Rice Pot Neighbor · 54 stories

Beside the Rice Pot

I write about restaurants and everyday meals I visit around Seoul. · Writes about: Restaurants · Cafés · Bars · Hair & beauty salons · Things to do · Shopping

PlaceBucheon, GyeonggiCafés

Bucheon bakery café: wine-worthy olive cheese half loaf, Easy White

Easy White Bread Bucheon Sinjung-dong is a bakery café near Sinjung-dong Station in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, specializing in saengsikppang (soft fresh loaf bread), baked daily and sold the same day it is made. After sampling the walnut cranberry rye loaf, the writer ordered an olive cheese half loaf, a single piece of Golden Beurre loaf and a decaf americano, and tore the bread apart along its grain. Verdict: the Easy White Bread olive cheese loaf, packed with gouda, roll cheese and black olives, is so hard to stop eating that it makes you crave a glass of wine.

Written Oct 5, 2026Sponsored

PlaceMapo, SeoulCafés

Hongdae brunch café with kitchen-view seats and salmon Benedict: MELA

MELA Hongdae is a European-style all-day brunch café in a quiet alley near Hongik University Station in Mapo, Seoul. MELA Hongdae is open from 9am to 6:30pm; on this visit, from a kitchen-view table for two, the order was a salmon eggs Benedict with 3 extra pieces of smoked salmon (₩6,000) and added avocado. The brunch was good, but MELA Hongdae's pretty interior makes it worth coming back just for a drink.

Written Sep 27, 2026Sponsored

PlaceJongno, SeoulCafés

Ikseon-dong bakery price list for all 15 breads: Munhwa Bakery

Munhwa Bakery is a takeout-focused bakery on Donhwamun-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul, standing between Jongno 3(sam)-ga Station and Ikseon-dong. This post runs through every bread on display with its price, from injeolmi bread (soybean-powder rice cake bread) at 3,800 won to garlic bread at 6,800 won, and tastes the black sesame bread, milk cream bread, mugwort rice cake bread, squid ink condensed milk bread and cheese bread. Each bread at Munhwa Bakery is big enough that two or three already make the bag heavy.

Written Sep 23, 2026Sponsored

PlaceYongsan, SeoulCafés

Sinyongsan dessert café open till midnight: HYBE Playground fig cake

HYBE Playground is a large dessert café near Yongsan Station and Sinyongsan Station in Seoul, with a café on the 2nd floor, a lounge and terrace on the 3rd, and a rooftop on the 4th. The earl grey fig cake (10,500 won) and lemongrass brew were eaten in, while the lemon lavender cake (9,000 won) went home in a box — the fig cake held plenty of fig, and the lemon lavender cream was thick and tangy. HYBE Playground runs until 24:00 (last order 23:30), so it works as a late-night dessert stop too.

Written Sep 19, 2026Sponsored

PlaceBucheon, GyeonggiRestaurants

Bucheon Chinese restaurant with a black rice self-bar: Jjambbong Jijon

Jjambbong Jijon Bucheon Jung-dong Branch is a jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) and jjajang Chinese restaurant on Jungdong-ro in Sinjung-dong, Bucheon. The order was soft tofu jjamppong rice, Jijon jjajang and Jijon sweet and sour pork (small), with black rice, kimchi, onion and bean sprouts from the self-bar, and jjajangmyeon was 7,000 won during the visit to mark the restaurant's 5th anniversary. The broth at Jjambbong Jijon is deeply savoury without being fiery, so it works even for people who avoid spice or are watching what they eat.

Written Sep 18, 2026Sponsored

PlaceMapo, SeoulRestaurants

Daeheung Station brunch restaurant for seafood salad: HEOD Gongdeok

HEOD Gongdeok is a brunch restaurant in Mapo, Seoul, a 4-minute walk from Daeheung Station, with window seats looking out over the Gyeongui Line Forest Park. Dining solo while watching my diet, I ordered the seafood salad with a side of mashed potatoes, and the cilantro and round-sliced vegetables with their exotic aroma lifted the whole plate, with a bright, tangy dressing. If you want a healthy but genuinely tasty meal with a forest-path view, the seafood salad at HEOD Gongdeok is the one to order.

Written Sep 6, 2026Sponsored

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