Café-bar near Dosan Park with a non-alcoholic mojito: Deep House

What is Deep House in Apgujeong, and how do you get there?

Deep House is a café and lounge bar near Apgujeongnodeo Station, close to Dosan Park, which is lovely for a stroll. According to Naver Map, it's about a 10-minute walk from Exit 5 of the station, and parking is available. I don't go to Apgujeong very often, but today's stop was this café and bar, Deep House. By day it's a café lounge and by night a lounge bar for enjoying music, but you can actually order alcohol during the day too.

Deep House is open Monday to Saturday, from 12 noon to 2 am. It seems to be closed on Sundays. The exterior is truly deep black, which gave it a totally chic Seoul café feel.

What's the atmosphere and seating like inside Deep House?

Inside there are wide marble tables and sofas that are comfy to sink into. Step in and, unlike the hot sun outside, the space is really cool. The tables are spaced far apart so it's easy to move around, and the marble tops felt wonderfully cold.

Custom-made bags and shoes on display

Bags and shoes were displayed on the walls and in showcases. Deep House makes custom bags, shoes, cups and more; you can buy them if you like, and custom-related meetups are possible too. If you're into custom making, I think Deep House would be a lot of fun.

Deep House menu: can you order cocktails during the day?

By day, Deep House focuses on coffee and tea, and in the evening it sells cocktails, wine and whisky, but if you want, you can cross over and order from either side at any time. Matcha is hugely popular these days, and the café menu had a wide variety of matcha drinks. There were plenty of cocktails too, along with lots of whiskies, vodkas and gins.

Funnily enough, there's a separate snack menu, but the shop also lets you bring in takeout and delivery food. There's a Curated Delivery service: pay ₩10,000 and they'll plate your takeout or delivery food for you.

What does the non-alcoholic mojito at Deep House taste like?

For my first drink at Deep House, I ordered the mojito from the cocktail menu, non-alcoholic. I'd had whisky the day before my visit, so I went alcohol-free. Luckily, a mojito can be made non-alcoholic.

The non-alcoholic mojito was served in a lovely cup custom-made at Deep House. A mojito is originally a cocktail where you crush lime with sugar, add mint for aroma, then fill the glass with ice and rum, perfect for cooling down in summer. It was one of the drinks Ernest Hemingway supposedly lived on, and the non-alcoholic version swaps the rum for sparkling water.

Hemingway would be furious to see a non-alcoholic mojito, haha, but if you want a mojito and can't drink, you go virgin. Even without alcohol, the tartness of the lime and the cool mint scent chase away the summer heat. Deep House crushes real brown sugar, not syrup, with the lime, which gave it a unique flavor. A real mojito is made by crushing brown sugar, not syrup, with the lime.

How does the lemon orange tea at Deep House taste?

The Deep House lemon orange tea is a citrusy fruit tea made with lemon and orange syrup, with a vivid sunset-like color and a sweet, refreshing taste. I ordered it after finishing the mojito; the weather was hot, so the mojito went down easily. Lime from the mojito plus lemon and orange meant a serious vitamin C overdose that day, but it came from real fruit rather than vitamin pills, so it's actually good for me!

The sunset-like color of the lemon orange tea was really pretty, and the sweet orange juice and tart lemon were refreshing and really tasty. Because it's made with lemon and orange syrup, it has added sweetness, and I liked it as a rich-tasting citrus fruit tea. If you like orange juice, I bet you'll love the lemon orange tea too. I think it's a great tea for quenching thirst in hot summer.

With the weather slowly warming up, sipping a cool cocktail and tea at Deep House in Apgujeong put me in a great mood. I'll have to come back with a friend who's into custom making.