House of Vinyl Mangwon • 하우스오브바이닐 망원점

House of Vinyl Mangwon (하우스오브바이닐 망원점)—just as the name suggests—is a vinyl cafe located in Mangwon (망원동) neighborhood in Seoul. The cafe occupies a house-like building with interior set up just like a cozy vintage living room, making coming here feel like visiting a friend’s home. In the main area of the cafe, there’s a record player, sound system speakers and a shelf between the speakers with their current nine picks of vinyl records on display. Next to and above the window that lets in natural light into the space, there are more vinyls that are stored neatly as a part of their in-house collection. 

What makes this cafe unique is on top of the fact that you can listen to LP records that are playing on rotation, guest can also request one song per person to play during their visit (although this is subject to availability and if they don’t have the requested song on their LP collections, they’ll play the digital format for you).

There are about 18 seats that are spread around different corners of the cafe, with almost all of them are for 2-person party. And since the place is not too big, they do impose a 1.5 hours usage time and a 1-person-1-drink-order rule for visiting patrons. For the menu, they serve coffee, non-coffee drinks, tea and a selection of desserts including a pretty uncommon option, the Pavlovas. Due to the pretty loud music playing inside the cafe, noise level at this place is pretty high. While it’s not too busy during the weekdays (at least when I was visiting), the cafe can get busy during the weekends with people lining up to get a seat inside the space. 

With the significant rise in popularity of vinyls these past past couple of years, House of Vinyl Mangwon (하우스오브바이닐 망원점) definitely has its own appeal and charm to LP as well as music and coffee enthusiasts and makes it a unique spot to visit in Seoul. 

 

House of Vinyl Mangwon • 하우스오브바이닐 망원점

Address: 서울 마포구 희우정로16길 23 1층
Telephone: 0507-1321-9546
Hours: Everyday 11:00 - 22:00

Instagram: @houseofvinyl_mangwon

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Coffee Hospital • 커피호스피탈

Housed in a structure that used to be a pediatric clinic, Coffee Hospital (커피호스피탈) adopted the history of the building and made a cafe with that same exact concept. The old building was originally built in 1982 and served as a local clinic for residents of Mangwondong (망원동) for over 40 years before it was remodeled to preserve the space.

The first time I passed by this place, it was three weeks after its grand opening in June 2019. Honestly, I was a little confused on what the place exactly is. There’s a glass window showing a coffee bar inside but the exterior of the building didn’t exactly screamed coffee shop vibes, especially with the large signage with the words ‘Pediatric Clinic’ hanging on the side of the structure. I remembered thinking maybe this is a new cafe corner for a hospital, especially with the large banner they have hanging on the building with the words ‘FREE OPEN 2019.06.01’ on it. But it seemed weird to have a cafe as an entrance to a hospital, you know. A quick search online on the words ‘Coffee Hospital’ I saw placed above the entrance door cleared up my confusion immediately. This place is indeed a cafe and I decided to check it out.

By now, there isn’t a shortage of cool hip cafes in Mangwondong (망원동) area and it seems like Coffee Hospital (커피호스피탈) is another addition to that crowd. Following their cafe’s name, they carry the hospital concept through out their space and branding design. There’s a cold sterile feeling but mixed with warmth that I felt the moment I stepped inside the cafe. Maybe it’s because of the combination of the cold steel grey coffee bar and the warm cream yellow lights and brick wall that occupy the majority of the space. The feeling intensified when I looked at the design details around the counter. From their menus, shopping bags, to candies and jellies inside vitamin bottles, everything reminded me of prescription labels, doctor visits and essentially hospitals (but without the dread of finding out what’s wrong with your body, obviously). It was interesting.

After I placed my order, I made my way to the second floor of the building via the backyard that has been transformed to an outdoor seating area. Climbing up the narrow stairs, I was expecting to see something similar to what I encountered minutes earlier, but the second floor has a completely different vibe than the coffee bar area. This part of the cafe felt almost like a vintage waiting room to a doctor’s home office. Gone was the sterile feeling, taken over by the warmth radiated within the space. It felt like stepping into a living room to a vintage house. The original old wooden wall panels contrasted with the newer vintage furnitures placed around the area give the place its own charm and definitely feels more inviting. Since the second floor is pretty spacious, there are other rooms as well that were more bare bones, giving off the opposite ambiance and more similar to what I experienced in the coffee bar area earlier.

Since its opening, Coffee Hospital has now evolved to a cultural space where you can enjoy good coffee, tea and dessert while enjoying different exhibitions, events, and performances.

 

Coffee Hospital • 커피호스피탈

Address: 서울 마포구 포은로 93
Telephone: 02-323-5500
Hours: Weekdays 14:00 - 21:00 | Weekends 10:00 - 22:00

Instagram: @coffee_hospital_404

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Anthracite Seogyo • 앤트러사이트 서교점

Anthracite (앤트러사이트) is one of the more well known coffee brand in Korea that serves great coffee in their always well designed coffee shops. I think my first visit to Anthracite was about five or six years ago. Not to this branch though, but to their Hannam branch. Friends who visited Anthracite told me good things about their coffee so since then, Anthracite (앤트러사이트) has been on my radar and I’ve tried to visit their different branches around Seoul, mainly to see the interior of their coffee shops of course, since I don’t drink coffee.

Anthracite Seogyo (앤트러사이트 서교점) is one of their branches that has a very charming, interesting interior. The cafe occupied an old spacious three story mansion in Mangwon-dong (망원동) that could well be someone’s house in the past. When you arrived in front of the building, you’ll be greeted by concrete steps that will take you to the garden area in front of the mansion that is covered with rocks and trees.

The mansion itself is decorated with wooden furnitures combined with gold, silver, and copper accent here and there that added some contrast to the more organic feel of the wood and exposed bricks combination that they have going on on all three floors of the cafe. The tables and chairs are set up with plenty of space in between so you have room to move around the cafe more freely. It also has floor-to-ceiling windows on all three floors that are over looking the garden and balcony access if you choose to sit outside to enjoy the view.

 

Anthracite Seogyo • 앤트러사이트 서교점

Address: 서울 마포구 월드컵로12길 11
Telephone: 02-336-7650
Hours: 09:00 - 23:00 (Weekdays)

Instagram: @anthracite_coffee_roasters

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Un'icon • 언아이콘

If you’re a fan of a white minimalistic cafe, Un’icon (언아이콘) might be worth checking out if you ever found yourself around Mangwon-dong (망원동) area. I visited this newly opened cafe during one hot summer day after having lunch nearby. The place is not that big and seating is a little bit limited. But since I was there during weekdays, I got a seat right after two guys who finished their drinks left when I came in.

I made my way to the counter to see the menu and have no idea what’s good here. So, like any other times I went for a first visit to a place I never been before, I usually ask whoever is behind the counter for their recommendations on their signature non-coffee menu. The guy wearing the red shirt recommended Melting Gray (멜팅그레이) to me. He said it’s their popular non-coffee menu, so I ordered one following his recommendation.

To be honest, I was a little bit skeptical when I saw what it looked like. Sure, the black syrup-like liquid that’s slowly dripping down the white milk looked cool and totally Instagrammable. But from past experiences, this kind of ‘Instagrammable drinks’ usually don’t taste very good or overly sweet. Still, I gave it a try. That’s the whole point of going to new places anyway right? Trying new things and hopefully discovering good stuff along the way. The black liquid that goes into the Melting Gray itself is handmade and made out of seven ingredients. What those ingredients are, I’m not sure to be honest. Maybe I should ask next time I’m there.

I gave the whole thing a good stir before taking my first sip of the cold grey liquid. And what do you know, it actually tasted good! I was genuinely surprised and I remembered I even hummed unconsciously after my first taste. It wasn’t too sweet and was actually refreshing. Wether it’s because the ice ratio was perfect or perhaps the fact that I let it set for a bit since I was taking photos of it before I drink it made the whole thing refreshingly cool, I’m not entirely sure. Either way, I like the drink and it’s been a while since I tasted something different that I like. Next time I come here, I might try their other non-coffee menu. We’ll see.

Video of the space:

Un’icon • 언아이콘

Address: 서울 마포구 월드컵로13길 19-23
Telephone: 010-4186-0131
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 13:00 - 21:00 | Sunday 13:00 - 20:00 | Closed on Mondays

Instagram: @uniconcoffee

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