Uijeongbu café for rainy-day laptop time: Forerest

On rainy days, nature beats staying home.

Lately, our biggest topic has been our home. Where should each piece of furniture go? How should we set up the kitchen? What feel should we choose for the wallpaper and windows…? After talking about the house all day, it started to feel as if nothing but floor plans were floating around in my head. 😂

Especially now that we are sorting through the interior plan one piece at a time, it feels like my boyfriend and I ask each other several times a day, “How would we decorate if we really lived here?” So that day, we packed up the laptop and headed out. Of course, it happened to be pouring rain. ☔️

At first, I wondered whether we should just sort it out at home, but then thought it might actually be nice to clear our heads while looking at nature on a day like this. Forerest (포어레스트), which I had wanted to visit for ages, came to mind, so I went with my boyfriend.

We spread out the laptop, sorted through interior ideas, took sips of coffee in between, and chatted about this and that… In the end, it was one of the most relaxed days we have had while looking for a home, and the day I cleared my thoughts the best. :)

Forerest location and atmosphere in Uijeongbu

Forerest is a café in Uijeongbu where you can rest while feeling close to nature. It has a slightly different atmosphere from the usual city café, making it a nice place to drive to at an unhurried pace.

You can enjoy the surrounding scenery too, so I thought it would be nice to visit as part of a drive on a fine day. It also seems well suited to people looking for somewhere to stay for a while and talk, or bring a laptop and get some work done, like us.

If you are looking for a Uijeongbu café where the space itself feels relaxing rather than simply somewhere to drink coffee, Forerest is worth keeping an eye on.

Hours and parking

Forerest is open from 11:00 to 24:00 and operates every day of the year. Being open late was quite appealing too. You can enjoy coffee while looking at nature during the day, then dessert and coffee in an atmospheric space in the evening.

Above all, there is plenty of parking for visitors arriving by car. With room for more than 50 cars, parking was relatively one less thing to stress over.

When looking for cafés in Uijeongbu, places you like can sometimes be disappointing for parking, but Forerest felt conveniently accessible in that respect.

A nature-filled café that felt calmer in the rain

True to its name, Forerest felt strongly like a place to rest with nature. It rained heavily that day, so it had a different mood from a clear day. If anything, the rain made the green scenery look richer, and the sound of raindrops beyond the window created an even calmer atmosphere.

My head, which had been full of house thoughts, gradually felt more organized just by looking out the window for a moment. It is nice to come for pretty photos, of course, but it was also a good space to visit on a day when, like me, you want to step away from everyday life and clear your head.

A spacious, relaxed interior

Forerest is quite large, with tables and seats laid out generously. Rather than feeling too close to the neighboring table like in a typical small café, it had an atmosphere where everyone could enjoy their own time. I saw couples chatting and families visiting. It was also nice for quietly talking or working with a laptop open, like we were.

Most of all, because the space is so big, it did not feel stuffy even with a fair number of people there. That is why I thought it would suit anyone looking for a large café in Uijeongbu.

Pets and the terrace

Another plus is that Forerest is a pet-friendly café. Spaces where you can bring your dog to a café are not always easy to find, so being able to visit together is appealing. Since it is a place where you can feel close to nature, it seems especially fitting for spending time with a dog.

There is also a terrace, so on a nice day you could enjoy coffee in a mood quite different from indoors.

Today’s order: Americanos and Basque cheesecake

That day, we ordered two iced Americanos, matcha Basque cheesecake, and chocolate Basque cheesecake.

We came to talk endlessly about the house, but you cannot leave out coffee and dessert when you are at a café, haha. I am especially fond of Basque cheesecake, so we chose both matcha and chocolate to share.

An easy-drinking iced Americano

First, a sip of the iced Americano. As we searched for things on the laptop and organized interior references, the coffee disappeared so quickly. 😂

It was a clean, easy-drinking Americano that paired well with dessert.

Especially with a soft, rich dessert like Basque cheesecake, the coffee’s clean taste refreshed the palate between bites, so it was nice to alternate between the two.

If you love matcha, try the matcha Basque cheesecake

The matcha Basque cheesecake was the item I was especially looking forward to that day. Its character was definitely different from a dessert that is merely sweet: the dense yet soft texture of Basque cheesecake was joined by matcha’s gently fragrant, pleasantly bitter note.

It goes down softly with the first bite, then matcha’s distinctive subtle bitterness lingers at the end. When I eat dessert, I prefer a flavor that feels balanced with tea or coffee rather than sweetness alone, and that is exactly why I particularly liked this matcha Basque cheesecake.

A sip of iced Americano followed by a bite of matcha Basque cheesecake was a great combination too. If you are looking for good cake in Uijeongbu and love matcha desserts, it is worth trying.

Rich and dense chocolate Basque cheesecake

The second was the chocolate Basque cheesecake. As you would expect from a chocolate dessert, it had a deeper flavor than the matcha one, with chocolate’s richness lingering in the mouth. The dense Basque-cheesecake texture and intense chocolate flavor worked well together, making it nice to cut off and eat little by little.

Personally, if a chocolate dessert is too sweet, I lose interest after a few bites, but having this with coffee made it feel less heavy! The matcha Basque cheesecake has a gentle, slightly bitter appeal, while the chocolate one feels rich and weighty. I would recommend ordering both and alternating a slice of each. It reminded me a little of Baskin-Robbins’ Chocolate Forest!

Forerest, where I want to remember the desserts too

After trying the two Basque cheesecakes, I thought Forerest is not simply a café for coffee, but a place where you can enjoy dessert as well.

If you like cakes with a dense texture like Basque cheesecake, keep them in mind when choosing from the menu. For people like me who feel something is missing if they leave a café after only coffee, I recommend adding a dessert.

At first we were only going to have coffee, but we ended up ordering two desserts to share, haha. Still, because we sat down and ate slowly for the first time in a while, I actually thought we had made a good choice.

Organizing my thoughts with a laptop

Honestly, the main reason we visited Forerest that day was to organize our thoughts about the house and its interior. We have been talking about the house so much lately that we often get confused about what we need to decide first.

So we opened the laptop, looked up photos of interiors we liked, discussed furniture layouts and the kitchen setup, and sorted things out one by one. Strangely, talking about it at a café made us think a little more objectively than we did at home. Rain was falling outside the window, and there were warm desserts and coffee in front of us… It was much nicer than I had expected.

Finding a home is important, but so is taking time to think about how we will live in it. :)

Why it was even better on a rainy day

A café on a clear day has a bright, lively charm, but Forerest was a little different in the rain. The soft sound of rain and the damp green view outside somehow settled my mind. Normally, my head would have stayed busy with house thoughts, but that day I could pause for a moment and talk about all sorts of things with my boyfriend.

So I would recommend Forerest not only for fine weather, but also as a Uijeongbu café worth visiting on a rainy day.

Forerest: final thoughts

• Atmosphere ★★★★★
• Space ★★★★★
• Desserts ★★★★★
• Parking ★★★★★
• Would visit again ★★★★★

This visit made Forerest a café that stayed with me more than I expected.

What I liked was that it was not simply somewhere to drink coffee, take photos, and leave, but a space where you can stay a little longer and rest.

The spacious setting, convenient parking, terrace, natural surroundings, and pet-friendly policy mean it could work for lots of different kinds of visits. The matcha and chocolate Basque cheesecakes we had with our coffee each had their own appeal too, and I was satisfied with both.

If you like matcha’s gentle bitterness, I recommend the matcha Basque cheesecake; if you prefer deep, rich chocolate flavor, choose the chocolate Basque cheesecake. It would make a nice Uijeongbu date spot for a quiet conversation with your partner, or a good stop for coffee after driving out for some fresh air.

We visited that day because we were looking into homes, but I think the best thing we did was set those thoughts down for a while, have coffee with each other, and talk about what lies ahead. The heavy rain made it even calmer, and because we sat without rushing anything for the first time in a while, it stayed with me all the more. ☔️