Cafes in Seoul

When you think of Korea (or Asia in general), you might think there is mainly a tea culture over there.
Think again!

Although there is no denying that tea goes back a long way in Asia and still is highly popular, coffee has become more and more en vogue. Seoulites must really, really love their coffees, since the cafes in Seoul are numerous! Walk around the block and you will easily come across a dozen coffee places. No kidding.

These vary from international chains like Starbucks to local chains like Tom and Tom’s, to -sometimes hole-in-the-wall- independent cafes.

There are so, so, so many Starbucks in Seoul. Nice is that they are all housed in different type of buildings, giving some variation in ambiance and size. Love their latte and their double cheese bagels with cream cheese!

A very big coffee and dessert cafe in Hongdae with a huge tv screen, showing extreme wintersports. Good coffee and cake;-).

It’s that last category that I want to talk about: the smaller, independent cafes. They are the coolest thing ever. Not only do they serve great coffee, often decorated with beautiful latte art, but many are uniquely decorated. Many are as cosy as a living room. And the variation in themes is beyond imagination!

(Hello Kitty, Victorian Era, bananas, cats, dogs, sheep, camping, traveling, toys and the list goes on.)

Most of the small coffee places serve only desserts to accompany their drinks: chocolate, waffles, cake and so on. Delicious and very tempting!
But when I was looking for a sandwich and a cafe latte for lunch, I often ended up at a Starbucks, since they have non-sweet food choices as well.

Having said that, sitting in the small cafes was a true delight. They are such happy places where everything is pretty, often artistic, playful or quirky.

Here is an impression of a handful of those cute coffee joints where I sipped a cuppa:

1. I cannot find back the name of this cute, peaceful cafe. I remember it is near the Hello kitty cafe in Hongdae. It is in a side alley and you have to climb up a stairs.

They serve delicious lattes with latte art and yummie muffins.

When you climb the stairs, just before you enter the cafe, there is a small wall with lovelocks.

This girl proves how peaceful and relaxing the atmosphere in this cafe was. She was vast asleep!

Cute bear cushion

And cute cat cushion;-)

Our order came with playmobil toys…

…which quickly jumped on top of our muffins… (and do you see the beautiful latte art? With flowers n all?)

Surf dude and horse dude each on a hill, daring each other…

..but they had to come down when we started eating our muffins. So they shook hands and played on the table. The lattes and the muffins were so goooood!

2. Dal.komm near DMC

Dal is a cafe-chain, so I’m cheating a bit, in my overview with independent cafes;-). It has a music theme, with lots of records, music memorabilia and even iPads, headsets and iPods for customers to use.

The cafe clearly positions itself as contemporary and cool…

…and yes, I like the look and the music theme…

…and the free-to-use iPods and iPads…

The food on display looks interesting. First of all they use plastic examples, as you see here a lot. And then: squid ink ciabatta? Honey butter bread? Never seen before, have you?

These looked quite gross in plastic form;-)

These were real and my oh my, ‘raspberry white chocolate cheese brûlée’, a mouthful that I would not mind in my mouth!

I only have a minor point of critic on Dal.komm: their coffee was so gross, that we never went back, even if it was the nearest cafe to out hotel with great seats and all. Is that a minor point? OK, a major point, actually for a coffee place. Looks good, tastes bad. To avoid.

3. Right, no idea how to write or pronounce the name of this coffee place, but the name is on the picture and it is located in the Ehwa neighborhood.

Hand drip, you see that term a lot here.

Cosy, bit rustic ambiance inside.

Sure, it’s freezing outside, but there is a little stove inside, so you go barefooted in your shoes. Brrr…

It sure is all about coffee in here!

And there is art…

No sandwich, so I was ‘forced’ to have this for lunch;-). I was -sort of- a good girl tho, not finishing my ice-cream and leaving the whipped cream on the plate. Right? Do you see the bear on my latte? Cool! And did I mention how yummie it all was?!

4. In a seemingly dead-end alley in Bukchon, I found this cafe. Its lay-out is unpractical, with a tiny courtyard and an annex, and quite cramped inside. But cute as a button!

Across the cafe is a row of chairs. Way too cold for me!

Inside you find a lot of vintage furniture and art. Love this!

Every seat was taken! And what’s with the girls only clientele?;-)

I looooooove these cushions, dolls or whatever they are!

There was so much cool and fun art hanging on the walls of this tiny coffee hangout.

Oh, and they have great coffee too…hahaha…with supa-cute napkins.

5. and 6. The following two cafes I only admired from the outside. After all, I wanted to explore the city, right, and that does not fly when you sit in cafes all day long ;-).

Both are to be found in the Bukchon area.

See? Waffles!

With a woodburner to be able to sit outside on the patio. In this cold? No thanks;-).

What a colorful shopfront, don’t you think?

More bloggers wrote about Seoul’s cafe culture of course The following reads are nice, if you want to find out more about other interesting cafes in Seoul:

http://www.myseoulsearching.com/2014/01/seoul-south-korea-best-themed-cafes.html

http://discoveringkorea.com/091108/six-great-seoul-cafes

http://seoulistic.com/what-to-do-in-korea/15-unique-and-interesting-theme-cafes-in-korea-2/3/

What do you think of Seoul’s Cafe culture? Do you have these kind of cafes around you as well?