Travelog #1: Coffee Prince

photo from Wikipedia

First shop of Coffee Prince is a romantic-comedy koreanovela, based on a novel with the same title, about a tomboyish girl dressed as a man and a young food empire mogul. I bought a DVD of this a few months back, but never really got the chance to watch it. During one of my lazy days, I decided to watch the first episode via mysoju.com, which by the way has a good collection of Korean Dramas. The moment I clicked on the play button, I couldn't stop. It was so nice. And since I am now in Korea, I decided to go and visit the actual Coffee Prince Shop. :)

The coffee shop is exactly the same as in the drama, although it looked somewhat bigger on screen. This is the Coffee Prince logo as you enter the main gate. On the wall below the signage are autographs of the show's actors. 

I just got to have a picture showing the door :P

Upon entering the shop, you will see the table where Han-Kyul, played by Gong Yoo, sits and work on his laptop. We wanted to sit on that table, but the one and only server said that this table is reserved. Boo. 

On the wall, you will see the paintings done by Yoo-joo, played by Chae Jung-an. It is really just a painting of flowers that, in my opinion, is not that nice. Maybe due to old age, the paintings are now replaced by stick-on flowers. As you can see, the edges of the stickers are already peeling off.

This door leads to the kitchen where Sun-Ki, played by Kim Jae Wook, would spend most of his time in the drama, making his famous waffles.

Coffee here was kinda expensive compared to Starbucks. But because  my mom and I needed to sit down and rest our tired legs (from all the walking!), we decided to order some iced drinks: Iced Mocha (KRW 7,000 ~ Php 280) for myself, Iced Caramel Machiato (KRW 7,000 ~ Php 280) for my mom and a slice of Tiramisu (KRW 7,000 ~ Php 280) to share. As we enjoyed our refreshing drinks, I gave my mom a short synopsis of the story, since she hasn't seen the drama.

The coffee shop was filled both with locals and foreigners, all very eager to take photos of the place and maybe reminiscing some scenes from the drama. There was a Singaporean couple, guessing based on their accent, who took pictures of almost every corner of the shop. Good thing we still got a table, after the server asked us to vacate the first table shown above. Hehe. 

The second floor was closed to the public. Too bad. That balcony is where Han-Kyul and Eun Chan would often quarrel and eventually make-up.

View of the coffee shop from the front porch

Being a fan of the drama, I was so happy that I decided to go see the place. It's definitely one of the must-sees in Korea for koreanovela fans like me. 

“I want to live with you. For the rest of my life, I want to eat together, talk together, sleep together, be together. Do I need any other reason?” – Han Kyul

How to Get There: Take Subway Line 2 to Hongik University, and go out of Exit 4.

Turn right at Seven Springs corner and walk straight all the way to the end until you reach a round-about. Turn left and walk about 100 meters until another round-about. Turn right and walk uphill about 500 meters until you see the coffee shop on your right.