Thursday 28 April 2011

Cafe Kanana

Cafe Kanana is one of the many cafes surrounding Sangdo station. I happen to go to a lot of cafes in this area because it is near where I live and work. I found myself going into Cafe Kanana on my day off to sample some of their food and drinks. Their food menu is quite limited. The cafe only have 7 or 8 different pizzas and pastas available on their menu. I ordered a cheese pizza which had olives and onions on when it arrived at my table. Personally I didn't really mind as I love olives and veggies but some may be a bit surprised to get this when they supposedly ordered a plain cheese pizza.



On the day that I visited the cafe, which was a thursday I tried to order a Cafe Gelato or
카페젤라또 in Korean. The lady told me that they couldn't make that. I'm assuming that they didn't have any gelato as it's probably not something that a lot of customers order. I was a little bit disappointed by this as most customers don't like to be told what they want to order is not available. As a second choice I ordered the Cafe Kanana 카페카나나. I didn't ask what kind of coffee this was, I just thought I'd see what I got when it came out.

What I got was this:

The best way I can describe this drink is a mix between a cappucino (frothy milk on the top) and a latte with some random sweet syrup on the bottom hence the red swizzle stick in my drink. It wasn't altogether unpleasant but I couldn't really figure out what it was and there are probably better coffees to drink at this cafe and elsewhere.

I wasn't particular bowled over by this cafe although the decor was nice and the proximity to the station is useful. I don't want to give the cafe a bad review as such but I would say it's a fairly average cafe. There was nothing that made the cafe stand out from all the other chain coffee shops in Seoul.




How to get there: Sangdo station, Exit 5, do a 180 so that the stairs and escalators are behind your and walk around the corner, it will be immediately on your right hand side.

Sunday 24 April 2011

Dunami's

I visited this cafe on a saturday afternoon and not surprisingly it was quite busy. This cafe can seat about 40 people and has a cosy feel to it due to it being a basement cafe. One of the interesting features of this cafe is that they have a seminar room which can seat about 9 people. It has a wall separating it from the rest of the cafe allowing for privacy. At the same time, the seminar room has one side open so it doesn't feel claustrophobic and so that the staff can get in easily to serve drinks and food.




Although I didn't have an opportunity to use it when I visited the cafe, the cafe has a printer and 2 laptops which belong to the cafe which customers can use. Sangdo-dong is a somewhat student area due to Soongsil University being located in Sangdo-dong so the printer and laptops could be of use to students who prefer to study in cafes rather than in the library.



Dunami's is a book cafe but I cannot really comment on what kinds of books they have as the majority of them are in Korean although they had a few Japanese and English books.


On the day that I visited, I was suffering from a sore throat so I ordered a honey lemon tea which I found to be a little bit TOO sweet but that's just my opinion. I stayed in the cafe for several hours and I also ordered an espresso frappuciono which came with some toast and jam which I thought was little bit odd but not at all unwelcome. However, I have a theory about this toast and jam and I have to stress here that this is just a theory. I have a feeling that the staff in the cafe thought I was a reporter of some kind as I got out my HUGE DSLR camera and starting snapping away and in order for the cafe to get a good review I think they put some toast and jam along with my coffee order as I noticed another customer who seemed to order the same thing as me minus the toast.



I don't want to write a bad review about Dunami's because I had an enjoyable afternoon there but I was a little bit disappointed that they didn't offer me a point card at point of purchase, especially as I purchased 2 drinks and I was in there several hours so they had the opportunity to offer me the point card. I don't know if it was because the staff were nervous about speaking to me in English or perhaps thought I wouldn't understand Korean or thought that it was unlikely that I would be visiting again so didn't offer me a card. Either way I wasn't offered one, which is a shame as I live fairly near this cafe and might have considered going regularly had I been offered a point card and if I wasn't on a mission to try as many independent cafes as possible. The only reason I know they even have a point card system is because they were on the counter by the cash register but those cards were alphabetized, meaning that they were the point cards used by regular customers who left their point cards at the cafe but it was not obvious to me where the new, unused cards were for new customers. If so, I would have helped myself.


Most of the drinks prices range from 4,300-5,500 won. They also serve some waffles, salad and sandwiches all at reasonable prices. Dunami's is a cute little cafe that makes you forget about the noisy traffic above you and allows you to relax. Despite the things I wrote above, I would definitely still recommend this cafe.






























How to get there: Sangdo Station (Line 7), Come out of Exit 4 and Dunami's is immediately on the left, downstairs in the basement.

Friday 22 April 2011

커피별 녹색잔

커피별 녹색잔 is the name of the cafe and is pronounced Copi Byeol Noksekjan which translates to Coffee Star Green Cup in English. This cafe is located in Samcheongdong. I visited the cafe in the evening after work on friday between 9pm-11pm and there were only a few people in the cafe. On the weekends, most of the cafes in Samcheondong are packed so it was nice to be able to visit at a time when it was much less crowded.

커피별 녹색잔 doesn't have any kind of point card system. However, if you have an Alleh account then you can use an e-coupon type thing that you can get sent to your phone (as long as you have a phone that can access the internet) and then you can get 50% off the price of the drinks. I happened to be with a Korean friend who had an Alleh account which is the only reason I know about this offer and there is a poster outside the cafe with the Alleh logo to alert Korean customers to this offer.


커피별 녹색잔 is also book cafe of sorts. There was only a small selection of books in Korean of course. One of them was an Osaka cafe guide which was quite interesting. If I could read Korean it probably would have been more interesting.


Selection of books upstairs


Selection of books downstairs

What attracted us (my friend and I) to this cafe was that it had 2 floors, looked quite airy and spacious and it wasn't crowded which was an added bonus. There were just enough decoration inside to make it interesting to look at without it feeling cluttered or over crowded.

Here are some photos of the inside of the cafe:









Although I enjoyed the 커피별 녹색잔 experience, I have to say that there was nothing that special about it for me. I may visit this cafe again simply for the discount you can get with an Alleh membership. The cafe does have one thing going for it that the other cafes on this street seem to lack and that is space. Other than that, I wasn't really wowed by it.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Snail's Coffee

 I found this cafe purely by chance when I was walking between Soongsil University station and Seoul National University station in search of a supermarket. What got my attention was the name of the cafe; Snail's Coffee.For those of you who live in Korea you may have heard of Cat Cafes and Dog Cafes so I thought it was another one of those gimmicky cafes. I mean if you can have Cat Cafes and Dog Cafes why not a Snail Cafe?

Luckily, for me it seems that its only a Snail Cafe by name and not because they have snails crawling around everywhere. Phew! The Korean friend who I was with at the time shouted "Oh my god, it says there are snails in the cafe on that sign!" She got me, good and proper.




Once inside, my first impressions of the cafe were good. The decor was nice with hand painted designs on the wall, lots of cute decorations on the tables and all around the cafe. The cafe has lots of books that you can pick off the shelf and read. One side of the cafe houses manga books (in Korean). The other side of the cafe has a big book shelf with lots of Korean books both fiction and non fiction. I spotted 2 books on my table that were in English. Interestingly, this cafe also has some sketch pads and crayons on one of the book shelves that I assume you can use.






I suppose that's enough about the inside of the cafe.

What is the coffee like you say? Snail's Coffee has one of the widest selections of drinks I have ever seen. They have about 6 pages of the menu dedicated to the different kinds of coffee that they have on offer and a few pages at the back for their waffle menu, tea and juices. The other great thing about this particular cafe, apart from the wide selection of coffees is that it is quite cheap. Most of the coffees are between 3,500 won-4,500 won. Their most expensive coffee is the Dutch coffee which is hand dripped at 8,000 won.  Snail's Coffee doesn't have any point card system, but their cheap prices and relaxing atmosphere more than make up for this.I tried their Affogato for 4,500 won which was superb ^^

This cafe is located on the 2nd floor of a building so if you were not looking for it, you could easily miss it. It's only about a 10 minute walk from Seoul National University station (Exit 7, walk towards Soongsil University) but it's far away enough from the station that not a lot of people seem to know about it. If you want to sit in a quiet coffee shop to get some work done or to just have some peace and quiet in this busy city then this is the place to go. Snail's Coffee doesn't open until 1pm which may be a drawback for some but it stays open until 1am according to the sign on the door. Obviously I didn't visit the cafe at 1am but for those of you who love to drink coffee late at night then this would be a great place to do it. It has a great ambience and I would urge anyone who happens to be around Seoul National Univ. area to visit it.


How to get there: Seoul National University station (Line 2) Come out of Exit 7 and walk approx. 10 minutes towards Soongsil University OR Soongsil University station (Line 7) Come out of Exit 4 and walk approx. 20 minutes towards Seoul National University.

Add: Snail's Coffee
2nd Floor
36-21 Haengundong
Gwanak-gu
Seoul

Tel: 070 7569 4841

E-mail: kdhljp@hanmail.net

Sunday 17 April 2011

Cafe Karen

My very first post on this blog will be about Cafe Karen. This cafe is located near Soongsil University and is very popular amongst the students there. I have posted a photo of the outside of the cafe so that you (the readers) can find it easily should you wish to go to this cafe.

 The cafe normally has some tables and chairs outside but this photo was taken on a sunday when the cafe is closed. It was the only time that I could get a clear shot of the outside of the cafe as there are normally lots of students walking past.

The thing that attracted me to go inside this cafe was that it was not part of a chain. I could tell even from the outside that it had a really cute, kitsch, individualistic feel to it so I decided to go in and I was not disappointed.

Here are some photos of the inside of the cafe.





The cafe offers coffee, tea, juices, smoothies and snacks all of which are reasonably priced and are cheaper than a great deal of chains in Seoul. Most of the drinks prices are between 3,500 won and 4,500 won. The most expensive drink on their menu is the home made Omija (five flavored) tea for 5,000 won. Their cheapest being an espresso for 3,200 won. The cafe is quite small and can only seat 26 customers but it has a very cosy and intimate feel to it and for me that just adds to the charm of the cafe. Cafe Karen offer a point card system as do a lot of coffee shops and cafes in Seoul. For every coffee purchased in Cafe Karen you get a stamp on your point card and after 12 stamps you get a coffee FREE OF CHARGE. Unfortunately you can only get a stamp when purchasing coffee and not other things on their drinks menu. 


The staff are very friendly and at least one of the members of staff who I spoke to can speak English. There is also free wi-fi in the cafe, so you will often see students who prefer to work in cafes rather than in the library hanging out in this cafe. I have been to this cafe several times as its close to my home and I can easily see it becoming one of my local hang outs. 








How to get there: Soongsil University station (Line 7) Exit 4, Ediya Coffee and Starbucks are at the bottom of the hill walk approx. 5 minutes up the hill.

Add: Cafe Karen
1st Floor
506-4
Sangdo-dong
Dongjak-gu
Seoul

Tel: 070 7619 7181

Open: Monday-Friday 10am-11pm
Saturday 12pm-10pm
Sunday CLOSED