Gangnam Station café parking, first einspänner: Upper and Under

Upper and Under near Gangnam Station: where to park if you drive

If you drive to Upper and Under, the café near Gangnam Station, use the nearby Yeoksam Cultural Park public parking lot. Parking cost ₩300 per 5 minutes.

We had lunch in Seorae Village in Seocho, Gangnam, and then visited Upper and Under. We came by car and needed a parking lot, and luckily the Yeoksam Cultural Park public lot was close by, so parking was easy. (Parking: ₩300 per 5 minutes)

The only café near Gangnam Station I'd ever been to was Mega Coffee, so I never imagined there'd be such a big one. Upper and Under spans the 1st to 3rd floors. You order on the 2nd floor first, then take a seat wherever you like.

What drinks and desserts does Upper and Under have?

The drinks run from the signature einspänner (coffee topped with thick cream) to ades, cold brew, non-coffee drinks and tea. You can pick whatever suits your taste.

One of Upper and Under's strengths is that it's a fairly big café for the Gangnam Station area, yet it makes a wide range of desserts in-house.

They sell financiers, madeleines, brûlées, canelés, and there were also a peach pie and a super sweet corn pie,

and the Basque cheesecake comes in three kinds: vanilla, ube and hwangchi cheese (made with a yellow cheese-flavored powder).

The fridge next to the counter also had tiramisu,

and there were mini cakes like mango, lemon and yangzhi ganlu (mango, pomelo and sago).

What are the interior and seating like?

As I said, Upper and Under uses the 1st to 3rd floors, so it's a pretty big café. You can order on the 2nd floor, and there are lots of seats there too, so you can visit without worrying about finding a spot.

Another thing I liked: there are outdoor tables on a small terrace. On a cool day or in the evening, a cup of coffee out there would be really atmospheric.

It was hot, so I skipped the outdoor tables and went up to the 3rd floor to sit at a 2-person table.

The open feel of the 3rd floor in a converted old house

Maybe because Upper and Under was made by renovating an old house, the 3rd floor felt much more open.

They removed the wall that blocked the ceiling and opened it up to the roof, so it feels much airier, and above all the air conditioning was blasting, so it was properly cool.

What we ordered at Upper and Under, and the prices

• Vanilla Basque cheesecake ₩9,500
• Mango lemon ade ₩8,500
• Einspänner ₩8,000
• Sweet potato matang financier ₩4,700

How do the einspänner and mango lemon ade taste?

The cream on the Upper and Under einspänner wasn't greasy at all. It was nutty and tasty enough to eat on its own, and the coffee wasn't bitter, which I liked. I ordered the einspänner as my first drink, and it was my first einspänner ever. When I searched how to drink it, apparently you either scoop up the cream with a spoon first or drink the coffee underneath first, and later mix the cream and coffee together.

The mango lemon ade had mango at the bottom and lemonade poured on top, and the mango that got sucked up through the straw was delicious.

Sweet potato matang financier and vanilla Basque cheesecake

For desserts, we ordered the vanilla Basque cheesecake and the sweet potato matang financier (matang is Korean candied sweet potato).

The sweet potato matang financier genuinely tasted like candied sweet potato, with the fluffy texture financiers are known for.

Last was the vanilla Basque cheesecake, and this is where I could feel why Upper and Under near Gangnam Station is known as a dessert spot. It's a cheesecake but not greasy, it's sweet and nutty, and the top and bottom crust have a soft, bready feel, so it goes really well with coffee.