Korean Cafe

When I lived in Korea I tried to find all the cafes in Seoul that were focused on high quality coffee, but in the process I visited a bunch that were less than stellar. However, even the least palatable coffees in Korea are often served in beautiful, or at least amusing surroundings. From vintage Volkswagen buses used as kitchens, to four-story tall Dunkin Donuts, to minimalist bars that could just as easily be the next generation of Apple stores, there is a creatively designed space to suit every mood or affinity.

 

This eclecticism in cafe design could be attributable to any number of things – the primacy of the cafe as a social space in a nation where many young adults live at home until marriage, where many live in tiny places too cramped for entertaining, where social norms stigmatize eating or drinking alone, where the sheer number of commercial venues providing such social space demands ingenuity to draw in customers, and where safety laws and labor are lax and cheap. I’m certain that only scratches the surface.

 

In this environment the cafe form thrives and has evolved in ways that, at times, one can only blink at, wide-eyed. For instance, I’ve written about ‘Dr. Fish’ cafes in the past, where you buy a coffee and cake set, and then dangle your feet in a pond full of flesh eating fish that nibble away the dead skin on your legs while you chat with your friends. I can’t imagine that passing health codes in many other places, but it’s one of many unique combinations of coffee, space, and service that have developed here in Korea.

 

In the pictures below I hope to convey a little bit of that diversity, and also to share with you some of the places and experiences that didn’t quite make the cut for a post here on FRSHGRND, but that were nevertheless entertaining or indicative of wider trends in Korean cafe design. Additionally, you’ll see just how much I end up filtering out to make sure that only the best recommendations make it on to this site./frshgrnd