Sinnonhyeon café: fig madeleine split three ways, Upper and Under

Today's post is a café recommendation near Sinnonhyeon Station >< There aren't actually that many cafés around Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon, but a few really pretty, large cafés are tucked in this area. I've actually visited this dessert spot several times before on my own dime!

Not only is the variety of desserts huge and delicious, but the exterior and interior have this kind of European, overseas feel — the harmony with the white brick is honestly gorgeous. Here's my honest review of Upper and Under.

Where is Upper and Under, and what are the hours?

• 🚉 5-minute walk from Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6
• 📆 Daily 11:00-22:00
• 🅿️ No parking available

European-style white brick exterior

Upper and Under sits in the alley between Sinnonhyeon and Gangnam Stations. It's a 5-minute walk from Sinnonhyeon Station and surrounded by other good restaurants, so accessibility is really great!! And the exterior is just pretty to begin with haha. I noticed a lot of foreign visitors too.

Seating floor by floor, and ordering at the 2nd-floor counter

This is the 1st floor, but all orders are taken on the 2nd floor. You can grab a seat here first and head up, or check the seats upstairs first — there are three floors in total.

Take the stairs on the right and you'll reach the 2nd floor entrance where the counter is! There were plenty of seats here too. Even on a weekday afternoon, it was really crowded.

And here's the 3rd floor! It had the most tables. We ended up settling here.

There's also a terrace, and since the weather's cooled off, a lot of people were sitting outside — it was nearly full.

Dessert case and drink menu at Upper and Under

Upper and Under really has a huge dessert lineup — from Basque cheesecake to canelé, egg tarts, financiers, madeleines, and other baked goods galore.

Next to the counter, there are also several kinds of cake for sale! Aside from tiramisu, nearly all of them were fruit cakes.

The drink menu was also huge haha. Their signature cream lattes are apparently famous, so definitely try one of the cream drinks.

What three friends ordered, and how it tasted

A full shot of everything we ordered!

• Iced americano
• Chamomile tea
• Salty caramel latte
• Pistachio financier
• Salted chocolate financier
• Fig madeleine
• Yellow cheese cake

All the drinks were good. The iced americano was solid too, and the tea was, well, just tea.

My friend's salty caramel cream latte. So delicious and smooth haha.

Yellow cheese Basque cheesecake... I usually just have the plain Basque cheesecake, but having the yellow cheese version was so, so good. Rich, deep Ppoppo-corn-snack flavor 🥹♥

Pistachio and salted chocolate financiers

Upper and Under is genuinely a baked-goods hotspot. Look at all the financiers and madeleines we brought back to the table.

The pistachio financier and salted chocolate financier — both are seriously delicious, I'm begging you to try them. Personally I'm a pistachio lover so pistachio was insanely good for me, but my friends preferred the salted chocolate one. These sell out fast, but they must keep baking more because when we left, the display was restocked. Pistachio is really the popular one!! I even brought one home myself lol.

Fig madeleine cut into three pieces

Last up, the fig madeleine >< Since there were three of us, we even cutely split the fig slice into thirds. It's fig season these days! There were so many fig desserts, but we picked the madeleine — fig jam inside, and a slice of fig on top. This one was really delicious too; if you like figs, you'll probably love it!

Is Upper and Under a good big café near Gangnam or Sinnonhyeon Station?

If you're looking for a large café between Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon Stations, I highly recommend Upper and Under. The atmosphere is great too, so it also works well for a date or a blind date 😆 Being a big café, there's plenty of seating and a wide variety of desserts, so if you're in the area, definitely stop by!!