Best Cafes and Dessert Spots in Korea

Instead of joining the counter line, grab a table first and order by QR code; KakaoTalk then sends your order number an…

This warehouse-style cafe fills a converted factory site at the top of a steep Daeyeon-dong hill. The climb on foot is…

The plain patbingsu, shaved ice with sweet red beans, takes its sweetness from apple jam rather than sugar, the old way…

Sharing a lot with a gas station, this lakeside cafe looks out over Cheongpung Lake and the hills around it. Orders are…

Buy a pack of ramyeon, collect a pot, a burner and a windscreen, and cook it yourself on the outdoor deck above Chungju…

The long window counter and the terrace all face Daecheong Lake and Oksabong Peak, and in season a fountain shoots up f…

Cakes, turtle bread, stone-oven loaves and rice cakes each have their own building, scattered like a small village, and…

Geobugi-ppang, the turtle bread, is close to a coffee bun but less greasy, and it sits in a warmer so it can be eaten h…

Through a middle gate past the main hanok, styled like a yangban household, the seating carries on into an annex in the…

Red brick, stacked in loose courses, wraps the room, and the roof leaves its steel frame on show. Hands Coffee designed…

From the basement to the third floor and up to the roof, each level has its own indoor tables and terrace, and the uppe…

Baguettes made with French flour, served with fresh cream and spreads, are the center of the dessert menu, and adding m…

The strawberry cake feels heavy from the moment the box is handed over. Fresh strawberries fill every gap between layer…

A renovation widened the ground-floor bread hall, making it easier to browse staples like twigim soboro (fried streusel…

Birch trees crowd the path from the entrance to the building, and garden tables sit among them beside a short walking p…

On the second floor an outdoor awning blocks the view; to see the sea over the pine grove, go up to the third or fourth…

Order the day before and turn up at your assigned pickup time, and the box is handed over without a wait. The Portugues…

Roasting actually happens inside this valley building, and the two-story open interior still feels like a working coffe…

Pick bread on the ground floor, then carry it upstairs to the second-floor hall, the rooftop, the terrace or a gallery-…

The wrapper is thin enough to see through, and inside sits a red-bean filling made with Gyeongju beans that reaches alm…

Two ponies live in the back garden of this hanok-style cafe in Gyeongju, a short walk through the building from the cou…

Window seats look out on the round green mound of Bonghwangdae. This small roastery near Hwangnidan-gil brews house-roa…

Open the door and the first thing that hits you is the butter from bread baked on site. The croissant is crisp outside…

Often called the largest Terarosa in the country, the Seojong branch stacks two open floors under a lofty ceiling. The…