% Arabica Jakarta PIK Golf Island

% Arabica just opened its fifth location in Jakarta by introducing what could possibly be one of the most iconic structure of their outlet in Indonesia to date. Located in the middle of PIK Golf Island’s main roundabout, it’ll be hard to miss the unique modern circular structure enclosed by floor to ceiling glass surrounding it, giving you a glimpse of their signature all-white interior. 

On top of that, they’re also introducing their first drive-thru service in Indonesia at this location, offering you the option to grab your coffee on the go. The multi-award winning design studio Nomura no. 10 who’s responsible for many of % Arabica’s world-wide outlets including this one, certainly has done a wonderful job with the space.

*% Arabica Golf Island PIK will be open to public on December 9, 2023.

 

% Arabica Jakarta PIK

Address: Bunderan PIK, Jl. Pantai Indah Kapuk, 14460
Telephone: +62-811-1992-0007
Hours: Mon-Thu 8:00am - 10:00pm | Fri-Sun 7:00am-11:00pm

Instagram: @arabica.indonesia

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Rain Report • 레인리포트

If you love rainy days, you’re probably going to love one of the newest addition to Seoul’s unique cafe line-up this year, the Rain Report (레인리포트). Offering a perpetual once every 15-minutes rain all day long, this rain-themed cafe gives patrons an immersive experience of sipping coffee during a rainy day. The unique concept certainly becomes their biggest selling point, especially with the possibility of snapping a picture with an umbrella under the rain, just like one of those scenes in K-dramas. Some would say it’s quite romantic, don’t you think?

Combined that with a wide selections of coffee, unique desserts and ample seatings inside the cafe, it’s not surprising that soon after, this cafe went viral and became one of the most popular newly-opened cafes in Seoul with patrons lining up for a seat during the weekends.

My visit to this cafe was two months after their soft opening in April and one week after its grand opening in June. After seeing many clips of this place that were constantly popping up on my feed and DMs from my followers to check this place out, my interest was definitely piqued. And so I went to check out the Rain Report.

After walking up and down steep roads leading to the cafe, I finally arrived at their flagship location that’s nestled in the middle of a residential area in Itaewon. Tall black fence gates greeted me with a flap display alternating between their logo and weather forecast icons on the board. I walked up the black stairs lined with bamboo trees and soon find the entrance to the building.

First thing that I saw when I walked in was the big LCD screen displaying the weather forecast. Next to it is an umbrella holder that holds multiple clear umbrellas with black handle on top of it. I soon found out that the cafe actually provides these umbrellas for visiting patrons, in case you want to take a picture under the rain with them. Very convenient.

The door next to the umbrella holders leads to the most Instagrammable spot in this place, the rain area. This is where the once in every 15-minutes rain will happen and you can line up for your turn to take a photo under the rain with the clear umbrella. Also worth noting, since there’s usually a line, when you’re taking a photo on this spot, the people lining up as well as those who are sitting inside the cafe will be your audience (which might be a little awkward for people like me). The spot also gets pretty wet after a while, so you might want to be careful if you’re bringing cameras or tripods. Probably best if you have somebody take a picture for you so it’s quicker.

The indoor area is decorated with black sleek modern interior with multiple screens playing rain clips and more flap displays with graphics, reminiscent of a newsroom setup. There are two floors with a tower of monitors hanging down from the high ceiling in the middle of the room, water trickling down at the bottom of it creating the sound of rain drops.

The first floor seating consists of the middle lobby-like area that is facing the photo spot and the coffee bar area at the far end side of the room. Second floor has more seating with semi-private sections with sofas and lounge chairs. The noise level in this place is moderate to high when I was there since it was quite busy despite the fact that I went there on a weekday. It did get a bit loud for me when the place was more crowded later in the afternoon because everybody was talking all at the same time.

On the dessert table, there are various financiers on display with unique flavors like Squid Ink, Amarena Cherry, Fig Wine, Triple Cheese, Maple Bacon, Basil, Kaya Coconut, and Almond Pistachio. I think this was also my first time seeing long rectangular and savory financiers so it’s very interesting. I ended up trying 5 of the financiers—the Squid Ink, Fig Wine, Maple Bacon, Basil, and Almond Pistachio. Taste wise, they’re all very interesting and taste distinctly different from each other. I quite like them all, except for the Squid Ink (there’s a bit of that fishy taste that I personally am not quite fond of). Texture wise, they’re all a bit hard and dry for my personal preference. Part of it is maybe because they’re all displayed out in the open so they’re not as moist? But overall, they’re still okay for me.

For their cake selections, they have a wide variety of very pretty cakes displayed inside the cooler:

STORM - Mont Blanc 몽블랑
RAIN DROP - Green Grape 그린 그레이프
SUNNY DAY - Strawberry Souffle 딸기 치즈수플레
CLOUD - Deep Black/Black Cloud 블랙 클라우드
WIND - Opera 오페라
SUNSHINE - Mango Tiramisu 망고 티라미수

(Also, love that they stick to the overall concept of weather for the naming of the cake.)

The price for each cake ranges from ₩12,000 (≈$9) to ₩16,000 (≈$12). The portion is quite big so I think you can probably share one cake between two people. They also have a Coffee & Dessert Pairing Omakase (커피 & 디저트 페어링 오마카세) for ₩38,000 (≈$29).

I really wanted to try the Cloud, but when I got there they were out of stock. I even came back again later that evening to see if they have a new batch but it’s out of stock again. So in the end, I didn’t get to try the cake. Maybe next time.

For the drink, the limited non-coffee options was a bit of a let down for me. I ordered the Sunny Day (써니데이) (honestly just ‘cause it’s the most visually attractive and I didn’t feel like drinking chocolate or tea) and it tasted like orange juice and soda.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to this place. Love the whole concept, branding, design and the attention to details they put into the graphics they use around the space as well as their social media posts (the product photography on their IG feed is super nice by the way). For me, it is one of those places that I go to more for the interior and the vibe rather than the desserts and drinks (although I might change my mind if their cakes are really good. We’ll see if I get to try them in the future. Or maybe their coffee is really good? I wouldn’t know since I don’t drink coffee). Since the place is quite popular and has went viral, if you’re looking for a chill, quite place to hang out at, this might not be the right choice for you (at least for now since the place just opened). Or maybe go visit during the weekdays to try to avoid the lines and the crowds.

 

Rain Report • 레인리포트

Address:서울 용산구 소월로40길 85 1, 2층
Telephone: 0507-1360-4302
Hours: Everyday 11:00-21:30

Instagram: @rainreport_official

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Cafe Alt • 알트

If you’re looking for vegan desserts or gluten-free cakes in Seoul, Cafe Alt (알트) is one of the places you can check out. Located in Yeon-hui dong (연희동), the fairly spacious cafe that just opened November last year offers various vegan and gluten-free desserts ranging from scones, canelé, cakes, to greek yogurt ball, as well as selections of coffee and non-coffee menu.

They have the desserts and cakes available on display so you can see what they look like before ordering. Some of their newest additions to the menu are the Basil Tomato Scone (바질 토마토 스콘) and Corn Jalapeño Scone (옥수수 할라피뇨 스콘). They also have Earl Grey Canelé, Apple Crumble, Remington Cake, Chocolate Mud Cake, and Brick Cake. Other unique menus that they have are the Greek Yogurt Ball and Tofu Sweet Potato Cake.

The highlight of my visit was their Rooibos Milk Tea (루이보스 밀크티). As you all know, I’m always on the hunt for a good milk tea and this one didn’t disappoint. The milk tea was really fragrant, the Rooibos cream on top was a nice addition and overall, it hit the right level of sweetness. Definitely will come back again for their Rooibos Milk Tea.

For dessert, I tried their gluten-free Brick Cake (브릭 케이크) which has fresh fruits inside (I mainly tasted strawberry though when I tried it). Since I haven’t eaten a lot of gluten-free cake, I don’t think I can make a fair judgement on how good this cake is. For me, it was just okay. Not bad, but also not something that I would order again (just because I prefer sweet cakes than fruity/sour ones).

I visited this cafe on a Saturday afternoon and it wasn’t too busy. I’d say the noise level was in the medium range since the place did get a little loud when there was a group of people chatting. But overall, it’s still comfortable enough for me to talk with my friends.

Other additional info that might be helpful, for customized cake, you have to place your order at least 3 days before the pick-up date and they don’t accept cake orders on Tuesdays.

 

Cafe Alt • 알트

Address: 서울 서대문구 연희로 122 경교빌딩 1층 104호, 105호
Telephone: 0507-1349-6021
Hours: Monday-Friday 10:00-20:00 | Saturday & Sunday 10:00-21:00

Instagram: @cafe.alt

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Brady's Coffee Bar • 브래디네 커피바

Brady's Coffee Bar (브래디네 커피바) is a charming little cafe that’s located in the neighborhood of Yeonnam-dong (연남동) that has been gaining popularity these day. The interior of the cafe is decorated with wooden furnitures that give an overall rustic vibe to the place with some corners looking like something that came straight out of a still life painting.

The cafe has two floors with high ceiling which each is separated into a lower and upper sections, giving visitors more seating options. The first floor is where the coffee bar and kitchen are and the place where you place your order.

On the side of the building, there’s a long stairs that leads up to the second floor of the cafe which accommodates a little more seatings compared to the first floor.

I ordered the Strawberry Latte and my friend ordered the Guava & Orange Ade for the drinks. The Guava & Orange Ade is refreshing while the Strawberry Latte is more on the milky side. I personally am not a fan of strawberries since I don’t really like sour drinks, but their Strawberry Latte is not as sour as I imagined it to be. I think it has the right amount of sourness to it but the overall taste is still sweet. I kinda like it actually. It was pretty good.

We also tried their Salty Butter Bread & Kamiak, a unique menu that we both never heard of. It comes with one salty butter bread, kaimak, and slices of apple. According to Google, Kaimak (Kaymak) is a creamy dairy food similar to clotted cream that is made from the milk of water buffalo, cows, sheep, or goats. On the Brady’s menu, they wrote that their kaimak is savory milk flavored cream.

Their salty butter bread has a more crunchy crust on the outside with softer texture on the inside. We cut the bread into smaller pieces and spread the kamiak on top of it. The first bite was heavenly. The bread was good, and eating it with the kamiak was even better. It tasted sweet (but not too sweet) and savory at the same time. I really like it. The second piece that I tried, I added in the honey that’s poured around the kamiak and it was a tad too sweet for me. It’s still good, but I think I can do without the honey and just eat the bread with the kamiak. Definitely recommend this menu to try if you ever come to Brady’s Coffee Bar.

Right before I was about to leave, the cloudy sky outside turned sunny and the sunlight was coming through the window, lighting this corner of the cafe beautifully. The light and shadow were really pretty and once again it reminded me of a still life painting. If you want to take a photo on this spot, make sure to check out their second floor.

 

Brady’s Coffee Bar • 브래디네 커피바

Address: 서울 마포구 성미산로23안길 23 1층, 2층
Telephone: 010-4947-4729
Hours: 11:00-19:00 (Wednesday to Sunday) | Closed on Mondays & Tuesdays

Instagram: @bradys_coffeebar

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Not Complete • 낫컴플리트

Stumbled upon Not Complete (낫컴플리트) by chance when I was exploring Hyehwa-dong (혜화동) during one summer day in June. It was quiet when I walked into the spacious cafe on the second story of a building in one of the alleyways in Hyehwa. The place was brightly lit by the natural lighting that shines through the windows surrounding the space and soft jazz music was playing in the background.

It was the cafe’s third week of soft opening so the place was pretty much brand new. First thing that came to mind after I sat down was this is a perfect place to read a book, do some work or to catch up with friends because, other than the occasional sound of the coffee machine brewing or water running from the kitchen, the noise level in this space is perfect for me who doesn’t really like noisy places. The cafe also have a good selections of coffee and non-coffee options as well as dessert and pastries on the menu. If you’re looking for a quiet cafe around Hyehwa area, this place is definitely worth to check out.

 

Not Complete • 낫컴플리트

Address: 서울 종로구 성균관로 12-5 1층 2층
Hours: Monday to Saturday 12:00-21:00. Closed on Sundays.

Instagram: @notcmplt

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