Dwaejibar ice cream and hojicha Wunder Gato: Wunder Coffee Bar, Songdo

On days when I want to shop in Songdo and also enjoy a good dessert, a café is naturally where I end up.

This time I stopped by Wunder Coffee Bar Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo Branch while visiting the Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo, a nice spot to rest for a bit.

The Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet is great not just for shopping but also for meals and cafés together, making it a good place to visit as a family. After all, shopping always calls for sitting down with a coffee at some point.

This time, instead of picking something you can find anywhere, I chose special desserts you can only get at Wunder Coffee Bar — their signature Wunder Gato, and the dwaejibar ice cream (piggy bar ice cream), which catches the eye with its cute look.

If you're looking for a café in Songdo, try Wunder Coffee Bar

Wunder Coffee Bar Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo Branch is a great café to drop into while shopping at Songhyeona (송현아). The Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo Branch, often called Songhyeona, is a place I visit often to shop, and taking a leisurely break at a café in the middle of it is a pleasure I can't skip.

When choosing a café, I especially prefer places with a signature menu you can't easily get elsewhere, rather than one that's just for coffee. Wunder Coffee Bar had menu items I hadn't seen at other cafés, so I was curious.

What I ordered this time and the prices

• Wunder Gato (affogato) ₩7,500
• Dwaejibar ice cream ₩6,800

Both are ice cream-based desserts, so they went well with coffee.

Menu board

After ordering, they handed me a buzzer so I could wait comfortably at my seat. Even when the store was busy, the buzzer meant I could pick up my order right away — convenient for a quick shopping break.

Wunder Coffee Bar's signature menu, the Wunder Gato

First up was the Wunder Gato. Simply put, it's their take on an affogato, but there's a difference from the usual vanilla ice cream drenched in espresso — you get to choose the ice cream flavor.

• Hojicha
• Vanilla
• Hojicha & vanilla mixed

After some thought, I went with hojicha (roasted green tea) this time. If you like hojicha, it's a welcome option. While a typical affogato pairs strong coffee with sweet vanilla ice cream, choosing hojicha ice cream adds a nutty, subtle tea aroma for a bit of a different experience.

Strong espresso paired with hojicha ice cream

From the first look, the soft-looking ice cream on the Wunder Gato caught my eye. Then the espresso was added and the affogato was ready to go! Eating the ice cream on its own, it was soft and sweet with hojicha's distinctive nutty, mellow aroma. Once the strong espresso is added, the whole mood of the flavor changes.

The bitter, strong flavor of the espresso balanced out the sweetness of the hojicha ice cream, keeping the overall taste from being too sweet. The distinctive toasty, nutty character of hojicha came through gently, giving it a different charm from a regular vanilla affogato.

Part of the fun of an affogato is how the coffee melts into the ice cream, gradually turning it into a smooth, creamy texture. At first you feel the cold of the ice cream and the heat of the espresso at the same time, and as the ice cream slightly melts over time, they blend more smoothly. Mixing the ice cream and espresso together with a spoon brought out both the nuttiness of the hojicha and the deep flavor of the coffee — delicious.

A menu I'd recommend if you like hojicha

Personally, what I liked most about this Wunder Gato was being able to choose hojicha ice cream. Hojicha has its own charm, different from green tea — instead of green tea's characteristic bitterness, it has an appealing toasty, nutty aroma from the roasted leaves.

That hojicha flavor meeting sweet ice cream made for a great dessert. Adding espresso on top meant it wasn't just a straightforwardly sweet dessert — you also got to enjoy the coffee's bitterness.

Next time, I'd like to try the hojicha & vanilla mix. I'm curious how the nuttiness of hojicha combined with the soft sweetness of vanilla would feel. Since you can choose the ice cream flavor to your taste, if it's your first visit, I'd suggest picking whichever flavor you like best.

The cute-looking dwaejibar ice cream

The second thing I ordered was the dwaejibar ice cream, priced at ₩6,800. The name alone made me curious — it's made using vanilla ice cream.

It reminded me of the dwaejibar (piggy bar) ice cream I've known since childhood, so just seeing it made me feel oddly nostalgic. Its cute look, fitting for an ice cream dessert, also made it great for photos. When you go to a café, taste matters, but a pretty dessert always makes you want to snap another picture.

The dwaejibar ice cream felt both familiar and fun, just like its name, and seemed like a good match for anyone looking for a different kind of dessert at a Songdo café.

A café for resting after shopping at Songhyeona

Time flies faster than you'd think while shopping at the Hyundai Premium Outlet Songdo Branch. When your legs start to ache a bit or you get a craving for something sweet, sitting down at a café with coffee and ice cream is just right.

Especially if you're visiting Songhyeona with family or on a date, adding a café as a rest stop makes for a relaxed time. I too took a break while shopping this time, and ordering a dessert alongside coffee, rather than just coffee alone, was a nice change of pace. Most of all, getting to try a signature menu only available at Wunder Coffee Bar, rather than something ordinary, made it memorable.

If you're looking for a good coffee spot in Songdo

There are so many cafés in Songdo that choosing what to order can be a bit of a dilemma. If you're like me and enjoy pairing coffee with something a little different, the Wunder Gato at Wunder Coffee Bar is worth trying.

I chose hojicha this time, and the way its distinctive nutty flavor blended with the strong espresso was appealing. If you usually like hojicha desserts or the nutty side of green tea flavors, I'd recommend the hojicha option. If you prefer something soft and familiar, go for vanilla, and if you like both, try the hojicha & vanilla mix.