Seongsu café with peanut butter ice cream: Mellows

Getting to Mellows from Ttukseom Station

Mellows, a cozy Seoul Forest café, is a five-minute walk from Exit 7 of Ttukseom Station. Exit 8 looks closer on the map, but you have to detour around Korea National Open University, so I recommend taking Exit 7. I visited after a walk around Seoul Forest with a friend for some long-overdue bro time.

Café information

• Road address: 1F, 7 Wangsimni-ro 10-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea (서울 성동구 왕십리로10길 7)
• Lot address: 656-406 Seongsu-dong 1-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul (서울 성동구 성수동1가 656-406)
• Hours: Monday 07:00–21:00 / Tuesday–Friday 07:00–01:00 the next day / Saturday 11:00–01:00 the next day / closed Sunday
• No parking; use a nearby parking lot
• The restroom is inside the building, outside the café

Ta-da, a sudden Mellows-finding mission. Whenever I write a review, I always mention whether a place is easy to find, and Mellows nearly slipped past me because it blends in so well. It is such a cozy café made from what looks like a renovated house that I honestly almost walked right past it. I thought it was just a house. Maybe because it is in a converted house, it is overflowing with charm—and you can sit outside, too.

Indoor seating and how to order

There is seating inside as well as outdoors. There was a bar table and about two tables for four, but since the weather was nice, most people seemed to be sitting outside. There are also posters on the wall where you can preview the desserts.

You can order through the tablet kiosk inside or order directly from the owner outside. Inside, there is a cute Santa doll. Outside, there is an owner with... ears.

Rare value for money in Seongsu-dong

Mellows, this Seoul Forest café, has amazingly nice prices—rare value for money among cafés around Seoul Forest and Seongsu-dong. They have desserts too, and one dessert plus two drinks costs about the same as two coffees at another Seongsu café.

The things I was about to happily devour were:

• Peanut butter ice cream
• Iced Americano

Let’s happily devour these guys.

Peanut butter ice cream and an iced Americano

I think the owner normally brings orders to your table, but the atmosphere was so nice that I picked ours up myself while taking photos. The weather was cool, so we decided to eat outside. The peanut butter ice cream is soft serve with peanut butter and nuts at the bottom. I kept reaching for it—it is the kind of dessert you cannot stop eating. The iced Americano came with a second cup around it, such a thoughtful touch that my hand did not get cold at all. Its acidity was not too strong either, which was exactly right for my taste.

A note about the outdoor table chairs

One thing to watch out for with the outdoor table chairs: the back, around butt level, is open. I did not want to find that out either, but my friend showed up in pants with a “Loser Club” patch, and it made me so annoyed. I am seriously so mad.

Still, it had been a while since my friend and I had come out to Seongsu, so we took some moody photos and went, “Wow, Europe is right here,” haha. (Neither of us has been to Europe.)

Seongsu-dong can be bustling, but the street around Mellows is relatively quiet, so it is nice for relaxing peacefully.

A Seoul Forest café enjoyed in a gentle breeze

Mellows is a cozy Seoul Forest café where the stylish interior, warm atmosphere, prettily plated desserts, and everything else fit together beautifully. The weather has been so nice lately that it is a wonderful café for sitting outside and enjoying a cool, gentle breeze.