Yongsan coffee shop in a 1970s building: HYBE Playground peach bingsu

Enjoying a Seoul date with my mom after a long time, we ducked into HYBE Playground, a Yongsan café, to escape the heat. Built inside the old Woosung Jang, completed in 1970, it's a large café where each floor has its own mood. The interior is spacious with lots of seats, making it easy to settle in and relax. This is my record of trying the peach bingsu (shaved ice dessert) piled high with crisp peaches, the fragrant apple chamomile tea, and the rich HYBE ice cream I received through a Naver review event — all at this Sinyongsan café.

It had been a while since my mom and I had a Seoul date together. Whenever we meet up, we like to eat something delicious and spend a long time at a café chatting about this and that. On days like these, when the midday heat is brutal, resting comfortably in a cool, spacious café beats wandering around outside for hours.

This time, while enjoying our Yongsan date, we stopped by HYBE Playground for dessert and a slow chat. At first I thought of it as just a big Yongsan café, but visiting in person, the space turned out to be quite unique, and above all there were so many seats that even on weekends or busy hours you could stay fairly comfortably. And being able to stay in an interior blasting cold AC during this brutally hot summer was a huge plus.

Where is HYBE Playground, and what are its hours?

• Address: 9-18 Hangang-daero 15-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 2F café / 3F lounge, terrace / 4F rooftop
• Hours: Daily 11:00 - 24:00 (last order 23:30)
• Parking: Not available

The old Woosung Jang building reborn as a Yongsan culture complex

HYBE Playground felt less like a café that simply sells coffee and dessert and more like a cultural complex with several spaces to enjoy together. The building, completed in 1970 and long operated under the name Woosung Jang, was newly renovated in 2025 and reborn as today's HYBE Playground — a brand-new café! It was interesting how the sensibility of today was layered onto the time this old building carries.

The 1st floor is a media gallery, the main entrance on the 2nd floor is a bakery café and pop-up store, the 3rd floor has a lounge and terrace, and the 4th floor is an open-air space with city views. The space itself is large and spacious, so there was zero stress about grabbing a seat.

These days, when you go to a popular café around Yongsan or Sinyongsan, you're checking 'is there a seat?' before you even step inside. But HYBE Playground is such a large space with seating scattered throughout that you don't really need to worry about that.

Second-floor bakery café and the umbrella goods

The 2nd floor was the café and bakery space. You could order drinks, cakes, sandwiches and more. They were even selling umbrellas of all kinds as goods. With the squall-like rain we've been getting lately, if you get caught in a sudden downpour near Yongsan Station or Sinyongsan Station, picking up an umbrella at HYBE Playground doesn't sound bad at all.

It was comfortable for sitting and chatting with my mom, and it also seemed suitable for group gatherings or anyone looking for a Yongsan date spot.

The 3rd and 4th floors have a terrace and open-air space, which looked great for spring and fall when the weather is nice.

HYBE Playground menu and how to order

Here's the café-bakery menu board at HYBE Playground.

You can order in person, but also via the QR code attached to each table.

What my mom and I ordered that day were two items: peach bingsu for 24,000 won and hot apple chamomile tea for 7,000 won.

It's summer, so bingsu (shaved ice dessert) is a must. I thought it'd be nice to have a warm tea to sip alongside the peach bingsu, so I ordered the apple chamomile tea too. The peach bingsu was quite generous — filling enough that two people could get full just from that one dish.

The HYBE ice cream was provided to me through a Naver review event :)

How does the 24,000-won peach bingsu taste?

Everything we ordered came out at once. The plating was pretty, and I kept glancing at it. Of everything, what I was looking forward to most was the peach bingsu! There was really more peach piled on top than I expected.

Given fruit bingsu prices these days, 24,000 won isn't exactly cheap, but once I tasted it, the amount of peach was more than enough for my mom and me to share. Personally, I wanted to call this one '24,000 won worth of happiness' :)

What I especially loved was the texture of the peaches. Instead of mushy, softened peach flesh, each bite stayed crisp and crunchy, which made eating it with the shaved ice extra fun. I've always preferred crisp, firm peaches over overly soft, juicy ones, so this suited me perfectly.

The bingsu came with condensed milk and sweet red bean paste on the side so you could add them to taste. That day, I wanted to enjoy the peach's own flavor rather than adding more sweetness, so I skipped the condensed milk. My mom, on the other hand, loves red bean, so instead of mixing it all in, she scooped a little onto each bite separately. Being able to adjust the amount of condensed milk or red bean to each person's taste was a nice touch.

With so much fruit, I initially thought of it as just a dessert, but by the time I finished, I felt surprisingly full haha. If you're hunting for a summer bingsu spot in Yongsan, especially if you love peaches, this is worth trying at least once.

Apple chamomile tea: sweeter than expected

The drink I ordered to have alongside the bingsu was the hot apple chamomile tea. Going just by the name, I thought 'it's chamomile tea, so it probably won't be too sweet,' but it turned out to be considerably sweeter than I expected. That's not to say it wasn't delicious, though!

The distinctly sweet apple flavor combined with the fragrant scent of chamomile makes for a very tasty drink on its own. It's sweet and aromatic enough that I'd order it again on a day when I just want to enjoy a cup of tea by itself. That said, if you've already ordered a sweet dessert like the peach bingsu, having both together might make the sweetness feel a bit repetitive. If you're pairing a drink with a sweet bingsu like this one, I'd recommend something less sweet and cleaner, like an Americano.

Free HYBE ice cream from the Naver review event

Last up is the HYBE ice cream I received through the Naver review event. Since it was a review event freebie, I didn't expect much, but from the first bite I was surprised at how strong and rich the milk flavor was. It was much richer and creamier than a light soft-serve, closer to a dense, chewy ice cream that felt substantial in the mouth rather than something thin that melts quickly. It felt somewhere between gelato and soft-serve.

If you usually enjoy rich milk-flavored ice cream or dense gelato-style scoops, I'd definitely recommend trying this one. If the Naver review event is still running like it was during my visit, I'd suggest getting it that way too :)

Water was available to grab yourself at the self-serve bar, which was convenient.

Verdict: a Yongsan café made for a long catch-up

It had been a while since my mom and I had a Seoul date together! Eating delicious peach bingsu and chatting over a cup of tea, the time really flew by. HYBE Playground isn't a place you visit chasing one specific menu item — it's a good Yongsan café for a day when you want to relax in a spacious setting and enjoy dessert at the same time.

The biggest advantage was definitely the huge number of seats, meaning you don't have to worry about showing up to a popular café only to turn back because there's no room. In the height of summer, it's great to cool off indoors with a bowl of peach bingsu, and once the weather turns cooler, checking out the 3rd floor terrace or the 4th floor space for a different atmosphere sounds nice too.

If you're planning a Seoul date with your mom like I did, looking for a large café near Yongsan Station or Sinyongsan Station, or hunting for a Yongsan peach bingsu piled high with seasonal summer fruit, consider giving HYBE Playground a try :)