Shine muscat waffle till 1am at Balsan Station café The Sweetree

A Balsan Station dessert café open late into the night

After a great meal, I'm the type who absolutely must have dessert, and I was craving waffles~ But most dessert cafés start wrapping up around 8pm.. so by the time dinner's done, it's basically last order time ㅠㅠ

That's when I visited The Sweetree, which — get this — stays open until 1am. Waffles, butter tteok (뻑뻑한 절편 대신 버터에 구운 떡, a butter-fried rice cake), dukjjonkoo, salt bread, all sorts of baked treats! A genuinely great dessert café open till 1am~

• 38 Gangseo-ro 47ga-gil, 1st Floor, Unit 102, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun 10:00 - 1:00 (next day)
• Fri 10:00 - 24:00
• Parking available

The Sweetree sits right between Balsan and Ujangsan stations, so it's easy to reach from either direction.

Open until 1am with a wide menu including bingsu (shaved ice dessert) and smoothies — the perfect spot when a late-night dessert craving hits~

The Sweetree menu: waffles, bingsu and more

A whole display case of different waffles instantly got my appetite going~

They also have window seats and group tables, so you can comfortably enjoy dessert in the dining hall~ They're on several delivery apps too, so you can enjoy it delivered as well~

They use Le Gall butter~ no wonder the waffle had that nutty richness!

Besides a variety of coffees, they also have bubble tea, lattes, smoothies, ades, and more.

With such a wide range of desserts and bingsu, I lost track of time just choosing~ There were also set menus so you could enjoy dessert and coffee together at a lower price~

What we ordered at The Sweetree

• Shine muscat waffle ₩0.75
• Butter tteok (3pc) ₩0.65
• Decaf iced Americano ₩0.4

Since I visited late at night~ dessert plus a decaf Americano was the call!!!

A hearty spread arrived in no time~

How the decaf iced Americano and butter tteok tasted

First, a sip of coffee~! It came in a pretty glass that almost looked like a beer mug, filled to the brim. Even as a decaf Americano, it had a nutty, low-acidity, full-bodied flavor that paired well with dessert~

The butter tteok looked textbook-perfect, which built up my expectations~ that golden, crispy exterior made me even more excited.

Crispy outside, soft and chewy inside — exactly the flavor you want from butter tteok. A perfectly textbook crispy-chewy texture I enjoyed a lot~

Buttery, pastry-like layers in the shine muscat waffle

And finally, the star of the show — the waffle~ Piled high with big shine muscat grapes and blueberries, dusted generously with powdered sugar~

Slicing it open~

Rather than crispy, it had more of a pastry-like layered texture, with a dense, buttery waffle feel that was really appealing~

The rich buttery flavor from the Le Gall butter and the sweetness of the waffle itself were both intense in a good way. The whipped cream on top also had a strong, rich milk flavor, and the blueberries and shine muscat kept it from getting too rich or heavy — so it stayed delicious to the very last bite. I really enjoyed it~!

With a friendly owner and hours that stretch late into the night, this was a Balsan Station dessert café I really appreciated. I also enjoyed the nutty decaf Americano without any late-night caffeine worries. With such a wide dessert lineup and late hours, it's a dessert café you can enjoy any time — whether by delivery or in the dining hall~!