Seongsu café for decaf affogato and kalimotxo: Mellows

A terrace café near Ttukseom Station

After a delicious meal, I was craving something sweet, so I visited Mellows (멜로우즈). It was such a nice-vibes café: coffee and desserts in a cozy space during the day, then cocktails in the evening.

Mellows is super close to Exit 7 of Ttukseom Station, within 200 meters. But the moment I arrived, I thought, why does this feel so familiar..? I had stopped by here before after visiting the Seoul Forest Garden Festival, when I saw lots of people sitting on the terrace and thought, Let’s grab a coffee! haha. The outdoor terrace seating is so romantic.

Warm wood interiors and indoor seating

The terrace is romantic, but the interior is also wonderfully cozy! The wood-heavy decor gives the whole place a warm feel 🌲 I really, really love terraces, but it suddenly got so cold that day.. Since we were going to eat ice cream, I thought it would be too cold outside, so we sat indoors—and it was lovely inside too!

From ice cream to evening cocktails

Mellows doesn’t just have desserts—they also sell cocktails on the evening menu?! The drink names were all fun, and there were simple snacks too, so it immediately caught my eye 👀 haha. But we came for ice cream! So we ordered that first. The ice cream was so affordable, and so was the coffee.. Such generous prices for pricey Seongsu-dong.

Order for two

• Decaf soft-serve affogato — ₩4,300
• Milk soft serve — ₩3,500
• Iced decaf Americano — ₩2,800
• Iced decaf latte — ₩3,500
• Total — ₩14,100

I absolutely love affogato, but lots of places don’t offer a decaf option, so I can’t have it very often.. Mellows said they could make the affogato decaf too, so I ordered it with a very happy heart >.<

The ice cream arrived! Since it was already so inexpensive, I thought, Will it just be plain ice cream? But it came with all kinds of toppings and even cookies stuck in it! Such great value, honestly.

It had that deeply rich Sangha Farm milk ice cream flavor! My husband loves milky flavors, so he was completely delighted, saying it was delicious haha.

We were so thorough that we ordered coffee in advance too, planning to have a cup after finishing the ice cream. The decaf options were so tasty 🥹 I also loved that the decaf surcharge was only ₩300..

The rich milk flavor of a decaf affogato

My beloved affogato 🤎 Pouring a shot over rich milk ice cream is seriously knockout-good. Better than any coffee ice cream.

Just look at that gorgeous visual. It was so delicious that I scraped up every last bit ☺️ From now on, when I think of ice cream in Seongsu-dong, I think I’ll think of Mellows.

Complimentary crackers and a glass of kalimotxo

Maybe because we were enjoying everything so much, the owner gave us some complimentary crackers to try. The coffee and desserts were already so affordable and delicious that we were amazed, and then this service too.. 🥹 They were even the trendy truffle jamón crackers! The sweet-and-salty flavor was so good. Perfect with a drink, right...? So...

Yes. We ordered one. They sell cocktails in the evening, and between the lighting and the weather, it was one of those days when you just gently crave a drink~ (As if there’s ever a day I don’t.) This was my first time trying a cocktail called kalimotxo! Apparently it’s red wine and cola mixed in a 1:1 ratio. I chose it because it looked easy to drink, but wow.. insanely delicious...

No, it was seriously so good??? We have quite a few bottles of red wine at home that we received from somewhere but never particularly felt like drinking. I’m a white wine person, so they had been hard to deal with—but I think those red wines will disappear soon ^^ㅋ Because now I know this insanely good recipe..

For great-value desserts and cocktails in Seongsu

Thanks to the owner, we had delicious coffee and desserts at a lovely café, then even finished with a cocktail! I also came away with a new, ridiculously delicious cocktail recipe, so it was a very satisfying, full day.

Desserts are really expensive these days, aren’t they? Once ice cream has a few toppings, it’s nearly ₩10,000, and coffee at independent cafés can be so pricey too. But Mellows has amazing value in both coffee and ice cream—and it tastes great too! Next time, I’m going back for a decaf affogato and a glass of kalimotxo.. 🤎