SFC Mall basement café with a panini set before 3pm: Center Coffee

Gwanghwamun branch

I visited Center Coffee, a café in Gwanghwamun.

I enjoyed some tasty desserts at Center Coffee Gwanghwamun, a café with great atmosphere in Gwanghwamun.

Center Coffee Gwanghwamun is located on basement level 1 of SFC Mall. There are lots of good restaurants inside the mall too, so having a nice meal and then heading to Center Coffee for dessert makes for a perfect date course on a hot summer day.

What's on the menu at Center Coffee Gwanghwamun, and what comes in the set before 3pm?

Center Coffee is a well-known dessert spot for its ham and cheese panini and Greek yogurt bowl. Orders are placed via kiosk, so you can check photos before ordering. If you visit before 3pm, there's a set menu where you can get the yogurt bowl or panini together with Today's Coffee.

Let's take a look at the Center Coffee menu. Americano is ₩5,400, Signature Flat White ₩5,500, Vanilla Latte ₩6,500, Oat Latte ₩6,500, and Orange Bianco ₩7,000. For non-coffee options, there's Pear Lemonade at ₩6,500, Red Cordial at ₩7,000, and Mugwort Latte at ₩6,500. Cold brew comes in two types: Geisha beans and decaf.

Cakes and baked goods were displayed by type, so I browsed and picked one I wanted.

Center Coffee's cakes include Pure Milk Cream Cake at ₩9,000, Matilda Chocolate Cake at ₩7,000, and Earl Grey Lemon Tart at ₩9,800. For lighter desserts, there's Matcha Marble Pound Cake at ₩4,400, Dark Chocolate Baton Financier at ₩4,900, and Fig Baton Financier at ₩4,000.

• Address | 136 Sejong-daero, B1 105-ho, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours | Weekdays 07:30–21:00, weekends 11:00–21:00
• Menu | Americano ₩5,400, Pear Lemonade ₩6,500, Matilda Cake ₩8,000

Inside Center Coffee Gwanghwamun: layout and atmosphere

Even before stepping inside, Center Coffee in SFC Mall in Gwanghwamun looks fully modern from the outside.

The warm wood-toned interior decor pieces are so pretty.

With its black-and-silver combination, it's a pretty café, so a lot of solo café-goers were there too. There were various types of chairs and tables, so I sat wherever I wanted.

There's a bar table on one side, and the space is full of an oriental feel, perfect for unwinding. Photos taken anywhere in the café come out pretty.

Are the chairs and tables comfortable for a long sit?

Most visitors were office workers who'd eaten at SFC Mall, or groups of friends meeting up. There were also people with laptops and studying, so it's good for solo café time too.

• Chair comfort | Comfortable even after sitting for 2-3 hours
• Table setup | Bar table, several 2-seat and 4-seat tables
• Group size | Solo work, dates, groups of 2-4

How the pear lemonade, Americano and Matilda chocolate cake tasted

I ordered Center Coffee's signature pear lemonade, an iced Americano, and the Matilda chocolate cake.

The pear lemonade is sweet and refreshing, mixing pear with lemon. The tangy lemon plus sweet pear makes the lemonade flavor richer.

This is the Americano from Center Coffee, a place serious about its beans. They're so committed to coffee that they even sell the beans separately, so I had high expectations. It really had a nutty flavor that spread gently — delicious.

Next up is Center Coffee's Matilda cake. It's a chocolate-based cake that's dense and fudgy. It carries a heavy, rich chocolate flavor to match.

The cake layer and chocolate mousse balance well, letting a deep cacao flavor spread through. It paired really well with the Americano — delicious!