Hongdae brunch restaurant for chuck flap steak and salad: MELA

Hongdae brunch café, Hongdae pasta spot, Hongdae steak spot MELA Hongdae

What kind of place is MELA Hongdae?

I visited MELA Hongdae, an Italian home-style brunch café tucked into a quiet alley between Hongdae, Hapjeong and Mangwon. A friend had recommended it a while back and I'd bookmarked it, then finally made it over on a weekend. The vibe was great for enjoying brunch, and I get why it's called one of the best brunch cafés in Hongdae.

MELA Hongdae is on the first floor of a building called Local Stitch. Western restaurants with parking are rare in Hongdae, so I was happy to see they offer parking support!

MELA Hongdae 41 World Cup buk-ro 5-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 09:00 - 18:30 Group seating, takeout, delivery, reservations, wifi Corkage available, high chair, waiting area, parking

Inside MELA Hongdae: atmosphere and group seating

Stepping inside, the interior wasn't overdone at all, comfortable enough for a date or for a relaxed chat with friends. Sitting down, I understood why everyone calls this one of the best brunch cafés in Hongdae.

There's group seating too, so it works well for gatherings.

MELA Hongdae menu and prices

I heard the recipes were developed by a food researcher trained at ICIF, an Italian culinary school, which raised my expectations. It's supposedly a place that serves proper Western-style brunch with good ingredients and nothing over-seasoned. Looking at the menu, I saw unusual pasta options like minari (water dropwort) vongole and gnocchi ragu tteokbokki getting good reviews too, so next time I'm coming back on a mission to work through the Hongdae pasta menu!

Bakery and coffee at MELA Hongdae

Beyond the Western menu, they also have croissants, cakes, pies, cookies, patbingsu (shaved fruit ice) and coffee drinks, so think of it as both a café and a brunch restaurant!

What we ordered at MELA Hongdae

• Chuck flap steak ₩39,000
• Mushroom poached egg avocado salad ₩19,900

Mushroom poached egg avocado salad, 19,900 won

A fresh, tasty salad with nuts, cherry tomatoes and avocado. It's healthy and delicious enough to work as a diet meal too.

Visually it looked like burrata cheese, but it was actually a moist poached egg.

Overall the ingredients were super fresh. Even though it's a salad, it was loaded with mushrooms inside, so it had good texture to chew and was surprisingly filling. The avocado and poached egg wrapped everything in softness, so it wasn't heavy at all, and it paired wonderfully with the steak 👍

Chuck flap steak, 39,000 won

Honestly, when a brunch café has steak on the menu I don't expect much, but this one genuinely surprised me 🥹

Maybe because it's chuck flap, the texture was really tender with no chewiness at all, soft in the mouth, and the more I chewed, the more the meat's flavor came through gently. It was a signature dish that was easy to cut into for a light brunch. My one gripe was that the only sauce was whole grain mustard, I wish they'd had a separate steak sauce too.

When MELA Hongdae is worth a visit

Overall, the food wasn't artificial-tasting and was light, so I felt comfortable and not bloated afterward. If you're near Hongdae or Hapjeong and want a proper meal without too much hustle and bustle, or you're looking for a date spot, MELA should satisfy you plenty. I'm planning to go back and try other menu items too!

• A Hongdae restaurant and brunch spot good for a chat
• A Hongdae pasta spot with unusual pasta options
• A charming European-style atmosphere good for dates
• A Hongdae brunch café good for a light meal