Gangnam Station dessert café packed on a weekend: Upper and Under

Hi, this is Honchel :) I was spending time around Gangnam last weekend and went looking for a café with good-looking desserts, which led me to Upper and Under 🥰 It sits between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station, so it was pretty easy to get to, and it turned out to be a great spot to enjoy coffee and dessert together.

Where Upper and Under is, opening hours and parking

28 Gangnam-daero 102-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, basement, 1st and 2nd floors

About 298m from Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6

Open daily 11:00 - 22:00

No parking on-site ❌️ please use a nearby public parking lot!

Three floors in one building

Upper and Under is tucked a little way into an alley off Gangnam-daero. Since the café uses the entire building, it had real presence even from the outside :) With a basement level plus first and second floors, the space was bigger than I expected. I found myself wondering what each floor's mood would be like even before stepping inside 🥰 If you're looking for a large-scale café in Gangnam, this one stands out at a glance :)

There was also outdoor seating available. The weather was nice on the day I visited, so I thought sitting outside with a coffee would have been really lovely :) On a nice day, enjoying the atmosphere at an outdoor table instead of indoors seems like a great option.

Can you get a seat on a weekend afternoon?

Maybe because it was the weekend, there were so many customers 🥹 From the first floor to the second and even the basement, almost every space was packed. Still, since each floor had its own separate space, there was a nice variety of seating available :)

Inside the dessert case: cake slices, madeleines and pies

Inside, there were so many kinds of desserts — slice cakes, all sorts of madeleines, and pies. Every single one looked delicious, so I spent a long time trying to decide what to pick haha. There were a lot of cute, pretty-looking desserts in particular, the kind that would appeal a lot to women. It was the kind of display that makes you want to order a dessert even if you only came for coffee :)

On one side of the store, water and paper cups were set out, which made things convenient :) Everything was neatly arranged so you could freely grab some whenever you needed it — it felt like they'd thought about even the small details haha.

What I ordered at Upper and Under

• Iced americano
• Matcha pistachio
• Choco banana pie
• Lemon madeleine

How does the matcha pistachio taste?

I started with the matcha pistachio! I already love the matcha-and-pistachio combination, so I had high hopes, and honestly it was really good 👍🏻 The subtle bitterness of the matcha paired with the nutty pistachio flavor and they went so well together. It wasn't a dessert that was just sweet — the matcha flavor came through strongly, which made it even more enjoyable. After one bite, I understood exactly why this menu item had caught my eye haha. I also ordered an iced americano alongside it. As always, dessert with iced americano is a combo that never fails haha.

The choco banana pie was the best of the four

The choco banana pie was, personally, way better than I expected, and it ended up being my favorite! The sweetness of the chocolate blended beautifully with the softness of the banana, and it tasted even better with coffee. It was the kind of flavor that kept pulling me back for another bite — this was the dish I enjoyed the most :)

Is Upper and Under worth a visit? Final thoughts

Upper and Under had so many customers, probably because I visited on a weekend! Rather than a quiet, calm café atmosphere, it felt like a lively place with a lot of people coming and going :) Still, with a good range of coffee and various desserts to choose from, it was a great spot to pick a few things and share. If you're looking for a café in Gangnam to enjoy dessert and coffee together, it's worth a visit at least once. Since it tends to get busy on weekends especially, it might be worth timing your visit carefully if you want a more relaxed experience. If you're looking for a dessert café between Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station, keep this one in mind ❤️