Cafe Onion Anguk • 카페 어니언 안국
At this point in time, I think Cafe Onion has became one of the more popular cafe to visit in Seoul. Having been to their main branch in Seongsu (Click here to see my post on Cafe Onion Seongsu), Cafe Onion Anguk (카페 어니언 안국) is the second branch that I visited and is the third location that they opened in Seoul. If I’m not mistaken, Cafe Onion Anguk was opened to the public in early March 2019 and I visited the place during mid April 2019, just a month after its opening. Back then, just like any other popular place that just opened, the cafe was pretty crowded. I went during a weekday so the crowd wasn’t as bad and I didn’t really have to line up to enter. But still, the place was pretty packed and I had to wait for a couple of minutes to get a table.
Compared to its Seongsu location, the interior of the Anguk location is definitely different. Although the design of their coffee bar/ordering area still resembles their Seongsu location’s, which is also a nice touch for branding consistency, the vibe of the rest of the cafe is heavily dictated by the traditional hanok structure the cafe is housed in. I personally always find hanok cafes to be charming because of the combination of the old traditional aspect of Korea and the more modern day coffee/cafe culture of today’s generation. And this place is no different. The first thing you’ll be greeted with when you enter the main area of the cafe is a view of an open sand yard with hanok structures standing on four sides of it. The hanok area is divided into two sections, half for ordering area and half for seating area. There are definitely plenty of seatings around the cafe and even more chairs are available on the garden area near the front entrance of the cafe.
Other than their coffee, Cafe Onion also has an abundant selection of delicious baked goods and pastries you can choose from. During my visit, I tried their honey seaweed fulvescens bread (허니매생이감태). The name is pretty weird and I honestly didn’t know what I was putting on my tray at the time. But I felt like trying new things that day so I ended up picking the toasted bread with the weird name. Turns out, it actually tasted pretty good! I remember thinking of getting seconds but because I was there quite late in the afternoon, I opted not to since I didn’t want to be too full for dinner. And per usual, I also ordered milk tea and their milk tea was pretty solid too.
All and all, Cafe Onion Anguk is probably one of those places I would recommend people to go visit, especially if you’re visiting Bukchon Hanok Village since it’s around the area. They have nice interior and good food and drinks. The only downside is the place might be a little crowded if you’re coming on a busy time or during the weekends. But hey, at least there are plenty of spaces for you to wait around and take interesting photos at.
Here’s the video of the place:
Note: The photos and video were taken before the pandemic.
Cafe Onion Anguk • 어니언 안국
Address: 서울 종로구 계동길 5 카페 어니언
Telephone: 070-7543-2123
Hours: Monday to Friday 07:00-22:00 | Saturday to Sunday 09:00-22:00
Instagram: @cafe.onion
