There is so much to eat and try in Seoul! I feel like I have been eating all the time and putting on too much weight! To be honest, I am not really a fan of Korean food, but I think I should still make the effort to visit some of the popular Korean restaurants as how can you say that you have been to Korea without trying any local food, right? Here's a mixture of Korean restaurants, cafes and street food that I have tried during my stay in Seoul, and the other half of the time I had my own prepared western-style meals.
Here it goes!
Cafe Majo and Sady 카페 마조앤새디
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 172 Gwanghuidong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (line 2 exit 3, line 4 exit 4).
Cafe Majo and Sady is a two-storey Kakao Talk themed store and cafe. Majo and Sady are characters from a popular Korean comics and their main store is located at Apgujeong Rodeo region. Popular dishes include the Brunch Set and and the Berry Pancake. I had the brunch set and a latte. The brunch set is HUGE and comes with a pair of Majo and Sady-shaped pancakes, soup, salad, sausage, and served with cream, tomato ketchup and maple syrup. Everything was so delicious! The soup has so much ingredients in it that I wished there was more soup instead! It's like a cream soup with chunks of potato, bacon bits, cheddar and croutons. The latte is served in a takeaway cup which has so many cute Kakao Talk-related doodles on it!
#1: Cafe Majo and Sady.
#2: Cafe Majo and Sady.
#3: Cute Majo and Sady mascots at the entrance!
#4: Cafe Majo and Sady.
#5: Cafe and Majo Brunch Set (KRW9,500) - Majo and Sady pancakes, salad, soup, sausage, cream, tomato ketchup, maple syrup.
#6: Latte (KRW4,500).
#7: Majo and Sady Cookies.
LINE Friends Store and Cafe
Opening hrs: 1030hrs to 2130hrs.
Address: 535-15 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Sinsa Station (line 3 exit 8).
LINE Friends Store and Cafe is a cafe opened based on LINE Chat app. Many should be familiar with this app and their characters! The three-level building offers a cafe at the basement, merchandises on the first floor and apparels on the second floor. It is the biggest flagship store in Seoul. Get prepared to be welcomed by the gigantic 3.2m 'Brown' (the brown bear) at the entrance! There is another gigantic 3.2m plushie, Sally (the yellow duck), located at the basement. I literally went crazy in there and spend like 3hrs in the store - taking photos, eating and shopping. The snacks and drinks were all so cute and I just want to try them all! Had a hard time deciding which to try and in the end I settled down with the roll cake and coffee set, and some macarons.
#8: LINE Friends Stire and Cafe.
#9: Gigantic Brown Plushie at Level 1.
#10: Gigantic Sally Plushie at basement.
#11: Cony Matcha Roll Cake, Brown Iced Latte (cake and coffee set KRW8,000 + KRW300 for iced coffee), Sally Lemon Macaron (KRW3,000), Brown Chocolate Macaron (KRW3,000), Cony Strawberry Macaron (KRW3,000).
#12: Iced Latte.
#13: LINE Friends Milk Chocolate Bar.
#14: Brown, Cony and Sally Cookies.
Apgujeong Bulbaek 압구정 불백
Opening hrs: 24hrs.
Address: 549-7 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Apgujeong Station (line 3 exit 4).
Bulbaek means seasoned meat. Apgujeong Bulbaek sells a variety of bulbaek such as pork, beef, baby octopus or kimchi stew. I had the Pork Bulbaek which comes served with rice, fried egg, pickled onions, kimchi, macaroni salad, bean paste, miso soup and fresh vegetables of lettuce, boiled cabbage and shiso leaves. The bulbaek was really awesome and I love the onions that were cooked together with the meat. The portion was huge and the meat was pretty spicy and oily, and didn't manage to finish it, but it was really delicious!
#15: Pork Bulbaek Set (KRW7,000).
Takeout Drawing Cafe
테이크아웃 드로잉 카페
Opening hrs: 1100hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 683-139 Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Hangangjin Station (line 6 exit 3).
The two-storied Takeout Drawing Café serves as an art exhibition space and café. This café serves interesting beverages such as Paul’s Meringue Factory (espresso with milk, topped with a meringue cookie), Iceberg Macchiato (espresso poured over an iceberg-shaped ice cube made from milk), and Storming Ant (black sesame foam with milk). I had the popular Paul's Meringue Factory, which you are supposed to dip the meringue into the coffee and eat it. The coffee is pretty strong and bitter on its own. This cafe is really artsy and cozy with an industrial look and design to it.
#16: Takeout Drawing Cafe.
#17: Takeout Drawing Cafe.
#18: Paul's Meringue Factory (KRW7,500).
Coffee Arco 커피 아르코
Opening hrs: 1030hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 519-17 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Sinsa Station (line 3 exit 8).
Marble tables, chalkboards and white walls seems to be the latest trend, and this cafe has it all! This cafe is so pretty! Love the neon-litted words that helped bring attention to them. A nice place to chill with funky music going on. While, this cafe seems to be the new kid on the block along the streets of Garosu-gil as the place looks relatively new and no much information could be found about them. I had their creme brulee which was excellent, but the coffee still needs much improvement.
#19: Coffee Arco.
#20: Coffee Arco.
#21: Coffee Arco.
#22: Flat White (KRW5,500), Creme Brulee (KRW5,000).
Coco Bruni 코코 브루니
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 666-10 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Hangangjin (exit 2).
Coco Bruni can be easily recognized with its logo, a girl on a sparrow. It is a chocolatier cafe with multiple outlets and is well known for its chocolates and cakes. All the outlets stick to a common theme of monochrome, wood and glass; which gives the store a clean and welcoming look. Their signature dessert, Secret Caramel Ice Cream, is a salted caramel soft serve ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and finish off with some sea salt flakes. The ice cream cone was really crispy and the ice cream is uniquely amazing! You cannot miss this out when you are in Seoul!
#23: Coco Bruni.
#24: Coco Bruni.
#25: Secret Caramel Ice Cream (KRW4,000).
C.Through Cafe (성수) 씨스루
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 0300hrs.
Address: 289-21 Seongsu-dong 2(i)-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Seongsu Station (line 2 exit 1).
C.Through Cafe was initially not in my itinerary. Recently, a new trend, coloured latte art went viral on the internet and I chanced upon this cafe in Seoul on Instagram that serves really pretty latte art (called Creamart) and coloured latte art by barista Lee Kang Bin. How could I miss this out? So I decided to try my luck on getting a cup of coloured latte art. However, they wasn't selling it on my point of visit, so I settled with a cup of Iced Latte and it was the best cup of coffee I had in Seoul! Lee Kang Bin is a coffee trainer of C.Through Cafe and a judge at Latte Art Competitions, and thus the quality and standard of their coffee. Lee Kang Bin is also featured in various lifestyle magazines as well. You can view some of his works via his instagram. The cafe was really a lovely and cozy place with hip-ish music and best of all? They have swing chairs!
#26: C.Through Cafe.
#27: C.Through Cafe.
#28: C.Through Cafe.
#29: Swing chairs!
#30: Iced Latte (KRW4,500).
#31: More seating at Level 2.
Heukdonga 흑돈가
Opening hrs: 1100hrs to 0500hrs (Mon to Sat), 1100hrs to 2200hrs (Sun).
Address: 14 Bongeunsa-ro 86-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Samseongjungang Station (line 9 exit 5).
Heukdonga is a renowned black pork (kurobuta) Korean BBQ restaurant originated from Jeju. The restaurant specializes in different cuts of black pork, and is best eaten dipped in a special Jeju-style salted anchovy sauce. Minimum of two portions is required so I went ahead with pork belly and marinated pork ribs (150g per portion). Both were delicious but I prefer the ribs meat as it was more tender and with more flavour since it has been marinated. The meat is cooked over charcoal-grill so it tasted really good, unlike most Korean BBQ restaurants which uses electric grill. (Minimum order of 2 portions.)
#32: Heukdonga.
#33: Pork Belly - 150g (KRW18,000).
#34: Look at all those cooking smoke being sucked up by the exhaust!
#35: Marinated pork ribs - 150g (KRW18,000).
Hello Kitty Cafe 헬로키티 가페
Opening hrs: 0930hrs to 2230hrs.
Address: 364-14 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Hongik University Station (line 2 exit 9), Hapjeong Station (line 2 exit 3).
The whole place was so pretty and cute! Though I am not a fan of pink, and definitely not a fan of Hello Kitty, but this place is definitely worth visiting! Do not expect too much on the food. They are pretty to look at but the taste is really just so-so. There are two floors of seating, with a gift store located at the corner of the first floor. Every corner of the cafe seems to be a great spot to take photo with. On the second floor, there is a Hello Kitty Room that features a single bed, an armchair and a simple vanity table. This room is definitely every little girl's dream room!
If you have the time, you can visit the Hello Kitty Island located at Jeju Island instead, the first and the largest Hello Kitty Museum in Korea. They have lots of activities (mainly for the young ones) available like art classes, dancing to Hello Kitty songs and get dressed in Hello Kitty costumes of 27 countries.
#36: Hello Kitty Cafe.
#37: Hello Kitty Cafe.
#38: Hello Kitty Cafe.
#39: Hello Kitty Latte (KRW4,500), Hello Kitty Tiramisu (KRW5,500).
#40: More seating at Level 2.
#41: More seating at Level 2.
#42: More seating at Level 2.
The Bridge Cafe 카페 더 브릿지
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 0100hrs (Sun-Thu), 1000hrs to 0200hrs (Fri, Sat).
Address: 347-17 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Hongik University Station (line 2 exit 9).
The Bridge Cafe is a cafe bistro that occupies the second and the third story of a building that offers multiple cozy sitting spaces and private areas, with different unique settings - some with proper dining tables and chairs, and some with mats and cushions; probably about 20 of these private corners. However, most of these spaces have pretty narrow entrance and low ceilings, so it could be a little trouble if you are a really tall or big-sized person. The coffee here is pretty good as well!
Since the cafe is located on the 2nd and 3rd floor, it could be difficult to spot along the streets! Keep a look out of its signboard above eye level!
#43: The Bridge Cafe.
#44: The Bridge Cafe. Take the stairs up to Level 2.
#45: The Bridge Cafe.
#46: The Bridge Cafe.
#47: The Bridge Cafe.
#48: Iced Latte (KRW6,000).
Palsaek Samgyeopsal 팔색 삼겹살
Opening hrs: 1100hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 107-111 Nogosan-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Ewha Woman’s University Station (line 2 exit 6).
Palsaek Samgyepsal is famous for serving fresh pork belly that is marinated in eight kinds of marinating sauce – ginseng, wine, pine leaves, garlic, herbs, curry, miso and chili. The restaurant has only 35 outlets across the country and outlets in Japan, Malaysia, America, Australia and China. I ordered the 8 kinds of pork belly, half portion (400g), that is good for two, and it comes serve with a choice of soup, bean paste, fresh onions, garlic, green chili, a mix of fresh vegetables (to wrap the meat), kimchi, salad, king oyster mushroom and enoki mushroom. I liked the wine flavour the most, it tastes pretty similar to Chinese dish, Red Glutinous Rice Wine Chicken (红糟鸡), followed by chili and herb. The rest taste kind of normal.. I didn't like the pine leaves flavour!
#49: Palsaek Samgyeoppsal.
#50: 8 kinds of Pork Belly - Ginseng, Wine, Pine Leaves, Garlic, Herbs, Curry, Miso and Chilli. 400g - 50g per flavour (KRW27,000).
#51: The set comes with a choice of soup (which I got the cockles soup), salad, bean paste and lots of fresh vegetables (not captured in the frame).
#52: Cooking the first four flavours on the left which is lighter in flavour. The servers do the cooking for you but you can do it yourself by all means.
#53: After you are done eating, the server comes round to do the cooking for the remaining four flavours that is stronger in flavour.
Cafe aA Design Museum
카페 에이 에이 디자인 뮤지엄
Opening hrs: 1200hrs to 0000hrs.
Address: 408-11 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Sangsu Station (line 6 exit 1).
Café aA Design Museum is a five-storey building in Hongdae that houses a museum, a café and a designer furniture showroom. The place is owned by famous vintage furniture collector, Kim Myung Hwan, who also owns one of the famous Italian restaurants in Hongdae – AGIO. Café aA Design Museum was the venue where BoA’s Only One music video was filmed. Another artsy fartsy cafe with a relaxing atmosphere, serving good coffee!
#54: Cafe aA Design Museum.
#55: Cafe aA Design Museum.
#56: Cafe aA Design Museum.
#57: Cafe aA Design Museum.
#58: Cafe aA Design Museum.
#59: Took home the coaster as souvenir!
#60: Iced Latte (KRW6,000).
Slow' Brick Cafe
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 0000hrs.
Address: 44 Dongmak-ro 7-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Sangsu Station (line 6 exit 1).
Earthy themed cafe, Slow' Brick is a collabouration with Skin Talk, a beauty brand that aims to bring a better life to consumers. Slow' Brick specializes in their cleansing juice that comes in 5 colours - 5 different combinations of fruits and vegetables. RED: apple + carrot + beetroot + tomato. ORANGE: apple + carrot + lemon. YELLOW: grapefruit + orange + pineapple + apple. GREEN: apple + celery + orange + carrot + tomato. PINK: apple + tomato + grapefruit + carrot. The cafe also serves coffee, organic tea, cakes and salad.
#61: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#62: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#63: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#64: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#65: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#66: Slow Brick' Cafe.
#67: Choco Choco Cake (KRW5,000), Chamomile (KRW5,000).
#68: Took away my chamomile because I can't finish it.
O'sulloc Tea House 오설록 티 하우스
Opening hrs: 0900hrs to 2300hrs.
Address: 170, Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Anguk Station (line 3 exit 6).
O'sulloc Tea House, a premium Korean green tea brand originated from Jeju. O’sulloc is a matcha themed café specialized in presenting the authentic taste of Korean traditional tea. The café offers a variety of desserts and beverages with matcha (or green tea) as the main ingredient. If you don't like matcha, you can try their hojicha alternative The café also promotes tea drinking and the health benefits of tea.
There are so many matcha items to try on and I finally decided on getting the Green Tea O'Fredo (matcha frappuccino with matcha soft serve) and Green Tea Tiramisu Set. They have another version called the Green Tea King O'Fredo at an additional of KRW1,500, which is matcha frappuccino with whipped cream, matcha ice cream, red bean, matcha cake and a cookie. Their green tea is really really nice and taste so different from the usual ones. It is very smooth in taste and there is no bitter aftertaste. I also got their popular Green Tea Milk Spread that tasted amazing!
#69: O'sulloc Tea House.
#70: O'sulloc green tea leaves.
#71: O'sulloc Tea House.
#72: O'sulloc signature Green Tea Milk Spread (KRW8,500).
#73: Seating area at Level 2.
#74: Seating area at Level 3.
#75: Green Tea Tiramisu and Green Tea King O'Fredo Set (KRW11,500).
Tosokchon 토속촌
Opening hrs: 1000hrs to 2200hrs.
Address: 5 Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Gyeongbokgung Station (line 3 exit 2).
Tosokchon is famous for their Samgyetang and they only sell Samgyetang and a few other chicken dishes like Roasted Chicken. Samgyetang, which literally means Ginseng (sam) Chicken (gye) Soup (tang), consists of a whole young chicken filled with garlic and rice, and cooked with scallions, spices and Korean ginseng. One of the places to get a good bowl of samgyetang is at Tosokchon. This restaurant was also frequented by late President Roh Moo Hyun.
#76: Tosokchon.
#77: Tosokchon.
#78: Tosokchon.
#79: Traditional Korean dining.
#80: The right way to have Tosokchon Samgyetang.
#81: Following the written instructions - Tosokchon Samgyetang, tea, ginseng liquor, radish kimchi, bean paste, garlic, cabbage kimchi, salt and pepper mixture, dish for the chicken.
#82: Tosokchon Samgyetang (KRW16,000). Super awesome!
#83: The chicken comes stuffed with glutinous rice, gingko, gingseng and dates. The chicken was very tender, but didn't quite like the rice as it is very strong in ginseng taste.
Savoureux 샤브르
Opening hrs: 1030hrs to 2230hrs.
Address: 154 Sogyeok-dongJongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Anguk Station (line 3 exit 2).
Savoureux is popular for its shaved sorbet (소르베), a cross between bingsu and ice cream. The most popular flavour has got to be pretty looking emerald shaved sorbet of blue soda flavour. Disappointed that it was sold out on my point of visit! Chose a less pretty looking pastel purple blueberry sorbet instead. It was so good! The sun is drying out both my lips and throat, no water how much water I drink, and it feels so good to be having this! It tastes really good and the ice flakes just melts in your mouth. It's somewhat similar to Taiwan's Snow Ice dessert. Other unique flavours includes watermelon sorbet, and ivory sorbet of vanilla flavour, nature sorbet of Jeju green tea flavour, and many more.
They also serve pretty looking soft serve ice cream (소프트) in unique flavours like red ginseng, blue soda, black sesame, cranberry, black bean, Thai milk tea, banana, yam, and many more. They are also popular for their jumbo biscuit choux puffs (슈) that comes in a number of flavours with different toppings, such as the Strawberry Crunch Choux that consists of strawberry cream-filled jumbo choux puff, topped with chocolate and pretty pink strawberry crunch (biscuit bits). There was this glass cabinet display of the ice cream flavours that they used to have and the colours were so pretty and arranged in an ombre fashion.
#84: Savoureux.
#85: Savoureux.
#86: Savoureux.
#87: Blueberry Shaved Sorbet (KRW8,900), Iced Latte (KRW4,500).
Myeongdong Street Food
Opening hrs: 1030hrs to 2200hrs.
Address: Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Subway: Myeongdong Station (line 4 exit 6 or 7).
Myeong-dong is one of the busiest streets in Seoul and is one of the top premium shopping districts in Korea. Every Korean cosmetic brand has a branch in Myeong-dong. This is the place to go to get cosmetics and cosmetic samples. There are about a thousand cosmetic shops and hundreds of skincare shops, with several large cosmetic shops clustered around. Myeong-dong is also located near to Myeongdong Cathedral and Namdaemun Market. Over here, you will see many salesperson standing right outside their shops, trying to swindle you in to shop with free samples. In the evening at about 1800hrs, street vendors will start to set up their cart stalls and start selling their items, be it apparels or street food. There wasn't a lot of them and the ones that I saw were clothing, gyeranbbang, tteokbokki, dumplings, odeng soup, orange juice, fruits, crepe and squid/octopus stalls.
#88: Myeongdong.
#89: Myeongdong Street Food.
#90: Tteokbokki with Odeng - Korean rice cake and Korean fishcake (KRW3,000).
#91: Gyranbbang (egg bread).
#92: Gyeranbbang (KRW2,000) topped with chopped almond, peanut and sunflower seeds. Though it's called a bread, but the texture is similar to a sponge cake instead.
#93: The squid stall.
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