Seoul Jan'17: 5 Cafes To Visit At Garosu-Gil!

One of my favourite places to roam in Seoul is Garosu-gil at Sinsa-Dong. The name Garosu-gil comes from the Korean word meaning "tree-lined streets", as the area is adorned with ginkgo trees, making it one of the most picturesque and Instagram-worthy parts of town in Seoul!


Garosu-gil is also famous for the many stylish cafes, boutiques and restaurants it is home to. Armed with our cameras and empty stomachs, my girlfriend Tammi and I set out for a day of cafe-hopping down the streets of Garosu-gil!

My camera of choice is the Olympus E-PL8 - The perfect travel companion with its lightweight and compact build as well as features like Built-In Wifi, Art Filters and an 180 degree-flip down LCD screen optimised for selfies!

5 Cafes To Visit At Garosu-Gil

As I've mentioned, Garosu-gil is practically the cafe capital of Seoul - There are so many cafes along Garosu-Gil that it's impossible to visit them all in one day! We spent an entire day at Garosu-gil and here are the five cafes that we visited and loved - With gorgeous interiors and delicious food, these cafes will be a treat for both your Instagram and your tummy! Hehe.

Directions to Garosu-Gil

Take the Seoul subway to Sinsa Station (Line 3).
From exit 8, walk straight for about 5 minutes - The second intersecting street is Garosugil.

1. Line Friends Store & Cafe

535-15 Sinsa-dong,

Gangnam-Gu, Seoul

Line Friends Store & Cafe is without a doubt one of the most charming cafes you'll step foot in on the street of Garosu-gil - Even for a non-Line fan like me, I found the Line-themed merchandise and food irresistibly cute! Just look at this huuuuuge Brown bear that everyone was queuing up to take a photo with!

Browse the merchandise if you will, but be warned that everything is ridiculously priced and costs a pretty penny - I really liked some of the merchandise but couldn't bear to spend my precious Korean won on them.

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Pinhole Mode

Head downstairs to the basement, and you'll find the endearing Line Friends Cafe!

Where you can dine with a life-sized "Brown" next to you, or choose from lots of cutesy Line-themed desserts, cakes, and food!

I bought myself a "Coney"-themed soft serve that was surprisingly delicious and waaaayyyy tooooo cute! Gotta say I wasn't expecting much, but this was goooood. (And it garnered me 1500 likes on Instagram too, what is this obsession with cute food?!)

2. The Hwawon @ Eight Seconds

535-12 Sinsa-dong,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul

For those of you who love eclectic decor and botanicals, pop by The Hwawon @ Eight Seconds!

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Vintage Mode

With its dimly-lit and cozy interior that's been spiced up with little potted plants, colourful Middle-Eastern tapestry and an entire ceiling-full of dried flower bouquets, The Hwawon makes you feel like you've stepped into another universe altogether.

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Vintage Mode

It was the perfect hide-out from the freezing temperatures outdoors as we indulged in hot tea and honey bread!

Here's the perfect shot of our Honey Toast - Served toasty warm, drizzled with honey and then topped with whipped cream and cacao nibs!

Confession: Despite struggling with our frozen fingers, we brought this outdoors to the very pretty coffee table right outside the entrance for its own editorial shoot just because outdoor lighting is full of win. Don't judge us.

3. Deux Crèmes

45, Dosan-Daero 15-Gil,
Gangnam-Gu, Seoul

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Pop Art Mode

Deux Crèmes might not look like much from the outside, but I highly highly recommend this cafe if you love tarts and pastries - They do an incredible selection of fresh fruit pies that taste as good as they look!

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Partial Color Mode

Oh, and they also have gorgeous full-length windows with a great view for people-watching as well as perfect lighting for portrait and food shots! Definitely a win!

Here's a tip for your table flat-lay photos: It always looks better with a bit of human action, so get a hand (or two) into the frame for a more enticing shot!

We had the strawberry pistachio tart, and it was delicious! The crust was light and flaky, and the fresh strawberries complemented the light cream and nutty pistachio filling so well. It was the perfect balance of sweet and tart, crisp and creamy.

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Partial Color Mode

See what I mean about the full-length windows for beautiful portrait lighting conditions? ;) The use of the Partial Color Art Filter really brought out the feels for this photo too!

4. Skin Food Store & Cafe

12-37 Apgujeong-ro, Sinsa-dong, 
Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Walking further down Garosu-gil, we stumbled upon Skinfood Cafe right above its concept store on Level 1 - Both Tammi and I are Skinfood fans, and we had to head upstairs to check out the cafe!


I LOVED the cheerful and happy atmosphere with sunny yellow and white accents all over! There's a little section where you get to play with Skinfood's skincare products and another where different makeup products are all laid out too. Really fun and chirpy vibes going on that's totally in line with Skinfood's branding.

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Cross Process Mode

They sure know how to make a place photogenic. Definitely my kind of #interiorgoals!

Food-wise, the menu is refreshing and reflects Skinfood's healthy brand philosophy - Great for health-conscious eaters. It's not mind-blowing by any means, but the cafe is a lovely and cheery place to rest the feet after an intense Skinfood marathon shopping downstairs on Level 1!

PS. I bought the Skin Food Avocado & Honey Lip Serum SPF8 and really, really like it. Moisturises well and gives my lips a natural reddish tint!

A quick selfie made easy with the 180 deg flip down screen on my Olympus E-PL8 - We all deserve to be a little narcissistic sometimes, yes? (Note: There's actually an E-Portrait mode on the Olympus E-PL8 for flawless skin too!)

5. O'Sulloc Tea House

580-5 Sinsa-dong,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Osulloc Tea House is one of those cafes that I've heard a lot of raves about, so naturally, we made it our last stop for the day. They actually do have a few different outlets - One in Myeongdong and another one at Insadong if I'm not mistaken.

Green tea and matcha fanatics should give Osulloc Tea House a visit because just about every single thing on its menu is green tea flavoured! The green tea used in their products is organically grown and comes from Jeju Island.

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Light Tone Mode

All kinds of green tea goodness on our tray. Yay!

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Light Tone Mode

We both loved the Green Tea Latte - It was creamy and frothy with exactly the right taste of matcha that was neither too bitter nor too artificial. Good stuff!! 

Tammi preferred the Green Tea Roll Cake while I liked the Green Tea Torte. The roll cake was sort of bland and didn't have a strong enough matcha kick to me, while the Green Tea Torte was sweeter and richer.

Pretty much done with the sweet stuff by the time we finished up at Osulloc Tea House, but it was a super fun day together with Tammi!

Five cafes in one day - Sounds hectic, but we really had a very relaxed time, and I would have loved to visit even more cafes, had we the stomach space to try more food!

Even if you don't follow my cafe recommendations above, do set aside a day in your itinerary to head over to Garosu-gil to explore the area. It's a treasure trove of hidden gem cafes, cool boutiques and interesting shops to uncover!

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Pop Art Mode

It was evening time when we left Garosu-Gil to the sight of a cloudless canvas of brilliant hues as the sun set. Dazzling, ain't it?

Olympus E-PL8 Art Filter - Partial Color Mode

Pictures used for illustrations in this entry were taken with my Olympus E-PL8.

Hope you enjoyed the read, and let me know if you've got any cool cafes to recommend around Garosu-Gil! Psst. More Seoul travel posts are coming this way, so keep a look out! ;)

McCafe: The Caffeine Challenge!

Are you a caffeine addict?

Let me first admit that I never used to like coffee so much, but what with all the hipster new coffee joints popping all over, I've given coffee another chance and concluded that as I've aged, I've actually grown to enjoy coffee a whole lot more (with sugar please!!).

It's not just the taste of coffee, but simply the act of sitting down with a hot steaming cuppa, inhaling the fragrant aroma of the roasted beans and its visually appealing appearance (latte art!), and of course, that sense of well-being and perk-me-up a good cup of coffee provides. Ahhhhhhhhh.

I remember the first time I went to McCafe for a small food/coffee tasting and being pleasantly surprised with the quality of their coffee and beverages, so it was no surprise to me that during a blind coffee tasting that McCafe conducted a couple weekends ago, over 90% of people actually preferred McCafe coffee over their regular brew!!


Many of us turn to McDonalds only for the fast food, but really, with the convenience of over 50 McCafe outlets established island wide, McCafe is an ideal choice for affordable and great coffee no matter where you are!

The kind folks at McCafe invited me down to their special event: The Caffeine Challenge, two weekends ago, for an exclusive latte art session with fans and readers!

The logo you should be familiar with!

I really liked the little pop-up cafe created for The Caffeine Challenge, it was really innovative and fun-looking!

Here's the crew of young and enthusiastic baristas all hard at work!


Did you know that each and every barista at McCafe has to go through 100 hours of coffee making and training before they can "graduate" to become a full-fledged barista? I didn't know that too, but now I do.

Our agenda for the day: To learn more about coffee and how to make creative latte art with guidance from McCafe's wonderful talents!

Sleepy-eyed me, still jet-lagged after Spain but first, a coffee to wake up the senses!!

Some of my friends and readers who arrived so punctually! Say hello to Anirban, Joelle, and Li Yao!

Our session started with a little presentation by McCafe's barista/trainer, Hilmi, who went through the history of coffee, and how to make a good cup of coffee.

Technical mambo jumbo.. Coffee making is indeed an art!

Then it was on to the fun part: Demonstrations on how to make creative latte art! :D

Here's a starfish in the making!

And we were also shown various techniques for pouring, to create the signature heart shapes, tulip shapes, and even swan shapes that you see commonly on coffee art.

My chirpy and enthusiastic barista/guide made me a special cuppa!!

Here's a closer look at it.. It's a girl face to represent me, lol! So cute :D

Demonstrating how to create a bear with latte art...

We explored various methods and ways to create latte art, from using pouring (this is by far the most difficult for amateurs) to drawing with chocolate sauce and even shaping 3D latte art out of milk foam. It was so much fun to see how latte art came to life in so many different forms and shapes!

Guiding one of the readers on how to pour in the shape of a tulip. (Super challenging!)

We mostly had a lot of fun playing with chocolate sauce, one of the easiest ways to create latte art. Hahahaha! I gotta say, I was really impressed with how creative the baristas were! It's not easy to visualise something and create it in coffee art form, because this medium is so unique and hard to control. Kudos to all of you McCafe baristas!

I really wanted to try my hand at 3D latte art, so here's another barista in the midst of demonstrating a 3D kitty cat for me...

Had a ton of fun today learning about coffee and latte art at McCafe's The Caffeine Challenge private session hehe! How's my 3D kitty latte art? 🐱🐟 I think I'm getting pretty good at it! 👌 Thanks for having me, McCafe! ☕️ It was great to meet you followers who came down too! 🙆💗 PS. With 52 outlets across our island, you know where to head to for your next coffee fix! ☺️ #McCafeSG #creativebreak #nuffnangsg

A video posted by Yina Goh (@yinagoh) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:11am PST

MY VERSION!! So proud of it cos I think I did a rather decent job, no? :D

Thanks for the awesome afternoon, McCafe! It was tons of fun!

Here's my lovely team of friends and readers. Hope y'all enjoyed yourselves as much as I did during our session at The Caffeine Challenge!

With two sweet readers! :)

And with sweetheart Rozz!

Thanks for having me at The Caffeine Challenge!! Folks, the next time you're looking for a coffee, look no further! Go give McCafe a try, you might find yourself a new convert ;)

The McCafé brand was brought to Singapore by McDonald’s in 2003 to make espresso coffee accessible to coffee-lovers islandwide. Over the years, McCafé has established a comfortable and laidback approach to coffee, delivering quality in every cup at a great value price, with fast service in a friendly, welcoming environment. 

To date, there are over 50 McCafé outlets conveniently located islandwide, and each offers a wide range of quality coffee and a tempting selection of sweet and savoury snacks. 

The full list of McCafé outlets can be found here: www.mcdonalds.com.sg/McCafe

xoxo

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