Carrot vs pistachio tiramisu at Selected Nicks, a large Gangnam café

On a day I had plans near Gangnam Station, I was looking for somewhere to eat, grab coffee, and chat comfortably — that's how I ended up at Selected Nicks. There are so many cafés around Gangnam Station, but finding one where a group can actually sit and talk without feeling cramped isn't as easy as you'd think. So this time I looked for a bigger Gangnam Station café with a decent atmosphere, and that's how I landed on Selected Nicks.

Where Selected Nicks is and when it opens

Selected Nicks, a large café in Gangnam

• 📍 Address: 37 Teheran-ro 4-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
• 🚇 Location: About a 5-minute walk from Exit 3, Gangnam Station
• 🕐 Hours: Mon–Fri 08:00–24:00 / Sat–Sun 11:00–23:30
• 🚗 Parking: Available

This large Gangnam Station café is about a 5-minute walk from Exit 3, and there's an outdoor terrace too — it looked like a great spot to sit outside, look at the sky, and enjoy some fresh air on a nice day.

First-floor ordering counter and the 2+1 event

Before heading up the stairs, the first floor at Selected Nicks is where you order.

Walking in, a giant chocolate sculpture and hot-air-balloon decorations caught my eye right away! They were also running a 2+1 event, so it seemed like a good chance to try bread plus a tiramisu cake!

There was a whole range of bread, from sandwiches to baked pastries! Prices weren't too steep either, sitting around ₩4,500–8,500, so it worked well both as a light meal and as coffee-with-dessert.

How many kinds of tiramisu does Selected Nicks have?

But the real cheat code of this large Gangnam dessert café is the tiramisu cake! There were so many kinds of tiramisu — I'd never in my life seen carrot tiramisu before... but that just shows how serious Selected Nicks is about tiramisu, right?

I ordered an americano along with carrot tiramisu and pistachio tiramisu, then headed up to the second floor!

What the second-floor seating is like

Walking into the second floor at Selected Nicks, the vibe was clearly different from a typical small café. The space felt roomy, so even with some people around it didn't feel stuffy, and the varied table setups made it good both for solo laptop work and for meeting friends. Especially since Gangnam Station cafés tend to get packed on weekends or in the evening, having this much room made a real difference compared to a cramped café. If you're looking for a big café near Gangnam Station, this is a place worth checking out at least once.

How the pistachio tiramisu tastes

That day I ordered pistachio tiramisu, carrot tiramisu, and an americano. I ordered the pistachio tiramisu first just because the name intrigued me, and it came carefully and prettily packaged! The pistachio flavor was rich and strong — I loved it!!

What does the carrot tiramisu taste like?

And the one that surprised me the most was actually the carrot tiramisu. If you like carrot cake, this one will really hit the spot. I'm a huge carrot cake fan — I used to love a café near Noryangjin called Modangsi ("everything started with carrot cake"), but after it closed I became a carrot-cake nomad wandering from place to place! But since this large dessert-focused café near Gangnam Station has carrot tiramisu, I ordered it without a second thought — and now I think I'll be settling down here... The carrot-cake character combined with the soft tiramisu cream gave it a completely different feel from regular tiramisu.

Ordering both desserts together meant I could compare them directly, which was great. Pistachio was nutty and rich, while carrot tiramisu leaned sweeter and softer — very different moods from each other. If it's hard to pick just one, I'd definitely recommend splitting both!

Carrot tiramisu with an americano: when this café fits

And of course, no dessert is complete without an americano. The combination of sweet tiramisu and bitter americano never fails. Especially since I was eating two kinds of tiramisu, the coffee helped reset my palate in between, which made it much easier to keep going.

Selected Nicks felt less like a place to grab coffee quickly and leave, and more suited to setting up a proper meetup near Gangnam Station and spending unhurried time. The space itself is spacious enough for chatting with friends or coming with a group, but also good for solo laptop time! The dessert selection wasn't limited to the usual options either, so there was fun in choosing.

If you're looking for a café near Gangnam Station with a good atmosphere and comfortable seating — especially if you prefer a large space over a small café — Selected Nicks is worth keeping in mind. If, like me, you feel like coffee alone isn't quite enough and want dessert too, I'd recommend the pistachio tiramisu plus carrot tiramisu plus americano combo. The two tiramisu flavors are different enough that splitting them works really well. Whether you're meeting a friend near Gangnam Station for a long chat, or looking for a large café to enjoy good dessert and coffee together, put Selected Nicks on your list :)