Hongdae brunch café reunion: avocado ricotta open sandwich, MELA

What is MELA Hongdae like?

MELA Hongdae is a brunch café on the ground floor of a building on Worldcup buk-ro 5-gil in Hongdae. It's open from 9am to 6:30pm, and parking is available. I've finally achieved my dream life of being a lady of leisure, so I met my friends at this Hongdae brunch café favorite to kick off a fun day. Woo-hoo!

MELA Hongdae has parking, the building is clean and great for photos, and the brunch tastes good, so it's popular. There seems to be a hotel in the building, because lots of foreign visitors came in to eat! Nice.

How to find MELA Hongdae

After parking, come up to the 1st floor and you'll find MELA. There's one pretty shop tucked inside, so you'll spot it quickly. True to a Hongdae brunch hotspot, the menu was wide, from brunch dishes to café drinks and desserts. We arrived right on time to meet up :)

What are the interior and seating like at MELA Hongdae?

The inside of MELA Hongdae is super clean, pretty and moody, so you'd be happy here with anyone! It's packed with decor pieces and plants, which gave it a fresh yet stylish feel :) There were lots of two-person tables, and round tables ready for bigger groups!

There were so many photo spots along the way, which was exciting. We hadn't seen each other in a while, but old friends are always the same no matter when you meet, so the energy just kept going up, up! The weather was gorgeous too, so just stepping outside felt great > <

Window seats and one-item-per-person pre-ordering

MELA Hongdae requires one menu item per person, and you pre-order at the ordering desk at the front. We sat at a window table in the back. That side just looked brighter and prettier :) I figured it was better to pick and order first, and a staff member handed me the menu right then, so I checked it!

What did we order at MELA Hongdae?

We picked three dishes at MELA Hongdae: the avocado ricotta open sandwich, ragu tteokbokki (spicy-free rice cakes in meat sauce) and fragrant minari vongole (water dropwort clam pasta). I was agonizing over what would earn us a "you ate well!" :) and then thought, let's eat what we can't make at home! So that's what we chose.

• Avocado ricotta open sandwich
• Ragu tteokbokki (can be swapped for noodles)
• Fragrant minari vongole

Those are our three! Can't wait for this Hongdae brunch café favorite!

Avocado ricotta open sandwich and ades

Oh, and we ordered two ades too, lemon and grapefruit! First out was the avocado ricotta open sandwich! The look of it was wow > < Piled with avocado, topped with cheese and jamón! A small salad and a little pickled carrot came alongside too!!

Minari vongole

Next the minari vongole made its entrance! My husband loves vongole, so it made me think of him?? (Am I feeling guilty for being a lady of leisure? Ahem) The clams were nicely cooked too. My friends and I plucked them out one by one and ate them with the noodles > < Nice! Enough to call it a real Hongdae brunch café favorite, wow. Very tasty.

My friends do eat well, but if they scrape their plates clean like that, wow, MELA Hongdae really does cook well :) The look was lovely and every dish was delicious!

My pick: the ragu tteokbokki

My favorite dish at MELA Hongdae was the ragu tteokbokki. The ragu sauce was deeply savory! The rice cakes were cooked just right and nicely chewy. This Hongdae brunch café favorite gets a 200% chance that I'll come again :)

Can you go to MELA Hongdae just for dessert?

MELA Hongdae sells croissants and cakes in one corner, so people who come for dessert can enjoy the bakery too. Nice!

How crowded is it at lunchtime?

After the lunch rush around 12, a lot of the seats filled up! That's how popular this Hongdae brunch spot is. I spent a happy day with my friends. If you're looking for tasty food in a pretty space, I strongly recommend MELA Hongdae :)