Cafe Mula • 카페 뮬라

If you’re reading articles titled somewhere along the lines of ‘Pretty Cafes to visit in Garosugil’, Cafe Mula (카페 뮬라) probably made it to 9 out of 10 of those kind of articles. Located in the quieter side of Garosugil (가로수길), Cafe Mula’s entrance is quite simple and almost hidden. Unless you turn your head and look into the small alley like path leading to the cafe, you could’ve easily missed the entrance of this place. What I love about this place is the glass rooftop that they have on half of the space of the cafe. The combination of the amount of natural lighting shining through the ceiling and the pretty interior that they have will make you feel like you’re having tea time in a beautiful greenhouse. I’ve been here a couple of times and for some reason, every time I was here, it’s always on a gloomy day (which I don’t mind to be honest) and I still like the place. Imagine being here on a sunny day when all the sunlight brightly lit the place. The atmosphere is probably even more awesome.

Since its opening day, the thing that people usually order when visiting this place is their Tiramisu (or at least that’s the picture people Instagrammed the most at this place), so I ordered their Tiramisu and a cup of hot tea on the side the first time I came to visit this cafe with my friend. The tiramisu was alright. I mean, I’m not an expert in Tiramisu or anything so I can’t really say if this is the best Tiramisu in town or not. I feel like there are so many cafes in Seoul that offer Tiramisu as their dessert menu and all of them just tasted similar (maybe they have the same recipe or got them from the same source? I dunno). But, in my opinion, I could use a little bit more ladyfingers and less of the mascarpone. It’d be nice to have the ladyfingers with the mascarpone instead of the other way around. Too whipped-creamy for my taste. But hey, that’s just me. On another visit though, I tried their green tea latte and it was pretty good. Solid green tea latte at this place.

If you’re looking for a spot to chill in Garosugil, I would definitely recommend this place. It was pretty crowded with both locals and tourists when it was just opened a couple of years ago, but I think nowadays, it’s getting less crowded. I’m not 100% sure but at least on my latest visit, the cafe wasn’t as crowded as it used to be. But then again, I went on a Monday afternoon, so that could be one of the reasons why.

Here’s a video of the place:

Cafe Mula • 카페 뮬라

Address: 서울 강남구 압구정로4길 13-12
Telephone: 02-6104-4541
Hours: 10:00 - 22:00 (Sunday - Thursday) | 10:00 - 23:00 (Friday - Saturday)

Instagram: @cafemula

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Yurt Studio • 유르트 스튜디오

“ 'YURT' comes from the idea where designer's sensibility meets craftsmanship authentically within nature and life style. Based on the idea of human beings belong to the nature. We only use organic materials and vegetable leather to maximize its quality.” — YURT STUDIO

Yurt Studio (유르트 스튜디오) is a handmade leather workshop run by a husband-and-wife design team. Located in Hannam-dong (한남동), Yurt Studio crafts limited-edition leather shoes and bags, including its signature pastry-shaped clutch, the Croissant Bag. Their studio workshop currently serves as a cafe as well where people can come and browse around the store, as well as see what’s going on around the workshop. By combining the two spaces, Yurt Studio wishes to show people the home of someone who loves leather craftsmanship.

In an interview with Samsung Newsroom, Kim Yong-min, who runs Yurt Studio, says, "We wanted to create a space where we can better show our thoughts about the leather we pursue." To do this, he chose the current Yurt Studio with a new yard to move to, and he said, "We have also added a Yurt Cafe so that more people can come in." This new nest was transformed into a living space for Yurt and a perfect workplace.

I visited Yurt Studio with my cousin and Soo Zee on one spring day. Greeted by the spacious lawn when you walk in, coming to Yurt Studio definitely feels like you’re visiting the home of a friend. There is outdoor seating area around the lawn where you can sit under the shade. The building itself has two floors and a rooftop area. The first floor is where the Yurt Cafe, Yurt Workshop, and display areas are. The second floor has more seating area as well as display areas for the leather products sold in store. The rooftop is pretty spacious as well, but as the afternoon sun was pretty hot, we decided to just sit in the lawn area on the first floor after ordering our drinks from the Yurt Cafe. Come here and check out their handmade leather products or enjoy drinks from their cafe and play with Hato, their black french bulldog ;)

Update: As of 10 August 2019, Yurt Studio has moved to a new location.

Yurt Studio • 유르트 스튜디오

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 한남동 641-6
Telephone: 02-3444-7064

Website: Yurt Studio
Instagram: @yurt_official

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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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Woolf Social Club • 울프소셜클럽

Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s book ‘A Room of One’s Own’, Woolf Social Club (울프소셜클럽) wants to provide a space where one can enjoys good food, good music as well as a place where people can freely voice their opinions and be part of a discussions about different issues. In an interview with NYLON Magazine, the owner stated, “In his book, Wolf talked about ‘the sophistication, temperance, and dignity that luxury and personal freedom and space created.’ It is a material that is necessary to imagine something better than the present. I also hope to enrich the imagination of someone here by filling the space with vinyl, tea, food, and my character that can not be torn by the caustic rain. I would like them to return to their own room with such a feeling.”

My cousin and I went to Woolf Social Club for brunch on Saturday a couple of weeks after they just opened. I really like their space. It’s not too big, but it’s not too small either. The weather was warm and they had the windows open so we got to enjoy the sunlight and the cool breeze while we’re inside. Jazz music was playing on the background and the place wasn’t really busy when we got there.

We ordered Ham & Cheese Jaffle and Pork Belly Bun for our mains and Masala Chai Milk Tea and Mint Chocolate Black Tea for our drinks. The food was good and the staff was friendly (the owner speaks fluent English too). By the time we finished our meal, the place was pretty packed. I guess everybody’s just started their day late on a Saturday. I definitely recommend this place for brunch or if you’re looking for a cozy open-space cafe/restaurant to hang out at. Try their Highball or Espresso Martini if you are having a hard time choosing what drink to order.

Woolf Social Club • 울프소셜클럽

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 한남동 795-2
Hours: 12:00-22:00 (Monday - Saturday) | 12:00 - 21:00 (Sundays) | Closed on Wednesdays

Instagram: @woolfsocialclub

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I Hate Monday • 아이헤이트먼데이

If you have visited enough shops that sells local brands in Seoul, you’ll probably notice this one socks brand that keeps making appearances over and over again in different stores and locations. I Hate Monday (아이헤이트먼데이) is a popular Korean socks brand that was started with the main goal is to beat the Monday Blues.

The founder of the brand, sock designer Hong Jung Mi started this business because she used to hate going back to work on Monday after the weekend. "When you think of going to work on Monday, you often start to get nervous from Sunday evening onwards. So I decided to make something fun, creative and unique to help make people feel a bit more comfortable on their way to work," she said on an interview with The Chosunilbo. This sentiment clearly resonates with a lot of people since after started selling her socks on a vending machine in Sinsa-dong, it became really really popular and the business has only became a bigger and more popular until these days.

The brand has now expanded their socks line as well as working with other brands for collaboration projects. Their latest collaboration project includes working together with Innocean Worldwide to make braille socks for visually impaired (read the article here).

When I visited the store, I ended up talking with the person who was manning the store for a bit and she did told me about the story of her boss quitting her corporate job to start this brand because she really hated Mondays. Now that she owns this successful brand, I don’t think she hates Monday as much as she used to ;)

I Hate Monday • 아이헤이트먼데이

Address: 서울특별시 마포구 합정동 363-30
Telephone: 070-4028-1867
Hours: 11:30 - 19:00 (Weekdays. Lunch Break: 12:30 - 14:00) | 13:00 - 18:00 (Saturdays) | Closed on Sundays.

Website: I Hate Monday
Instagram: @ihatemondaysocks

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