Roomy Sinnonhyeon café for 3 friends: Einspänner, Upper and Under

Finding a café in Gangnam is surprisingly stressful. Too many people, cramped seats, pricey drinks, and plenty of places where it's uncomfortable to stay long.

I needed a place to chat with friends, so I'd been looking for cafés near Gangnam Station. The place I went to this time was great: spacious, clean atmosphere, and the coffee was good too.

Where is Upper and Under, and what's the space like?

Upper and Under is a converted-house café about a 3–4 minute walk from Sinnonhyeon Station, and it's easily walkable from Gangnam Station too. It uses the basement level up to the 2nd floor, so it's quite large for a Gangnam Station café.

I visited around 2 PM on a Saturday and it was already fairly busy. From the outside it looked like an ordinary house and I wondered if it was really a café, but inside the mood was completely different.

Since it uses everything from the basement to the 2nd floor, it's really big. Lots of Gangnam Station cafés these days pack the seats so tightly that staying long is uncomfortable, but Upper and Under had none of that stuffiness.

The window seats in particular get good light and looked great for working on a laptop or talking. My friend said, "This is way bigger than I expected." Maybe that's why the customers were so varied: people studying, office workers in meetings, couples on dates.

What did three people order, and how much was it?

Three of us ordered one Einspänner (coffee topped with cream), two iced Americanos and one cheesecake, and it came to about ₩30,000. At the counter there were more menu items than I expected, from signature drinks to regular coffee and lots of desserts, so choosing took quite a while.

• 1 Einspänner
• 2 iced Americanos
• 1 cheesecake

The total was about ₩30,000. Considering Gangnam Station café prices these days, that wasn't too burdensome. Given how big the space is, I actually thought it was reasonable.

I also browsed the bakery case, which had a good variety: financiers, cookies, canelés and more. It was afternoon so a lot had already sold out, but what was left still looked so good that I couldn't decide. In the end I went with my friend's recommendation, the cheesecake.

Is the Upper and Under Einspänner too sweet?

The Einspänner was my favorite item of the day. The cream wasn't sweet or greasy, and the balance was good. Cream coffees can be too sweet or heavy, but not here.

I first scooped up just a spoonful of the cream, and the nutty flavor came through first. Then, drinking it together with the coffee, the sweetness and the bitterness flowed together naturally.

My friend took a sip and said, "Now I get why this is the signature." The iced Americano was good too. It's not a high-acidity style, so it was easy to drink.

For me, someone who usually doesn't like acidic beans, that was a big plus. I've been to lots of Gangnam Station cafés, but Upper and Under felt like a place with solid coffee basics. Maybe that's why most tables seemed to be ordering coffee drinks.

What's the Upper and Under cheesecake like?

The cheesecake is on the dense, rich side but not heavy, and it melts naturally in your mouth. Honestly, I didn't expect much from the desserts. I figured as long as the coffee was good, that was enough. But the cheesecake was better than I thought.

It cut softly with the fork, and the texture was on the dense side. It wasn't too heavy, and I loved how it melted in my mouth.

It paired nicely with the Americano especially. One friend even said she could come back just for the cheesecake.

Is it comfortable to stay long on a weekend?

We stayed about 1.5 hours on a Saturday afternoon, and the chairs were comfortable and the space so wide that sitting for a long time wasn't a problem. I could see why Upper and Under is so popular.

It felt like a place that's not just good for photos but actually satisfying to use. On weekends these days many Gangnam Station cafés are hard to find a seat in, but Upper and Under was relatively relaxed.

My takeaways

This visit to Upper and Under was more satisfying than I expected. With its big space, clean atmosphere and decent coffee, it was a comfortable place to chat with friends.

The Einspänner especially was good enough that I'd reorder it, and it went well with the cheesecake. If you'd like to spend time more leisurely instead of at a crowded chain, it's well worth considering as a Gangnam Station café.