Cheonan café with rich basil cream pasta: Geurimseu Cafe

Geurimseu Cafe, a large café on the outskirts of Cheonan

Geurimseu Cafe (그림스 카페) is a large café in Cheonan set a little way out of town, so you will want to visit by car. Most guests seem to come as families, couples, or groups. If you have a car, I would recommend visiting on a weekday if possible. It gets so full on weekends that there are no seats, so visit on a weekday morning or afternoon if you want to enjoy the café properly at a relaxed pace.

No need to worry about parking. Since the café sits below a mountain, it has a very large parking area with plenty of room to park comfortably.

There is room for about 10 cars right in front of the café building.

A spacious interior with plants and seating

Every time I visit, the café feels exceptionally tidy and clean. There are no unpleasant smells, and it is run so neatly that it still feels newly opened.

Two standout features of Geurimseu Cafe are its long, side-to-side layout and the abundance of lush green plants throughout. A large space can feel bare and make noise seem louder, but this one stretches out lengthwise, keeping the noise at a comfortable level and creating a lovely atmosphere with the plants.

There are so many seats, right? Tables suited to groups, pairs, and solo visitors are placed all around, so lots of people can settle in comfortably. When I think of a café where I can relax in a comfortable space, Geurimseu is the one that immediately comes to mind.

The path to hillside outdoor tables

This is the path leading up to the outdoor tables halfway up the mountain behind the café.

Starting from a slightly steep staircase, spacious table-and-chair areas are arranged on both sides. I think it would be so nice to come out here in autumn and spend time in the cool air and forest scent.

I think the café owner may like cute little things. Seeing how beautifully it is decorated every Christmas makes me want to visit Geurimseu Cafe on a special occasion.

Bread and cakes made fresh that day

The bread is made and sold on the same day. There are lots of delicious loaves that could easily rank among Cheonan's top bakery finds, and the selection is upgraded often, so you can try a variety of breads. The bread is delicious.

I have not tried the cakes yet, but because the bread is so good, I think the cakes must be delicious too.

Ingredients and raw materials with no Chinese-origin products—so nice.

The basil cream pasta I ordered again

What I ordered that day was a brunch pasta dish and bread made that day.

First, let us look at the brunch pasta. This is the basil cream pasta. It was my second time ordering it; I could not forget how it tasted the first time, so I ordered it again. It is a fusion pasta dish with a wonderful combination of fragrant basil and nutty cream.

It was a brunch dish with a thick, rich basil pesto cream that completely won me over. If you like pasta, I seriously, seriously recommend the basil cream pasta. It costs ₩18,900. The price may feel a little steep, but if you search for Geurimseu on Naver, you can get a free Americano when ordering a brunch menu item—just something to note. So I asked for a hot Americano rather than an iced one and had it with the pasta.

You can choose the coffee-bean type too. I chose Type 1, the least acidic option, with a full body and nutty aroma. Other types cost an extra ₩500; one has slight acidity with roasted-corn and fig notes. If you cannot have caffeine or can only have a little, the decaf with roasted-nut notes would be a good choice.

Signature White Roll Choux Cream Castella

The bread I chose was the White Roll Choux Cream Castella, one of Geurimseu Cafe's signature items. It is a fluffy castella sponge cake filled with choux cream in a golden ratio. Ah, yes. It has just the right amount of soft cream, and the bread is so delightfully chewy-chewy-chewy-chewy and soft that I never get tired of it, even after eating it for the Nth time. The other regular menu items are consistently good and tasty too, making this a café fully worthy of its place as one of Cheonan's standout large cafés.