Gangnam study café, tiramisu pound at an outlet seat: Upper and Under

This time I went to Upper and Under, a café near Sinnonhyeon Station in Gangnam. It's a huge 3-story café, great for both studying and chatting, and I had a really fun visit. Above all the coffee and desserts were so good I thought it'd be hard for anywhere else to beat this place in that department, haha.

Where is Upper and Under, and what are the hours?

Upper and Under is a large café spanning the basement, 1st, and 2nd floors at 28 Gangnam-daero102-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, open daily from 11am to 10pm. It's 298m from Sinnonhyeon Station exit 6, so it's an easy walk!

Upper and Under? Up and down? I wondered what that meant and dropped by lol

What the Upper and Under storefront looks like

Upper and Under occupies its own standalone building, and it had this really pretty house-with-a-garden kind of feel. The huge tree next to it stole the show.

Upper and Under! I was genuinely curious what the name meant — up and down...? And the interior had this stylish, clean, pretty vibe. It smelled like a great café from the outside already — let's go through the entrance and check out the 1st floor first?

What desserts does Upper and Under have?

On the 2nd floor of Upper and Under, the display case is packed with baked goods and cakes. The desserts under the pastries showed off a colorful array 🎂🍰🍩🥧🍦

From bâtards to financiers and canelés~

There were also cakes — slice cakes, but with the finish and size of a whole cake. And above all, they were so pretty for photos? 😎💗💥 Genuinely pretty and delicious-looking cakes piled up 👯‍♂️🍰

And the heap of fruit on top left an impression! Like, 'I'm a fig, deal with it' kind of energy lol, strongly asserting its identity ,,💪

What we ordered at Upper and Under and what it cost

• Iced americano ₩6,500
• Iced einspänner ₩8,000
• Tiramisu pound cake ₩8,500
• Crème brûlée flan ₩6,900

We ended up ordering a whopping 4 items — 2 desserts and 2 drinks. There were so many delicious-looking desserts and drinks that we had to be careful choosing 🤔 We went with fairly classic picks for dessert — tiramisu and crème brûlée — and for drinks we got our usual favorite einspänner plus an americano to balance out the sweetness!

Except for cake-style desserts like the crème brûlée, you grab the baked goods yourself with tongs like at a bakery, and for cakes and drinks you just tell the staff and they'll bring them to you.

The 2nd floor and the restrooms

The 2nd floor of Upper and Under is where the counter is, and it felt a bit quiet with the shop stretching back deep inside. Here's what the 2nd floor interior looks like...!

There seems to be a restroom on every floor — the 2nd floor had both a women's and men's restroom. Having a restroom inside the shop is so convenient and nice.

Isn't the staircase pretty too? I'm starting to love even the little details.

3rd-floor outlet seats and the terrace for studying

The 3rd floor of Upper and Under mixes outlet and non-outlet seats, so it looked great for studying and also good for chatting. Like the other floors, it had that same great atmosphere, and tables were set up in various sizes to fit different group sizes. Above all, the space felt spacious and put me at ease.

On a nice-weather day like this, isn't eating outside perfect? The terrace was also really spacious. Looks like cherry blossoms bloomed at the shop next door? lol The terrace space was very wide.

See the outlet? Anyone planning to work could probably do it right there.

How the desserts and coffee tasted

What I ordered — tiramisu, crème brûlée, iced americano, einspänner! It all came out piled high on a tray.

Everything looked delicious overall, but honestly it was just so pretty and smelled amazing right away. It felt like there was no way it could taste bad ,,!

The portions were sizable and overall felt reasonable for the price!

Ah, this looks so good.... let's dig in?

Iced americano, 6,500 won

First, the americano! Desserts here are inevitably sweet, so it was great being able to cut through that with the americano. The coffee's aroma and flavor were also really good.

And here are the desserts paired alongside it~

Tiramisu pound cake, 8,500 won

Let's take a bite of the tiramisu first. True to its name, it's a mash-up of tiramisu and pound cake — rather than being fully soft like regular tiramisu, it has that slightly denser pound cake texture, so it felt more like properly eating a real dessert, you know?

Eating it together with the cream on top made it go down much more smoothly, and it paired really well with coffee too.

Crème brûlée flan, 6,900 won

The crème brûlée flan had me curious just from the name! The look of it was so pretty I happily snapped away — the top has a sweet sugar coating like crème brûlée, while the inside has a soft custard-cream texture, so eating them together made for an interesting contrast in textures. If you like custard-style desserts, you'd probably be very satisfied with this one!

Iced einspänner, 8,000 won

This einspänner looks amazing just by itself, right? Even the layer separation is neat and clean, and it's visually a knockout. It's sweet without being overpowering, and the cream is nutty and rich — genuinely delicious.

And once it mixes with the coffee, there's a subtle aroma that comes through — the combination was really great.

The cream isn't heavy either, so you can scoop it up lightly and sip the coffee underneath at the same time — genuinely a solid signature menu item!

Is Upper and Under worth a visit in Gangnam?

Overall, the space was spacious and great for both studying and chatting — Upper and Under! Above all, both the desserts and coffee were classy and delicious, so I really want to come back near Sinnonhyeon and try other cakes. Highly recommend to everyone!☕️🍰