In my eternal hunt for cute things to make up for the fact that I am not – as a general fact – a very girly girl, Korea has presented me with endless possibilities in the shape of food and coffee. From Hello Kitty Cafe to Monster Cupcakes, food shaped like comic book creatures and coffee art in the shape of Hello Kitty, Pokemon or elaborate flowers is the norm here. At least in Hongdae.
On the top of my list of “sights-not-yet-seen” is the mysterious Star Wars Coffee Shop. More a tumblr-myth than an actual place it seems, the Star Wars Coffee Shop (with a logo resembling Starbucks’ but with Darth Vader in the place of the mermaid) used to be located in a side-street about 5 minutes east of Hongik University Station. I have wandered the streets of Hongdae twice in search for the mysterious – and brilliant – shop, following a seemingly endless stream of advice from people who’ve heard about the place from their bestfriend’s cousin’s boyfriend. So far I have been out of luck, but I continue searching.
On my travels around Hongdae I have come across other favorites in the process however. Monster Cupcakes is one of them, a dark shop pumping out metal music while serving cupcakes decorated with bloody eyes, skulls and several kinds of monsters. They also sell “blood bags” if you need a refresher after a hard day of shopping in the heat.
Gourmet ice cream is another craze in Seoul apparently, I have yet to find a regular ice cream stand that will sell me flavors like strawberry, chocolate or vanilla. Molly Pops is still one of my favorites, and highly necessary as the weather continues to be hot, humid and sunny, but the other day I found a new favorite in Fell+Cole.
The place offers flavors like Earl Grey, Strawberry Daiquiri Sorbet and Tough Cookie, in addition to a super-tasty caramel with sea salt. I get hungry just thinking about the last one.
My sister, who worships ice cream like the holy grail, would love it here.
