Hongdae Italian home-style café for ragu tteokbokki rice cakes: MELA

Summer had passed and the air had turned crisp and cool with autumn — that was the weather when I visited MELA Hongdae.

Where is MELA Hongdae and what are its hours?

✨️MELA Hongdae✨️ 41 World Cup buk-ro 5-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 1st floor, Unit 105

⏰️Hours: Daily 09:00–18:30, last order 18:00 🚘Parking available

Menu banners lined up in front of the store. With brunch, pasta, and bingsu (shaved ice dessert) among the options, you can enjoy both a full meal and dessert here.

Nudit Hongdae: a ground-floor space with a Seongsu feel

MELA sits inside Nudit Hongdae, a mixed-culture space, and I thought the exterior reminded me of Seongsu — turns out it's very similar to Naknak in Seongsu. There's a cute little yellow character crouched in front of the building haha.

MELA, the Italian home-style brunch café, is full of European-style tables and props inside too — antique yet warm at the same time.

Even the sauce bottles on the shelf have a certain vibe haha. MELA is said to serve brunch, meals, and pasta based on recipes developed by a chef who studied at ICIF, an Italian culinary school, capturing the spirit of authentic Italian home cooking.

Window seats at MELA Hongdae, good for solo diners

Window seats that look great for solo visits. Being slightly off Hongdae's main street, the place feels calm and comfortable instead of chaotic and crowded.

There's even a hanger for coats next to the wine fridge.

The tile pattern on the floor, the wooden tables, and the dark mint-colored shelves and window frames all blend together nicely. It even gives off a slight Shilla Hotel Jeju vibe haha.

MELA Hongdae Morning Special and bakery menu

From 9 to 11am, you can order French toast and brunch platters from the Morning Special menu, single or à la carte.

They're currently running an event where you get truffle fries for writing a Naver photo review.

Croissants, pain au chocolat, cookies, and croffles are all displayed too, so it's a great spot even if you're just coming for bread and coffee rather than a full meal. The croissants look crispy just from looking at them!

What we ordered at MELA Hongdae and what it cost

🍽 What we ordered

• Avocado Ricotta Open Sandwich ₩19,500
• Baby Potato Basil Cream Gnocchi ₩22,000
• Ragu Tteokbokki ₩22,000

And here it is! Our order finally arrived. Ragu tteokbokki can be swapped for pasta, but we wanted to eat it as regular tteokbokki so we kept it as is haha.

Avocado ricotta open sandwich, 19,500 won

MELA's best-selling dish, the avocado ricotta open sandwich. Perfectly ripe avocado, ricotta cheese, and salty jamón on top.

The creamy avocado and rich ricotta cheese blend beautifully with the crispy baguette texture. The sweet-and-tangy sauce on the bread is the kicker. Sometimes avocado isn't ripened enough and turns out crunchy, but MELA's avocado was perfectly ripened! Totally nailed it.

A sandwich like this can get greasy, but pairing it with carrot rapé and a fresh salad refreshes your palate all over again.

Baby potato basil cream gnocchi, 22,000 won

Another one of MELA's best menu items, the baby potato basil cream gnocchi.

The plump, chewy gnocchi soaks up the rich basil-scented cream sauce just enough, giving it a full, rich flavor.

Ragu tteokbokki kept as rice cakes: authentic ragu sauce, no gamey taste

MELA's signature dish, ragu tteokbokki, combines Italian ragu sauce with tteokbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes), a soul food for Koreans. The cheese on top melts and softens the salty ragu sauce even more.

Ragu sauce sometimes has a gamey meat smell, but MELA's ragu tteokbokki had none of that — just the authentic taste of real ragu sauce. Recommended if you want something familiar yet new!

Is MELA Hongdae worth a visit? Final verdict

I've been to Hongdae so many times, and I never knew a place like this existed! Nudit, the mixed-culture space that reminds me of Seongsu, with MELA Hongdae tucked inside. Seeing it in person, the interior was even prettier than in photos and exceeded my expectations.

Everyone seems to think alike — a steady stream of customers kept coming in, whether solo diners or group gatherings. If you're looking for a relaxed, comfortable place to eat amid the busy Hongdae streets, MELA Hongdae comes highly recommended! Next time I plan to go back for the brunch or bakery menu. It was a day that reminded me once again just how big the world is, and how many great places I still haven't discovered.