One In A Million • 원인어밀리언

When this place was just opened a couple of years ago, I swear it popped up so much on my Instagram explore page and it seemed like everybody went to this place to take a picture with the pink banner in front of the cafe entrance or their Instagrammable Rain Coffee menu. One In A Million (원인어밀리언) is probably one of the most well-known cafe in Hannam-dong (한남동) area. Both locals and tourists came to this place to either hang out or take pictures around the cafe.

I visited this cafe for the first time last summer during one rainy day and the place was pretty empty. There were a couple people inside but being it was a weekday and it was raining, the place was pretty quiet, which was perfect for me. The cafe has indoor and outdoor area and it is pretty spacious. Marble tables, black chairs, and white walls dominated the interior of the space with the combination of green plants placed around the cafe.

Since I’ve been here on a couple of different occasions, my friends and I got to try a couple of different things. Since I always go for the non-coffee options, I ordered their grapefruit ade and green tea latte. They were okay. The carrot cake wasn’t bad either. My sister tried their coffee and she said it’s not bad. My other friend actually ordered their Rain Coffee, which is essentially a hot Americano served with cotton candy. I didn’t try it, but it’s definitely pretty to took pictures at.

All and all, I think this place is a good place to hang out at with your friends if you’re looking for a cafe around Hannam area. They have the drinks and dessert menu with pictures on a tablet so it’s pretty helpful when you are deciding what to order, especially if you want to order a pretty-looking drink menu from the selections. I didn’t really took a whole bunch of pictures here, but hopefully the video could give you a good sense about the space.

Here’s the video of the space:

One In A Million • 원인어밀리언

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 한남동 684-62
Telephone: 02-794-2414
Hours: 11:00 - 23:00 (Monday to Saturday) | 11:00 - 22:00 (Sunday)

Instagram: @oneinamillion_cafe

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Tokyo Bingsu • 도쿄빙수

Bingsu is probably my favorite Korean dessert, especially during summer. A bowl of this fine ice shavings on a hot day could make the hot and humid summer days in Seoul more bearable. Tokyo Bingsu (도쿄빙수) is one of the new bingsu places I tried when I was wondering around Mangwon-dong with my friend, Jesselyn. Although they are well-known for their Tomato Bingsu (토마토 빙수), we opted for their Oreo Bingsu (오레오 빙수) since we weren't sure if we would like the Tomato ones and kinda felt like eating something sweet. The bingsu was great. The snow-like ice shavings were covered in condensed milk and top it off with the oreo crumbs, it made a perfect combo. And it's not too sweet either. I found out later that they have multiple locations in Seoul. Not a lot like those chain stores, but you got different options. Next time I visit, maybe I'll be brave and try their Tomato Bingsu.

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Tokyo Bingsu (도쿄빙수)

Address: 서울특별시 마포구 포은로8길 9
Tel: 02-6409-5692
Hours: 12:00 - 22:00

Instagram: @tokyobingsu

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BookPark • 북파크

I still remember the first time I stumbled upon a picture of a book cafe online. It was a couple of years ago and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Back then, book cafe hasn't became a thing. My association of rows of books wasn't usually paired with a cup of hot chocolate or ice green tea on the side to sip on. The consumption of food and drinks is usually prohibited in libraries and bookstores. And reading books in libraries or bookstores usually involved some level of discomfort caused by standing too long in one of the corners of the bookstore or sitting down for a prolonged period of time on one of those uncomfortable library chairs.

I don't know when the book cafe trend started, but it's definitely a thing in Seoul. I stumbled upon quite a number of book cafes in the city and BookPark (북파크) is one of the recent book cafe that I visited. Located on the 2nd and 3rd floor of Blue Square (블루스퀘어), the place is pretty huge for a bookstore. Other than great selections of books, you can also find Hollys Coffee inside the store, plenty of chairs and tables if you decide you wanna read a book or do some studying, and there's even a balcony area for you to chill at if you want to enjoy the nice weather outside. If you are not into books, there's a section on the third floors that sells accessories, toys, stationeries and other knick knacks that you can browse. And they also have another cafe on this floor (which name I didn't pay attention to) and a sitting area with tables bigger than the one in Hollys Coffee area.

If you're looking for books, definitely check this place out. If not, this is also a great place to meet up with people or to get some work/studying done. Or if you are not into all that, you can always come for their instagrammable tall bookshelf and stairs ;)

p.s: thank you @seoul_stateofmind for bringing me and @_marshellia to this place!

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And oh, started to upload video to my Youtube channel. Subscribe of you wanna see more! :) Here's the first video.

 

BookPark • 북파크

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 이태원로 294
Tel. No: 02-6367-2018
Hours: 10:00 - 23:00
Subway: Hangangjin Station (Line 6) Exit 2

Instagram: @bookpark_

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Coffee Kitchen • 커피키핀

Started my second day in Busan with brunch at Coffee Kitchen (해운대 커피 키친). I was originally going to have lunch at Yeije (예이제), a Korean restaurant that is located on the second floor of the same building as Coffee Kitchen, and have dessert after lunch at the cafe. But apparently, Yeije didn't accept one person seating (I assume all their menu is for a minimum of two people seatings) so I thought since I'm already here, might as well just get brunch at the cafe.

The cafe's pretty nice and spacious. They have indoor and outdoor seating area with plenty of chairs and tables. It was a weekday so the place wasn't too busy and relatively quite. I ordered one of their brunch set and it was delicious. Nicely seasoned salad, runny yolk on the sunny side up egg, crispy bacon, fried sausage, and buttery mini croissants—everything was cooked perfectly. It was truly a great way to start the day.

p.s: For this trip, I actually got lots of restaurant and cafe recommendations from my friend Sally J. Shim, who lived in Busan for a couple of years (and she still goes back and forth from Seoul once in a while these days). She's also recently started a new instagram account, @sallyjshimtravelogue, where she shares her favorite places in the cities she's been to. So definitely check her accounts out! And special thanks for Sally for giving me all the recs! :)

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Stumptown Coffee Roasters Garosu-Gil • 스텀프타운 커피 로스터스

I first heard about Stumptown Coffee Roasters (스텀프타운 커피 로스터스) after I moved to Seattle. Just like I associate Blue Bottle Coffee with San Francisco, I associate Stumptown Coffee with Puget Sound and Portland. I'm not necessarily saying that those brands are the best brands in those two cities (they might as well be, but what do I, a non-coffee drinker, know. really), but more because of my friends and the people that I met in those two cities just happened to named those brands as their favorite coffee to drink. Seeing the brand in Seoul, this time in Garosu-gil (가로수길) to be exact, gave me a sense of familiar feeling and reminded me of the time I spent in Seattle. Funny sometimes when I realized the things that I associate with a certain period of my life seemed so small and unimportant back then, but now, they could mean hundreds of memories.

I didn't know when this place was open in Garosu-gil, but I'm guessing not too long ago since I didn't remember seeing it there last summer. I was actually talking about Stumptown Coffee beans with a friend of mine a couple of days before and was telling him that he should try their coffee beans because it's pretty well-known in Portland. And whaddaya know. A couple of days later, I just happened to pass by this place when I was exploring Garosu-gil. Since I'm already there, I thought I would buy a bag of their coffee beans and give it to my friend to try. There was some kind of discount going on I think, cos I get a small discount and a free bottle of cold-brew coffee.

A little about the place, the coffee stand is actually in the same building as the Official Holiday by Koon store. It has a small outdoor seating area, which is pretty nice and cozy I would say. I didn't get to browse around the store other than the Stumptown's corner, but I would definitely go back and check out the store and maybe have a cup of tea and sit around for a bit.

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Update:

This cafe is now closed.

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