Ichon Station brunch in Seoul: green grape French toast at Mellang

An Ichon-dong brunch spot near the National Museum of Korea, Mellang

A while back, before heading to the National Museum of Korea with my sister, I was looking up where to eat lunch and ended up at 'Mellang,' a brunch café in Ichon-dong.

If you search for places to eat right near the National Museum of Korea, the options are surprisingly limited, but if you widen the search a bit to include Ichon-dong, there are actually quite a few good restaurants and cafés :) Among them, Mellang stood out because you can get brunch, pasta, and coffee all in one place — it looked perfect for a brunch or lunch course before visiting the museum!

To cut to the conclusion — the vibe was great, but the food was even better than expected 😍👍🏻 The French toast especially hit my taste exactly right, to the point I'd want to come all the way back to Ichon-dong just for it!

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

• 📍Name: Mellang
• 📍Address: 서울 용산구 이촌로 248 21동 103호 (248 Ichon-ro, 21-dong 103-ho, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea)
• ✔️ Hours: Daily 10:00–20:30 (closed Mondays / last order 20:00 on Sundays)
• ✔️ Subway: 324m from Ichon Station Exit 3-1
• ✔️ Parking: Free parking available — park at the Hangang Mansion apartment shopping arcade lot behind the café and just mention you're visiting Mellang!

What Mellang looks like outside and inside

The first thing that caught my eye when I arrived at Mellang was the exterior. A white-toned building with a simple black sign 🖤

It's not flashy or overdone, but that plain, understated mood actually suits Ichon-dong quite well.

White door and walls, a black sign and lighting — it had a slightly old-fashioned little European café feel, the kind of design that won't look dated even years from now. The menu board posted next to the entrance is pretty too, isn't it?

Walk inside and the same mood from the exterior carries through. It's not a grand, flashy space like the big new cafés popping up these days, but that's exactly why it has the particular coziness of a small neighborhood brunch spot.

The kitchen is open too, so you can naturally see the food being made, and while the space isn't huge, there was even a group gathering happening when I visited! It seems good for dates, and just as good for a relaxed brunch with friends. Above all, if you're planning a full day at the National Museum of Korea, rather than just eating inside the museum, doing brunch in Ichon-dong first and then heading to the museum — like we did — seems like a solid plan. Or the reverse works too: see the museum first, then come for a late lunch or coffee haha.

Mellang's menu and what to order

Mellang's menu is more varied than you'd expect — from salads and brunch dishes to pasta and risotto, so it's less a coffee-and-dessert café and more of a proper brunch restaurant where you can get a full meal.

After some deliberation, we ordered two things: French toast for ₩19,000 and garlic scape pasta for ₩18,000. We figured the sweet French toast paired with the savory oil pasta would go well together, and in the end, our menu choices were a total success haha.

Honest review: garlic scape pasta and green grape French toast

Mellang's garlic scape pasta looks pretty appetizing right off the bat. It's loaded with plump shrimp and garlic scapes, topped with arugula and garlic chips. The garlic flavor comes through clearly but isn't overpowering, and the oil isn't too heavy or greasy either.

Above all, the crunchy texture of the garlic scapes went surprisingly well with the pasta 👍🏻 Add in the plump shrimp and crispy garlic chips and the combination was seriously the best ㅠㅠ

Rather than a pasta that wins on a flashy sauce, it felt like one that really brought out the aroma and texture of each ingredient. It was also great to alternate bites with the French toast.

Personally, my pick for best dish of the day was the French toast! It looked gorgeous from the moment it arrived — thick-cut, golden French toast topped with green grapes and banana, served alongside vanilla ice cream and syrup.

But it wasn't just a pretty-for-photos brunch dish — it was even more satisfying to actually eat.

The outside was golden-brown and had a slight crispness, but rather than being just plain sweet, the tartness of the green grapes kept cutting through the sweetness now and then, so it wasn't cloying at all — I kept reaching for more bite after bite 🫶🏻

Looking back at the video I took, I want to eat it again 🥹

It was so good we demolished it in no time… We originally went just planning to have a light brunch before the National Museum of Korea, but the food turned out way better than expected — a very satisfying visit to Mellang in Ichon-dong.

Next time we have a reason to go to the National Museum of Korea, I think we'll order the exact same things again :)