Yeongdeungpo pasta café with carbonara and pepperoni pizza: Mela

A real rare date with my husband. I didn't have the energy to cook, but he kept saying let's go out, so I dragged my tired body outside. The weather's gotten so much cooler lately.

Where is Mela Times Square inside Times Square?

Mela Times Square is on the 1st floor of Times Square, next to Zara and H&M. Just look for that apple sign! There's a restroom right next door too.

I said 'let's go out' and then ended up on an indoor date haha. In the end we came to our usual spot, Times Square. Let me introduce one of the good restaurants here! You all probably know which one already, right?

Mela Times Square menu: what we ordered

Looking at the Mela Times Square menu, my husband picked the classic pepperoni pizza, and I chose carbonara. We agreed to each pick one thing fairly 😊

At home I was clearly craving brunch-mode French toast, but once we got here I suddenly wanted pasta? My mind can't make up its mind. It's been literally a million years since I've ordered carbonara.

High chairs and seating at Mela: do you need a reservation?

Mela Times Square has high chairs ready and wide spacing between tables. There's a good mix of 2-tops and 4-tops!

If you reserve through Naver, your table is pre-set and you can settle in more comfortably. Definitely recommend booking ahead on weekends.

Grapefruit ade at Mela

I've been craving something sour lately so I ordered a grapefruit ade too. I asked for it less sweet, but I regretted it a little — should've kept it sweeter haha. Still tasty though. The grapefruit syrup is house-made, and you could really taste the texture of the rind, which was great.

Classic pepperoni pizza: why the pastry dough won us over

Mela Times Square's classic pepperoni pizza is cut into 6 slices, a perfect portion for two people to share. I saw someone order it solo too, though.

It's been genuinely a while since I've eaten Western food, and the visuals here were great. The pepperoni pizza looked like it had a pastry-style dough at first glance, which is exactly my type 🔫🔫

The cheese stretched beautifully and the dough was crisp like pastry, so I worried it might crumble into pieces — but not at all. It held together chewily. The taste was incredible too. Normally I'm supposed to eat 2 slices and my husband 4, but I got greedy and ate 3 haha. It's the kind of flavor you don't want to let go of. The tomato sauce was great, the dough was great, and altogether it was the kind of amazing flavor that makes you want to come back 🩵 The raw red onion on top cut through the richness just right and added a nice crunchy texture — total pass!

Mela's carbonara: mix the egg yolk right in

Mela's carbonara felt like the textbook definition of carbonara. One egg yolk sitting right on top, tons of bacon visible?! And a good dusting of black pepper on top!

I'm not really drawn to raw yolks, so I quickly tossed it over to my husband and just enjoyed the thick, creamy sauce myself.

But my husband said mixing the yolk in made it way nuttier and more delicious? Now I regret not eating it myself,, but honestly the cream sauce alone was plenty delicious too 🩵 There's a good pool of sauce left at the bottom, so mixing it all together is heavenly. Not greasy at all, just the right amount of delicious. Why can't I ever get this taste at home?

Pickles only come if you ask

Pickles only come if you ask separately. My husband said it'd be a bit of a tragedy without pickles, so we asked staff and got some. He's a guy who hates raw cucumber but is totally fine with pickled cucumber haha. If you need pickles, just ask the staff! At this rate, a few more years and he'll be asking for kimchi next haha.

What we'd order on a return visit to Mela

We cleaned every plate, seriously — dishes done! Finished the drink and the pickles too ^^ I think this would be great for a date with my mom too, gotta save this place. Next time we visit again, I think we'd either order the same two dishes again or try the vongole pasta?! Both dishes were that good 🩵

Mela Times Square wasn't over-seasoned or trying too hard — it stuck to honest, true-to-itself flavor, showing us what textbook pizza and carbonara should taste like.