Weekday brunch in Pangyo with pecan peach ricotta salad: Andover

While looking for good brunch spots in Pangyo, I ended up at Andover, on the Baekhyeon-dong café street.

Ever since I started parental leave, there's been one thing I secretly wanted to do more than anything.

Just meet a friend for a relaxed lunch on a weekday afternoon.

Not rushing around after drop-off, but actually taking time on a nice weekday to sit with a friend, eat something good, and talk slowly.

This time I finally got my wish. The weather's been so lovely lately that I feel like going to a brunch café every day just to soak in the autumn mood.

Where is Andover in Pangyo?

This time I visited Andover, located on the Baekhyeon-dong café street.

Maybe because I've been dying to travel abroad lately, spaces with this kind of foreign vibe catch my eye even more.

Andover apparently takes its name from a city in Massachusetts, and maybe that's why the whole place felt like it had a different atmosphere from the name alone. The exterior was clean with big glass windows that stood out along the café street, and it gave off the feeling of a small European restaurant.

Especially on a nice day, it seemed like a great place to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere too, which made it feel especially fitting for an autumn visit.

Inside Andover: atmosphere and seating

Once inside, Andover was more spacious than I expected.

Thanks to the high ceilings, it didn't feel cramped, and the tables were spaced generously, which made it easy to sit across from a friend and talk. What I liked most was that the overall interior felt less like a typical brunch café and more like a real restaurant.

It's the kind of atmosphere that briefly soothes the frustration of not being able to travel abroad right now. Good food matters to me, but so does whether the space lets me talk comfortably with the person I'm with, and on that front Andover delivered. Catching up with my friend after a long time, the hours flew by.

What we ordered at Andover and what it cost

That day at Andover we ordered the shrimp bisque pasta, the signature cod gratin, and the pecan peach & ricotta cheese salad. They cost ₩26,000, ₩32,000, and ₩18,000 respectively.

Ordering several dishes to share let us enjoy a much wider variety than sticking to just one.

Lately I especially love dishes with rich umami, and without hesitation my favorite that day was the shrimp bisque pasta.

How does Andover's shrimp bisque pasta taste?

The shrimp bisque pasta is made with a bisque sauce simmered for a long time, topped with grilled whole shrimp and garlic scapes.

You can apparently order it spicy if you want. I had it in the regular version rather than spicy, and the deep umami from the shrimp was really good.

The noodles weren't the usual round pasta but a flat noodle, so the sauce clung to them really well. It wasn't a dish you finish in a couple of bites — the more I ate, the more I kept reaching for it.

Eating the whole shrimp along with it added extra texture, which made it even more satisfying. Since it's exactly the kind of umami-rich dish I love, it was the most memorable thing we ate that day.

Cod gratin and pecan peach ricotta salad at Andover

The signature cod gratin is made with boneless cod and potato on a milk base, seasoned with herbs and spices.

It came with roasted vegetables on the side, giving it a different feel from the pasta. The pecan peach & ricotta cheese salad had fresh greens along with Spanish yellow peaches, pecans, and ricotta cheese.

The sweet-tart fruit, nutty pecans, and soft ricotta cheese came together nicely and went well alongside the pasta. Since the dishes each had such different flavor profiles, ordering two or three to share with a friend seemed like a good idea.

Is Andover good for meeting friends or a date?

This visit to Andover was my first taste of weekday lunch freedom since starting parental leave, so the time itself felt even more special than the food.

Talking about kids, travel, and everyday life for a long while over good food felt like real healing.

With its atmosphere, Andover seems like it would work well not just for brunch with a friend but also as a date spot.

It's a solid choice for anyone looking for a photogenic space or wanting to have a quiet conversation over a meal. And with the sky so high and the weather so nice these days, exploring the rest of the Baekhyeon-dong café street afterward would make for an even better afternoon.

Andover in Pangyo at a glance

• If you're looking for a good-atmosphere brunch on the Baekhyeon-dong café street, try Andover
• My top pick among the dishes was the umami-rich shrimp bisque pasta
• A comfortable atmosphere for everything from friend meetups to dates
• A good spot to pair with a walk down Baekhyeon-dong café street in autumn weather

Spending the weekday lunch with a friend I'd dreamed of since starting parental leave, in such a pretty space with such good food, is something I'll remember for a long time. I think everyone needs a little time now and then to just sit across from a friend, without the kids, and eat slowly.