks the most fabulous-sounding concoctions while I benefit from the contact high. Tim accepted my offer of lunch at chef-owner Jackson Boxer's new restaurant Dove on Ladbroke Grove's Kensington Park Road in London, which opened in early January; we were already fans of its previous incarnation, the seafood restaurant Orasay, which occupied the same spot and closed on New Year's Eve 2024. Someone told me that Dove has this incredible burger on the menu made from 50-day dry-aged beef, with gorgonzola on top. They only make something like 15 portions per day and they sell out within minutes. We missed them, but there were other tantalising delicacies to deliberate over. Tim and I usually dawdle for hours, analysing the most recent fashion gossip and the current switcheroo creative director merry-go-round. He had to rush off sooner than usual to get an exclusive phone scoop direct from Haider Ackermann on his Tom Ford debut, so we ordered fast. A few weeks earlier Tim tripped on a tiny kerb differential and somehow managed to break his arm in three places and smash a few ribs. He started the meal with a glass of Château Cantemerle, a Bordeaux that doesn't usually come by the glass and was one of the 'Weekly Specials Pours By Glass' – so that was nice. I opted for a non-alcoholic drink called Jin Jin with lime and soda, which was slightly sweet and vinegary, which is something I adore and find delicious. The menu at Dove is inventive with unusual combinations, which are tantalising even for me who is wary of too much artistry in cooking. Writing this a few hours later I wish I had ordered more dishes, but to start I opted for raw scallop, finger lime, chicken salt, potato cake. Tim chose fried-potato pizzette, bonito, burrata, mortadella, but without the mortadella as he doesn't eat meat, and I don't like mortadella. Both of these starters were so light, with flavours that kept emerging and multiplying with every tiny bite. The potato bases of both were fried, but somehow cloudlike in their enhancing functions as a base. My morsels of scallops on top of the finger lime were so moreish and each taste was both exquisite and balanced, like an orchestral composition. What was relaxing, too, was the lack of annoyance or resistance we met with when asked to remove things like the mortadella from the potato pizzette, which was insanely good even without it: rich in taste and feather-light to consume. For our main we went for grilled wild sea bream, confit garlic (which I didn't touch) and guindilla peppers for two. Looking around, I spied bowls of chunky-looking duck fat fries, so we ordered them, too, with a bitter leaf salad. The sea bream arrived, opened and flat with its head flattened like a hammerhead shark. The addition of a few elegant guindilla peppers scattered over it turned it into a scene from a meal in Breaking Bad. This fish was out of this world, so fresh and light it fell off under the fork, which was good for Tim's left-hand manoeuvring. It was so tasty and flavoursome that we barely bothered with the chips (unheard of). The bitter leaf salad was as high class an arrangement of leaves as you could get, but again the fish… Tim said the confit garlic didn't really add anything, but it was because the bream didn't need anything. For pudding we both ordered Estate Dairy fior di latte soft serve, early harvest olive oil, oat cookies and a coffee cardamom caramel cream to share. The fior di latte ice-cream arrived like two Mr Whippy's, with a light sheen of pale olive oil adorning its ripples like tiny rivulets. It almost didn't matter what it tasted like, it had so much charm – though it was daintily appetising and freezing, accompanied by warm, just-baked oatmeal cookies. The pièce de résistance was the tiny little bomb of flavour that was the coffee cardamom caramel: sweet but not sweet, the texture like a memory from a 19th-century novel. It hit the heart and woke up your appetite all over again. It made you crazy with desire. That is a real art in cooking. The food at Dove is amazing. The décor is simple and elegant; light floods in from the windows at the front, and further in there is a roof light that makes for soft, flattering, European-style ambience. The staff who work there are attentive, efficient, friendly and no one asked us whether we were enjoying our meal. Next week, David Baddiel goes to Mana in Manchester
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Is Tacoma a brunch town? Our food writer goes here for Dutch babies & bloodies
When I arrived in Tacoma in late 2019, the city's restaurants were wading into something of a brunch-o-lution. Everyone, it seemed, had tried or was about to try their luck at brunch, from Asado and Wooden City to the since-closed ALMA cocktail lounge and The Table (now Grann). The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly threw a wrench in those wheels. The sudden burst of interest has yet to return with gusto — Asado and Wooden City, for instance, continue to serve only dinner. Last year, it felt like perhaps the tide was shifting. Side Piece Kitchen took flight on big biscuits and extravagant cheesecakes. Buddy's Chicken and Waffles and Howdy Bagel likewise attract fans from far beyond Tacoma before noon. Manuscript debuted in February 2024 with a weekend brunch now core to its identity, and Three Hearts opened last fall with daytime-only hours. Other new or updated restaurants, including Amor Wine and Tapas, The New Frontier Lounge and Indita Mia in its new waterfront location, have leaned into the mid-morning feast, wherein copious beverages must be consumed per the undisputed Law of Brunch. Field Bar, one of the most ambitious restaurants in Tacoma, known for hyper-seasonality and a frequently rotating menu, also dabbled with weekend-morning service. The food differed from its evening fare in that it focused on a few consistent dishes done incredibly well: fluffy eggs folded with roasted duck onto a Balloon Roof Baking Co. English muffin, French toast bread pudding, an herbaceous green shakshuka. The drinks were, unsurprisingly, an equal draw, with a Jin Jin matcha spritz and a mezcal bloody with pickled horseradish. Yet the crowds didn't show, and brunch is a heavy load, even if it seems like it's not. They scaled back to once a month early this year before hitting a hard pause. Instead, they will focus on special events, including wine dinners and private parties on their usual off-days of Sunday and Monday. I was sad to hear the news but understand the calculation from an ingredient and labor perspective. Then I suffered a different kind of disappointment — in myself: Why had it taken me, the local food reporter, several months to settle into a barstool at one of my favorite restaurants on a leisurely Saturday afternoon? Am I an unwitting member of the apparent cohort of Tacomans who just aren't big on brunching? Am I too old, too friend-less? Or is Tacoma simply not a brunch town? What likely started as a post-church meal, first printed by a British author in 1895, the concept of brunch has assuredly infiltrated the American psyche. In some cities, people stand in line for hours to dine on fare that chefs often lament you can easily make at home — or at least that you could have at any old spot, as the television show Portlandia satirized in its Emmy-winning 'Brunch Village' episode. 'We got the Triple Play. We got the cup 'o joe, side 'o dough. We got the Early Morning Eye Opener — all $1.99,' says Ed Begley Jr. as the owner of the retro diner/drugstore ignored by a horde of people, including the mayor, waiting in a laughably long line for a table at a fictitious brunch haven called The Fisherman's Porch. Around Tacoma, the plentiful sea of busy diners like The Pine Cone and Hob Nob, as well as modern brunch destinations like Art House Cafe, Cooks Tavern and Le Sel Bistro, would seemingly refute any broad anti-brunch sentiment. But is it brunch if the menu never changes, and you can get it on a Tuesday? As a frequent restaurant diner and an avid home cook in a household always trying to one-up our last bodega-style breakfast sandwich, I'm not keen on waiting in line for a veggie omelet. I've also worked brunch shifts, as a server and a bartender, and empathize with the many hospitality pros who trash the weekend ritual for its reputation as a leftover-food ruse, a pit of lower prices which lead to lower tips, or as just a drag after a late night and a long week. At my first restaurant job, we had to serve so many lattes and cappuccinos that I became the de facto espresso queen, spending my Sundays almost exclusively making drinks in between running food and bussing tables. At another, a thin and motley crew of what we jokingly coined the B-team worked without a dishwasher until 4 p.m. So, when I brunch, I prefer a restaurant that serves food I can't easily or don't frequently make at home. See: sky-high quiche, pancake alternatives like Dutch babies; brown-sugar-soaked pork belly; and ostensibly not-brunch dishes like fried catfish and collards with a side of hush puppies, or homemade gorditas with wake-me-up salsa. I also want coffee and a cocktail and beer and soda water, all at once. All of the places mentioned above are fun choices, but here's a deeper look at four spots that I keep in my back pocket to satisfy specific needs without a weird wait. Per Brunch Law, they all have a bar, but they also cater to families and anyone who wants to feast in the middle of the day with beverages a-plenty, no matter when your 'weekend' might be. ▪ 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253-212-0779, ▪ Brunch hours: Saturday-Sunday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (dinner served Wednesday-Sunday) ▪ Best for: breezy weekend brunch with a shareable modern menu and frequent vinyl DJs ▪ Reservations recommended for weekend prime time; most dishes $14-$18, cocktails $15 The edgy nighttime vibes of Eda Johnson's Stadium District restaurant turns breezy on weekend mornings when natural light spills through skylights and, weather permitting, the garage-door rolls up and the lounge-y patio opens. Banana bread pudding here is deep-fried and drizzled with a buttered-rum sauce. The 'Lemongrab' Dutch baby, in a cast-iron skillet, features tart, seasonal house jam and lemon curd with the freshest of fresh whipped cream. A nicely spiced tomato sauce surrounds two runny Eggs in Purgatorio, and hunks of cider-braised pork belly are joined by latkes and apple chutney. You can also get a notable smashburger and Reuben, chilaquiles and an awesome Caesar salad. Local beer, draft wine and solid cocktails — including one of the city's best bloodies, an all-day espresso martini served neat or on the rocks (like an iced latte) and thoughtful NA sippers — make Manuscript the kind of brunch that says, 'Let's brunch,' with confidence. Check Instagram for Vinyl Brunch dates, usually Saturdays starting at 11 a.m. ▪ 1116 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 253-201-7742, ▪ Standard hours: Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 7 a.m.-3 p.m. ▪ Best for: weekday brunch and pastries for the table or on-the-go ▪ Walk-ins only (order at the counter, then find a seat); most dishes $13-$18 Three Hearts has brought a destination-worthy brunch option to Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood that manages to also be casual and befitting of a weekday visit — especially if you prefer to eschew brunch-addicted crowds. Indulge in a sweet or savory Dutch baby, the latter served benedict-style with grilled ham, a poached egg and béarnaise, red-wine-braised brisket hash or a happily vegan tofu scramble. The towering quiche, with a flaky butter-crust, rotates daily. Noteworthy sandwiches include a juicy shaved pork loin on a Macrina baguette and a salmon burger with house slaw on a potato bun. You can just as easily pop in for a pastry: passionfruit-laced morning buns, sausage croissants, pretty little tarts and an array of cookies; they also bake a limited number of whole loaves for retail sale. The space was designed to be family-friendly, but singles and couples can also sit at the bar — which means beverages abound, from Bluebeard espresso and tea to beer, wine, cocktails and zero-proof refreshers. ▪ 1715 Dock St., Tacoma, 253-301-1784, ▪ Brunch hours: Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ▪ Best for: brunch with a view and patio, plus fresh-fruit cocktails ▪ Reservations encouraged but walk-ins welcome; parking available on Dock Street (free on Sunday) and select spaces in building's garage (always complimentary); most dishes $15-$18, cocktails $12-$14 Previously home to The Social, a popular Sunday brunch destination for all-day happy hour in the 2010s, this soaring waterfront space and spacious patio has found committed caretakers in Angie and Oreb Apodaca. Indita Mia opened here last year with a colorful dining room outfitted with custom wicker chairs and a striking round bar anchored by a Madrone 'tree' from Guadalajara. Every weekend, brunch reigns with classic Mexican breakfast dishes like huevos divorciados (fried eggs split with rojo and verde salsa) and chilaquiles with house salsas, served on traditional earthenware. But it's the colorful red-velvet pancake stack and pink conchas that will steal your Instagram feed. Try the sweet rolls stuffed with strawberries, cajeta and cream or prepared as French toast. Some of the restaurant's best dinner dishes are also available, including thick, homemade gorditas brimming with carne con chile and the Oaxacan-style wagyu tamal steamed in banana leaves. Pair with a cup of cafe de olla (coffee with piloncillo and canela), rotating agua frescas, tropical juice spritzes and the wonderful fruit cocktails like the Don Mango margarita and Coco Rosa with strawberries, lime, rum and coconut. ▪ 3832 S. Pine St., Tacoma, 253-474-9898, ▪ Standard hours: Daily 7 a.m.-8 p.m. (except Tuesday until 2 p.m.) ▪ Best for: late-day brunch in the bar with Southern flair ▪ Walk-ins only; most dishes $6.99-$14.99 This unassuming restaurant off the busy commercial stretch of South 38th Street has been serving Tacoma since 2015. The dining room is straightforward, and it fills up on weekends, especially with families and big tables of friends. Beeline instead through the back door, accessible from the parking lot behind the building, to snag a stool or a high-top table in the lounge. It's a quirky experience where you'll overhear the servers' chatter as they fill iced teas and coffee carafes. Don't be a in rush. Get a bloody mary and a beer. Strike up conversation with your neighbor. Breakfast is served all day, but lunch and dinner dishes start at 11 a.m. Focus on the Southern fare: shrimp and grits, buttermilk-fried chicken with ham-hock collards and baked beans, fried catfish and hush puppies.
