innisfree Green Cafe

Rating: ★★★★☆

Address:  15 Myeongdong-gil, Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours of Operations: Monday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM

When I started researching for things to do in Seoul, I came to the realization that Seoul has A LOT of aesthetically beautiful cafes. Like, every single restaurant, cafe, store, etc. was breathtaking to look at online. From Wikipedia, innisfree is a naturalism-oriented cosmetics brand created by Amore Pacific in 2000 and is known for being South Korea’s first all-natural brand. I’ve purchased a few of their products online and enjoyed using them, so when I found this cafe on TripAdvisor, I knew I had to check it out!

Ever since I moved to the East Coast, one of the biggest things that I’ve missed has been my access to anything matcha-centric. Thankfully matcha is a staple in Asia, so I was really excited to find out that the innisfree Green Cafe had a lot of that at my disposal! As I was putting together our itinerary, we settled on going to the cafe on our second day of our trip (Saturday). Two of our friends also lived in Korea, so we thought it’d be a good opportunity for all of us to get together and have lunch.

Julie and I were able to find the cafe very easily. It was about a 15-20 minute walk from our AirBnB and we got there without TOO many issues. We got situated as we waited for Kevin and Danny and I took that opportunity to go around and take photos. We had purposely arrived somewhat early, in order to beat any crowds that might appear.

The interior of the cafe is GORGEOUS. It was about 3 stories tall and had beautiful, gigantic windows. The natural light was really beautiful to take in while we cooled down from the humidity!

Once Kevin and Danny arrived, we separated into two groups that two people could order while the other two remained at the table. Danny and I were the first to go downstairs to put in our orders.

Remember how I said that everything in Korea is amazing to look at?

Yes, that also extends to their food.

Each pastry, dessert, even the set up of the displays, what have you, was a work of art.

In the end, I ordered:

  • One (1) order of souffle pancakes
  • One (1) matcha green tea latte
  • One (1) peach dessert (can’t recall what it was exactly!)

As we were all planning to eat heftier meals later, Danny and I decided to share. I’ll be honest when I say that the food took quite a while to show up. I think it may have had to do with my souffle pancakes (they take at least 20 minutes, I believe), so please be aware of this if you decide to order it!

The matcha latte and peach dessert were given to us almost immediately. The drink was good – definitely what I was looking for and definitely what I had been missing/craving! The peach dessert… I’m not too sure what we had been expecting, but it was strange. Not in a bad way per se, but not what I had imagined in my head? I thought it’d be more like an ice cream or sorbet of some sort, but it was a little more cake-y. And while it looked like a peach, it definitely didn’t taste like one. It was pretty bland.

You were supposed to mix the peach with the coconut and whatnot underneath it, which gave it some flavor, but was still a bit of a disappointment.

Julie and Kevin’s food came out after a bit, around the time that we finally got our souffle pancakes. They had ordered some kind of toast, which they thought was good, but nothing to write home about. I would chalk it up as just being “average.”

I’ve only had souffle pancakes once before (back in California!), but my experience there had been mediocre at best. I was hoping that this experience would be different – especially because we were in Korea. They were light and fluffy, but definitely had a distinct egg-like taste. I assume souffle pancakes are supposed to taste egg-like and not like regular pancakes, so I knew what to expect going in and was not surprised.

The fruit they provided was fresh and delicious.

Overall, I think the food was ok. It definitely looks better than it tastes, but the aesthetic levels of the entire cafe, the menu, etc. is just so… *chef’s kiss* that I have to give it an additional star on that alone. The nice thing is that the first floor has the actual innisfree store, so we did some shopping for skincare after we were finished eating.

A nice place to visit and spend your time if you’re ever in Myeongdong!