When you think of Korea, one of the things that probably crosses your mind is the traditional Korean house Hanok. Hanok, refers to houses built in the traditional Korean style. While tile-roofed and thatch-roofed hanoks were equally common, the former were typically noblemen residences while the latter were mostly houses of the commoners in the past. These days, most traditional hanok that are still used for housing have modern facilities installed within. (source: visit korea website)
I donโt know about you, but I am a fan of Hanoks. The structure, the architecture, the sections within it is lovely. In this blog post, I will be introducing to you places around Seoul and Suwon that lets you experience Hanoks whilst either enjoying some tea or coffee or a meal. Letโs get started!
1. HANOK VILLAGE COFFEE SHOPS
One of the best ways to enjoy this is at the Hanok Village itself. Here we have the Namsangol Hanok Village.
The entrance of the Namsangol Hanok Village.
This is a view that I will never grow tired off no matter how many times I see it. This right here just screams Korea and all of its rich culture.
Directions: 28 Toegye-ro 34-gil, Pil-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul
Opening Hours: Sunday โ Saturday (9AM-6PM) / Closed on Mondays
Admission Fee: Free
There are two cafes located in the Namsangol Hanok Vilage:
Cafe Dalgang
From the entrance of the Hanok Village, keep walking straight until you see this sign of the cafe.
You will pass through this sign, which you will be able to see from the entrance of Namsangol Hanok Village, and keep walking up until you see the cafe sign.
Another signage of the cafe. To the left of this you will be able to see the entrance to the cafe!
Hereโs the cafe and the outdoor! Unfortunately due to covid, I wasnโt able to experience the cafe because it was closed. Usually, they would have chairs and table outdoors as a chill out spot. It wouldโve been so nice! So if youโre visiting here during covid, you might want to check before hand if theyโre operating or not. I did manage to ask the person in there that was in charge, but she wasnโt sure as well when the cafe will be operating as they didnโt put up any sign.
The outside is very pretty though. I did manage to get some cute photo ops.
Cafe 1890
Luckily, we have another cafe in the Namsangol Hanok Village called 1890 CAFE.
This cafe operates as usual.
We got ourselves the 1890 Coffee signature. Itโs really good. Itโs sweet and flavourful. I would go there again just to get that coffee. I recommend you to order that!
Enjoying the view of the Hanok Village whilst we enjoy our coffees.
In the store, they also sell some Korean souvenirs that you can give to your family or friends back home!
The operating time of the Hanok Village.
A photo op at one of the booth(?) I donโt know what you call them..
2. VEGAN KOREAN RESTAURANT(MAJI)
Next on the list, we have a Korean Vegan restaurant. Yes, this also means that it is muslim friendly! This is quite an underrated restaurant and I think itโs not that well known to muslim tourists. I really would like to see this resturant more known to muslim tourists, because since it is safe to consume.
Besides that, the kind Ajumma (worker) there is very friendly and she speaks really good English. When weโre trying to order, she was kind enough to explain to us recommendations, and she even offered to explain in English which was very kind of her! Even though we can already speak Korean. I can imagine it would be very convenient to tourists.ย
At the entrance of the restaurant, you can see how it has a muslim friendly sticker~! Muslim tourists will be very happy when they see this.
The entrance of the restaurant. As you can see, a Hanok inspired structure going on here as well.
This restaurant has joined the Halal Restaurant Korea Week for consecutive years now. It defintely deserves the recognition it gets.
The interior of the restaurant from where we were seated at. They have plenty of seats to choose from.
They offer full course Korean vegetarian meals. We ordered the 15,000KRW set for each 3 of us. It was quite pricy to me, but it was worth the try.
English menu was provided too!
DIRECTIONS: 19 Jahamun-ro 5-gil, Sajik-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Operating Hours: Weekdays (12PM โ 9PM)
Weekends: (11:30AM โ 10PM)
3. Experience the traditional korean tea and the right way to drink it(์ฐจ ๋ง์๋ ๋ฐ )
Walking up to this cafe was quite a hike up, but it was worth it and it wasnโt that tough.
The cafe was really pretty with its Hanok design! Loves it!
Where we were seated. We got ourselves a really nice spot by the window with a nice view over Seoul. It was especially pretty when the sun is setting!
We ordered two tea sets and a traditional Korean treat. We ordered the:
- Date Plum Tea โ sweet and rich flavour โ it felt healing it drink the tea and it feels good to your body
- Peach Korean Tea โ Rich flavor with good ingredients beneficial to your body
- Chadol Chapssal Ddeok โ a traditional Korean treat โ sweet flavor with some nutella chocolate and strawberry in the inside. It really goes well with the tea. Because since the tea didnโt contain any sugar since itโs a healthy tea, the combination with the sweet treat was heaven on earth!
The waiter there was very kind and explained the menu in detail to us and his recommendations. He also spoke really good English. Definitely a 10/10 service.
DIRECTIONS: 26 Bukchon-ro 11na-gil, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Operating hours: Opens everyday except Monday
I hope you enjoyed reading this and do visit these places that I recommend you above! From the service, to the ambiance to the food and drinks. Leaving sweet memories in Korea whilst enjoying the culture and healing.
