Packed Saturday Sinnonhyeon café: coconut matcha, Upper and Under

Sinnonhyeon Station café: Upper and Under

Finding a café seat in Gangnam on a Saturday: why we chose Upper and Under

I was meeting friends in Gangnam on a Saturday, and every café was totally packed! But it had been ages since we'd seen each other, and I didn't want to go to a chain café, haha. I figured the café street between Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon might have seats, so we headed to Upper and Under, a place I already love. haha

✔️ Opening hours: daily 11:00 - 22:00

What is the seating like at Upper and Under?

Upper and Under is a Sinnonhyeon café decorated with a house concept, and there are seats on every floor. There are seats on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, and I usually prefer the bright 3rd floor. But on weekends? I don't get to choose... if there's a seat, you just sit!

When the weather is cool, the outdoor seats like that are nice too, but lately it's seriously boiling out there.... I had to escape to the cool indoors lol

Upper and Under is famous as a dessert spot too, and the second you go up to the 2nd floor it's full of desserts, which almost made my eyes spin! But first, let's get a seat...... On a Gangnam weekend you have to grab a seat before you can eat^_^

On the 2nd floor you can order, there are seats, and there's a restroom too. It's so nice to have a restroom inside the café... and the women's restrooms are on both the 2nd and 3rd floors.

When is Upper and Under busy on a weekend afternoon, and when does it clear out?

Around 3 p.m. on Saturday, Upper and Under was almost full, and it only emptied out quite a bit around 5 p.m., before dinner. I went around 3, when everyone seemed to have come after lunch and the chatting was in full swing! Just as we were about to give up and leave, some people stood up, so we dashed over and grabbed the seats.

We were really lucky, because so many people turned around and left before and after us ㅠㅠ It didn't look like it would clear until 5, and then before dinner lots of people left, hahaha. That's when I took these photos!

What desserts does Upper and Under have?

The 2nd-floor display at Upper and Under had canelé (small caramelized French pastries), financiers (almond butter cakes), madeleines, pies and butter tteok (chewy rice cakes) in lots of flavors. These were the flavors, so just pick whatever suits your taste~

• Earl Grey, salted caramel, aged cheese (hwangchijeu), pistachio
• Matcha, salt chocolate, hojicha pecan
• Chocolate banana, mango, vanilla
• Chodang corn (super-sweet corn), lemon, and more

For cake, the last slice of lemon cake

Upper and Under has lots of cake types too! Cherry, lemon, tiramisu, yangzhi ganlu (mango-pomelo), vanilla, aged cheese and more. They had the trendy yangzhi ganlu cake and an ube basque cheesecake that I thought about trying, but? The lemon cake was the last piece, so I couldn't not pick it, haha. After much agonizing, I ordered the lemon cake and the crème brûlée flan hahaha

For drinks, iced Americano and coconut matcha

Upper and Under has a huge range of drinks too. My friends ordered iced Americanos, and I got the coconut matcha, a combo I always like. Not many places sell coconut matcha, but Upper and Under has every hot, popular menu item!

How do the lemon cake, crème brûlée flan and coconut matcha taste?

Our order came out in no time! The cake looks so tasty and pretty, the cups are pretty too! The table is white, so it's perfect for aesthetic photos

The coffee was good, and the lemon cake and crème brûlée flan were really, really good.

Lots of places make coconut matcha badly, so I was doubtful at first, but the matcha at Upper and Under is seriously rich and amazing! It was so good that I shared it with my friends, and now I'm curious about the other matcha menu items too💚

Is Upper and Under worth visiting even when it's crowded on weekends?

We had definitely eaten a big lunch, so we were like, how is all of this still going in? lol Good food really does keep going down🤭 It was busy on the weekend, but since the café has several floors, we still got to enjoy tasty desserts, haha. Next time I'll go and crush the other desserts!