I like the taste of coffee, but I cannot really drink much due my hyperactive nature. It would only take one shot to send me to restless-land. Despite that, I love going to cafés, particularly the Asian ones. They sell cakes made from light fluffy sponge, layered with fruit or tea flavoured cream. I like to eat them with a cup of rich green tea latte.
We went to a few cafés during our trip in Seoul, here are the two that I really liked, located in my favourite areas Samchungdong and Sinsadong.
Samchungdong is an ‘old’ part of Seoul to the east of the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Here you will find a group of traditional houses on a hill overlooking the rest of Seoul, known as the Bukchon Hanok Village. Most of them now serve as guest houses or cultural centers. There are also plenty of little alleyways you can explore in Samchungdong, featuring art galleries, cafés and small shops.
Retrona Pie is a three story café specialising in sweet American style pies. My guide book said the chef was trained in Japan before starting his own business here, no wonder why the pastries looked so immaculately pretty. We ordered a slice of raspberry and green tea pie, and a slice of earl grey and chocolate pie. The cream was light yet full of flavour, just what we needed for a mid afternoon break.
Unlike in London, the posh part of Seoul is South of the Han River. Sinsadong is modern and full of trendy and relatively high end shops, and it is also the capital of plastic surgery. It was not hard to notice the advertisements at the station showing the “before” and “after” images. Apart from that, Sinsadong is lovely to walk around with no shortage of good restaurants and bars.
We popped into Deux Amis for dessert after binging on some KFC nearby. It was still very busy even though it was past ten o’clock, I wish London had somewhere like this. We shared a slice of salted caramel and chocolate cake, how cute is the little macaroon on top? My husband was very happy with his pink lychee juice and raspberry sorbet in a sundae glass.
I feel the same about the late night cafe culture in Asia. I totally wish we had the same in the UK - not everyone wants to go to a pub/bar on an evening!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! There is a 'dessert street' in my home town in Hong Kong, where all the cafes open til past mid-night. I think there are a couple of dessert cafes in China town but the quality of the food is not so good :(
DeleteI'm not sure if the Brits are quite ready to swap a pint of Stella for "pink lychee juice and raspberry sorbet in a sundae glass".
DeleteThe pies look great though!