Late-night café in Yeonnam-dong for iced Earl Grey tea: Jitheunsan

I recently visited Jitheunsan (짙은산), a café well known for dessert near Hongdae. It's on the Yeonnam-dong street and the vibe was amazing. Quiet, soft atmosphere — if you're looking for a Yeonnam-dong dessert café, I recommend Jitheunsan.

Where is Jitheunsan, and what are its hours and parking?

This is the exterior of Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café. It's a bit off the busy main streets of Yeonnam-dong and Hongdae^^ Gives off a calm, quiet feeling.

Open daily 08:00 - 23:00, last order at 22:30. Parking seems to be available for very few cars, so I'd recommend checking Modu Parking or a nearby public lot.

What is the café interior like at night?

This is the interior of Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café. The warm lighting blends with the wood-toned furniture, giving it a cozy, comfortable feeling^^

There are little natural, sentimental props placed around too, and the lighting overall isn't super bright but soft, so it's a Yeonnam-dong dessert café that even calmed my mind down.

Jitheunsan's menu board and menu booklet

Here's the menu board at Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café, for reference! There's a huge variety — coffee, non-coffee drinks, and teas.

There's even a guestbook notebook next to the menu board haha. And there's a cute, friendly menu guide booklet I flipped through, showing pictures and descriptions of the desserts sold at Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café.

The signature menu of Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café, is the terrine cakes — compared to regular cake, they're characterized by being dense and thick. Kind of like a brownie but a bit softer?

Seating at Jitheunsan: tables for two and group tables

Anyway, at Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café, you can enjoy these delicious desserts in a great-vibe space. There are group tables and tables for two, so you can pick whichever you like.

The group table for three or more people — it looked cute so I took a photo^^

How is the iced Earl Grey tea served?

The dessert I ordered arrived.

I ordered the Earl Grey tea — it comes brewed with a tea bag in a pretty pot, and since I ordered it iced, they gave me a cup of ice along with it. The cup has 'Jitheunsan' written on it.

It wasn't just a simple steeped tea-bag flavor — it had a deep flavor to the Earl Grey. Cool and delicious.

Mugwort injeolmi terrine cake: taste and texture

This is the cake at Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café — as I mentioned, it's a terrine cake, and the biggest advantage of terrine cake is that it's made without flour. Cake is delicious, but with all that flour and sugar it's something you hesitate over health-wise — the cakes at Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café, have no flour and less sugar, so they're delicious yet healthier.

Chestnut, sweet potato, Oreo, mugwort injeolmi (rice cake). There were a lot of unusual flavors, and I picked the mugwort injeolmi one. It's a mugwort terrine cake with injeolmi (rice cake coated in bean powder) mixed throughout for extra flavor.

The texture is relatively firm, and apparently it's the least sweet item at Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert spot.

The injeolmi on top of the cake is tasty, and there's rice cake inside the cake too, as you can see in the photo — it's so good with that chewy bite haha. This photo probably captures the cake's texture best. Just that dense, thick consistency that goes really well with coffee or tea!

Anyway, the terrine cake and tea pairing was really good^^ I visited Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café, at night, and since I'd already had a lot of coffee that day, I chose tea instead — but I thought the terrine cake would also pair really well with coffee. The cake itself was delicious, and next time I'll have to try a different flavor with coffee.

One more thing — Jitheunsan, the Yeonnam-dong dessert café, also has a parfait menu that apparently gets really good reviews for being delicious. I was pretty full that day so I didn't try the parfait, but it looked really good. I saw people next to me eating it.

The lemon sherbet at Jitheunsan

And they also gave us sherbet at Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café — the ice was shaved really finely. It had a really clean taste, soft and sweet.

Cool, tasty, and not too big — just the right size for a light bite, so it seems easy to order comfortably. Great atmosphere, and both the desserts and drinks tasted so good at Jitheunsan, the Hongdae dessert café! I'd recommend this Yeonnam-dong dessert café to anyone who wants delicious drinks and desserts in a quiet, soft-lit atmosphere^^