Dessert Second Stop · 4 stories

Second Cup, Seoul Restaurants and Cafes

Writes about restaurants and cafes around Seoul, usually after a second visit to the same table. · Writes about: Restaurants · Cafés

PlaceMapo, SeoulCafés

Gongdeok bakery: corn madeleine & vanilla canelé, Fluffy Bake Shop

Fluffy Bake Shop is a bakery specialising in baked sweets such as madeleines, financiers and canelés, in the SK Leaders View Complex 2 shopping arcade near Gongdeok Station in Mapo, Seoul. Returning after 3 years, the writer packed 6 madeleines, financiers, canelés and egg tarts (3,200–3,800 won each) into a 6-piece box for a picnic at Yanghwa Han River Park, and the corn madeleine and vanilla canelé tasted best. Every item at Fluffy Bake Shop was above average, making it a creative Gongdeok Station bakery worth revisiting.

Written Jun 17, 2026Sponsored
PlaceSeocho, SeoulRestaurants

Booth-seat Gyodae BBQ: black pork and ₩1,500 rice at Yuk Tongryeong

Yuk Tongryeong Gyodae Direct Store (육통령 교대직영점) is a black pork Korean BBQ restaurant near Gyodae Station in Seocho, Seoul, where every seat is a booth-style table, so even solo diners can grill comfortably. Two people ordered 2 servings of premium black pork six-layer belly (yukgyeopsal), tojang-jjigae (thick soybean paste stew) and freshly cooked Paju Hyangmi rice at 1,500 won per bowl, and ate the staff-grilled pork with the rice; the mildly seasoned side dishes and fluffy rice paired well with the six-layer belly. Ordering the meat and the rice meal together from the start was a can't-miss combination at Yuk Tongryeong Gyodae Direct Store.

Written Jul 9, 2026Sponsored
PlaceMapo, SeoulRestaurants

Mapo duck restaurant with perilla duck stew for two: Gongjung Dodeok

Gongjung Dodeok (공중도덕) is a duck restaurant with outdoor street-side seating right beside the Gyeongui Line Forest Park path near Daeheung Station in Mapo, Seoul. Two diners skipped alcohol and ordered the 2-person set (half-and-half grilled duck plus gonggamtang, a perilla duck stew), a barley shrimp and minari pancake, and white rice sotbap (pot rice) with green tea. Gongjung Dodeok's grilled duck was decent, but the perilla-packed gonggamtang was the real winner: next time, order it as the main with sotbap, ideally with makgeolli.

Written Jul 13, 2026Sponsored
PlaceMapo, SeoulRestaurants

Burger joint by Daeheung Station: ask for 1/3 sauce at Bored & Hungry

Bored & Hungry Mapo is a handmade burger restaurant in a graffiti-covered building beside Gyeongui Line Forest Park, near Daeheung Station in Mapo, Seoul. Two of us shared the Shrimp O.G Burger set (₩21,800), The Mega Bun with a single patty (₩13,400) and Chilli's Mutant Cheese Sticks (₩4,500); the portions and sides were outstanding, but so much sauce smothered the patty and bun that their texture got lost. Verdict: next time, ask Bored & Hungry for only a third of the sauce and go at night with an IPA.

Written Jul 26, 2026Sponsored
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