LP café in Seongbuk, Seoul with mugwort fig cake: Mudeungdowon

Today I visited a Hyehwa-vibe café — Mudeungdowon, a vintage Seoul café where 70s-80s songs play!

Mudeungdowon hours and how to get there

Mudeungdowon, a café near Seongshin Women's University, is open Mon–Sun 09:30–19:30, with closed days varying. Group seating, takeout, delivery, and Wi-Fi are all available.

Mudeungdowon is a 6-minute walk from Exit 1 of Seongshin Women's University Station.

The wooden sign and outdoor bench out front

Walking through the alleys near Seongshin Women's University, you'll spot the warm exterior and the Mudeungdowon wooden sign written in a cozy font — it already felt vintage and inviting before I even stepped in. Outside there are also benches where you can wait or sit and enjoy a drink on a nice day.

Inside Mudeungdowon: LP records and a beam projector

Stepping into Mudeungdowon, the first thing you see is the vintage LP records displayed on the wall behind the counter, along with wooden furniture. It's full of analog charm, and one wall has old songs playing via projector — I thought it would be a great café to bring parents to!

What seating does Mudeungdowon have?

The interior isn't very large, but it has a variety of seats — a group table with a green sofa, 2-person tables good for conversation, and bar-style tables with stools. It's a nice atmosphere whether you come alone to read, work, or study, or chat with friends.

Studying at the window seat on a rainy day

Mudeungdowon plays gentle 70s-80s songs throughout, and since the day I visited happened to be rainy, the sound of rain blended in with the BGM as I watched the street through the big window — it felt so full of emotion. It had been a while since I truly felt healed at a café, which made me even happier.

What's on the Mudeungdowon menu?

• Espresso / Americano / Flat White / Café Latte
• Cappuccino / Vanilla Latte / Filter Coffee / Bumble Coffee
• Deep Chocolate Latte / Ube Latte / Ushatchu / Matcha Latte / Matshatchu
• Cardamom Milk Tea / Cinnamon Ginger Latte / Lemon Cherry Ade
• Ssanghwa Tea / Hadong Jaksal Tea / Persimmon Leaf Tea / Berry Berry / The Honey
• Today's Filter Coffee / Tomorrow's(?) Filter Coffee / Cardamom Bun

For dessert, there's chocolate tart / raspberry tart / soufflé cheesecake / mugwort fig cake.

How did the mugwort fig cake taste?

The mugwort fig cake at Mudeungdowon is impressive from the first bite for its deep, bitter mugwort sponge flavor. Scooping the sponge and cream together with a fork, you get a bitter yet nutty flavor with no artificial syrup or coloring taste — it really tastes like ground mugwort was used, and it wraps around your whole mouth without feeling heavy. The sponge itself has a moist yet dense genoise texture.

The true charm of this cake is the generous amount of fig — the seeds pop between the soft sponge and cream for a fun texture, and the fig's elegant, subtle natural sweetness gently wraps around the mugwort's bitterness so nothing feels out of place. The honey-like sweetness that seeps out of the fig flesh with every bite made it genuinely so delicious the whole time, ㅠ.

If you're looking for a vintage-feeling café in Seoul, I highly recommend Mudeungdowon near Seongshin Women's University — a great café for a Seongbuk Stream date too!