Café Onion Seongsu (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★★☆

After a relaxing lunch at Alla Prima, I ventured back to Seongsu-dong to check out the flagship stores of various Korean glasses brand and there were a number of them in the area. But before I started with my shopping, I had some unfinished business from last night – a trip to Café Onion Seongsu.

Café Onion Seongsu has been one of the hottest bakery cafes in Seoul for a while now but the hype never seems to go away.

In fact, more and more people are getting on the bandwagon to get a feel of what it is like to be chilling out at a former factory. 

Built in the 1970s, this space was previously a supermarket, a restaurant, a repair shop and most recently, a metal factory.

I guess, most people (like myself) are drawn to the industrial-style décor featuring old and rustic elements.

Forget about climbing those stairs again (like last time), I am happy to hang around the garden here.  

A trip to Café Onion is never complete without a sip of their signature drinks. Try this iconic royal milk tea (₩8,000), one of the rustic cafe's most popular drink. 

What I love most about their milk tea is the distinctive flavors coming from the mix of ceylon tea. Very very addictive.

I don't think I have tasted anything like it before.

I just got a ping from Jelloman and she's coming down from Myeongdong. Time to meet up with her and spend the afternoon here, before leaving for Ikseon-dong for our supper.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ₩₩₩

Address: 8 Achasan-ro 9-gil, Seongsu-dong 2(i)-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Seongsu

Tel: +82 70-7816-2710

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri), 10:00am - 10:00pm (Sat - Sun) 

Softbar Ice-cream 소프트바 (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★☆☆

Well, we didn't get enough of sweet stuff this afternoon so following our Korean barbecue dinner, we decided to venture back to the shopping street of Seongsu-dong and grabbed ourselves some soft ice-cream.

Softbar Ice-cream (소프트바) is one of the two ice-cream parlors in the area so needless to say, business was very very good after dinner time. In fact, just 15 minutes before closing time, it was still packed with customers lining up for their soft serve (It didn't help that they only had one person serving as both the cashier and server at the same time).

Just two flavors (pistachio and milk) on the menu to choose from. That was easy.

Pistachio ice-cream (₩5,900) – The rich and flavorful pistachio ice-cream was finished off with a nice sprinkle of crushed pistachio on top.

And you want to know about the other ice-cream parlor in the area?

Food Rating: 6.1/10

Price: ₩₩₩

Address: 321-91 Seongsu-dong 2(i)-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Seongsu

Website: https://www.instagram.com/softbar_official

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 9:00pm daily

Usiya Seongsu 우시야 성수점 牛室 聖水洞 (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★★☆

For years, Jelloman and I have wanted to eat Korean barbecue like a local. We have set out on a mission to explore various Korean barbecue restaurants in the vibrant dining scene of Gangnam and Myeongdong but none have quite satisfied us enough to warrant a return trip. Tonight, we decided to embark on a different journey. Instead of visiting a popular Korean barbecue restaurant in a touristy area, we opted for a more down-to-earth local favorite recommended by none other than Naver, Seoul's most successful restaurant and café guide.

Located on the edge of Seongsu-dong and hidden inside a dark alley, Usiya Seongsu 우시야 성수점 (牛室 聖水洞) was nearly impossible for any tourist to locate without a map. Thankfully, I have the Naver map app installed on my phone.

I almost mistakenly ran into the ground-floor shop which was a local tailor for menswear but Usiya was actually situated on the mezzanine floor of the same building. 

A very small but cozy Korean barbecue house famous for different cuts of Korean beef.

There were different dinner sets featuring some of the restaurant's signature cuts including their tenderloin, thin flank and chuck flap tail. Since I knew nothing about Korean beef, I was more than happy to let our server choose for us. Luckily, we managed to find a lady who spoke very decent English. She was kind enough to let us know that if we were not too hungry, then the a la carte menu would be more than enough to satisfy our craving for meat (and a much better deal too!).

Nothing beats the enticing aroma of meat coming from a charcoal grill! 😋👅



First up, some juicy tenderloin (₩39,000). These were really nice, meaty and incredibly tender. 

Each round of meat is complemented with some vegetables such as these local Korean zucchini. So crunchy and sweet even after finishing on the grill.

I thought the well-marbled tenderloin provided the best "eating" experience out of the three cuts.

Next up was the top blade (₩30,000), also served with zucchini.

I didn't like the fact they cut it into these thin strips. Not bad but the texture was a little too bouncy for me.

I ordered this beef stew with radish and rice to go with the meat and looked like it just arrived in the nick of time.

The stew was a little spicy thanks to the homemade Korean chili paste. 

The last cut we enjoyed tonight was the rib (₩33,000). 

Our server carefully sliced the rib into these small cubes. 

And it didn't take long before they were ready to be served with the grilled peppers and mushrooms.

Among the three cuts, the rib stood out as the juiciest and richest in fat content, while the tenderloin boasted a superior texture and mouthfeel. That's a wrap.

Dessert was a pair of heirloom tomatoes which have been dipped into some kind of sweet wine so unsurprisingly, they came with a wonderful burst of sweetness.

This was a pretty nice Korean barbecue experience. Like any typical barbecue in Korea, they did it all for you from slicing the beef open to managing the grilling process. All we had to do was to sit back, relax and enjoy the perfectly grilled meat. It couldn't get any easier than that. I thought the price was quite reasonable too. With everything adding up to around ₩100,000 (HK$550) for the two of us, I considered this money well spent.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ₩₩₩

Address: 1/F, 331-60 Seongsu-dong 2(i)-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Seongsu

Tel: +82 507 1369-8114

Opening Hours: 5:00pm - 11:00pm daily