Hongdae brunch café with peppermint and yuzu tea for teatime: MELA

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Brunch and teatime in one place in Hongdae: MELA Hongdae

I was looking for a spot in Hongdae where I could have brunch and then café hop without moving, and that's how I ended up at MELA Hongdae!!! That day I had zero plans to move to another café afterward — I just ate brunch here and slowly sipped drinks at the same table haha

To cut to the conclusion first: if you're looking for a good brunch café in Hongdae, being able to finish everything from the meal to teatime in one spot was a genuinely huge advantage here!!!

MELA Hongdae location, hours and parking

• 📍 41 World Cup buk-ro 5-gil, 1F 105, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🕑 Daily 09:00 - 18:30
• ⏰ Last order 18:00
• 🚶 About 722m from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 1
• 🚶 Also about a 7-minute walk from Mangwon Station Exit 1
• 🚗 Parking free for 1 hour / ₩800 per 10 minutes after

It's located roughly between Hongik Univ. Station and Mangwon Station, just slightly off the busy Hongdae strip, so the further you walk in, the quieter the atmosphere feels haha

What are the seats and atmosphere like inside MELA Hongdae?

It's not too far from Hapjeong either, so it works fine if you're looking for brunch around Hapjeong and end up here instead, and since it's near Nudite Hongdae, once you turn into the alley it's not too hard to find.

The best part the moment I walked in was the atmosphere — comfortable enough to hang out like a café~~~! Some brunch spots feel food-focused, like you should eat and leave right away, but here it felt totally natural to sit at the table, eat, and then just keep chatting over a drink!

With wood-toned furniture and an overall bright, warm mood, photos came out pretty and it wasn't too loud or chaotic hahaha

MELA Hongdae menu: meals, tea and other drinks

MELA isn't just a brunch café selling a few kinds of toast — there's steak, pasta, gnocchi, eggs Benedict, French toast, even pizza, so there are quite a lot of options!!

They also have coffee, tea, ades and lattes, so it's great for ordering café drinks right after your meal haha

What we had that day was the avocado ricotta open sandwich and the potato basil cream gnocchi! And while eating, we also ordered peppermint and yuzu tea (citron tea).

Potato basil cream gnocchi at MELA Hongdae

Personally, my pick that day was the potato basil cream gnocchi,,,,!!! The second the plate came out, the color of the basil cream was insane haha

As you can see in the photo, each piece of gnocchi is coated in a thick green sauce, with roasted baby potatoes mixed in here and there. Grated cheese is piled on top too, so it looks nutty and savory just from the visual~~!!

On the first bite, the smooth, nutty flavor of the cream comes first, then the basil aroma rises up right after. But the basil isn't so strong that it tastes like raw herbs — it blends naturally with the cream and adds depth to the flavor, which was so good ㅠㅠㅠ

Avocado ricotta open sandwich at MELA Hongdae

The moment this came out I thought, ah, this is what brunch is supposed to look like,,,,, hahaha. Plenty of avocado piled on a thick slice of bread, topped with ricotta cheese and jamón, making the whole plate look really generous.

There was salad and carrot rapé on the side too, so it didn't feel like just eating two slices of bread but like a proper full plate haha. The amount of avocado was seriously generous!!

The avocado is soft and nutty, the ricotta is creamy but on the lighter side, and the salty punch of the jamón keeps the whole thing from being bland. At first I thought avocado plus ricotta alone might be a bit plain, but the jamón really pulled the flavor together, so every bite kept alternating cleanly between savory and salty!!

We had already ordered our drinks along with the meal, so we sipped them slowly while eating brunch, and handling the meal and the café part in one space turned out to be way more convenient than I expected haha

Is MELA Hongdae worth a visit? Final verdict

MELA Hongdae covers everything from a meal to a café visit! So for anyone looking for a good brunch café in Hongdae, especially if you don't want to compromise on the food but still want the café vibe — I recommend it!!!

Next time I want to try the French toast or the minari vongole pasta and have a proper cup of coffee too haha. (Not having to figure out where to go for a café after brunch is honestly such a relief. Truly.)