Last Updated on June 7, 2023 by Christine Kaaloa

There’s nothing half-hearted about Korea. When Koreans stage things like festivals, theme parks and museums… they do it enthusiastically and with full explosion!
You can add cute cafes to that list too.
Quirky and Cute Theme Cafes in Hongdae
Seoul’s Hongdae district is teeming with funky cafes and we’re not talking just Starbucks. No. The hip and popular mecca of collegiate bars and restaurants, also houses ‘theme’ cafes from cute to off-beat. Maybe its because Koreans rewards ‘innocence’ and ‘virtue’ (over ‘adult’ and ‘sexy’) , that their culture strives towards all-things-cute.
From pet cafes, where you can sip on a latte as your cat or dog does their social romp to a Charlie Brown Cafe with Peanuts images drizzled on desserts, Hongdae’s nooks offers some adorable ways to stay caffeinated.



Hello Kitty Cafe in Hongdae
When my mom was visiting me over the Christmas holidays, she vigilantly wrote emails to my family back home. I’m posting a short excerpt of her café day, so I can take a break from writing:
“After lunch, we went exploring in Hongdae. Chris bought me another thing for my hands, saying it was longer so it could go a little ways up above my wrists.
| …it’s called “arm warmers”, Mom.
Even though Hongdae is known mostly for its social and night life than shopping, they have enough hair salons, street sellers and clothes boutiques to distract you from your destination. |
We found a place called Hello Kitty Cafe and went in to look around and take pictures. “





Why do Koreans always give you two spoons, if you’re clearly by yourself?
Koreans will always give you two spoons, even if you’re clearly by yourself. You may ask yourself– why is this?
Well, the answer is that Korea is a ‘sharing’ culture, placing the idea of ‘community’ over the ‘individual’. From eating street food at a hawker stand and sharing a communal dipping sauce with strangers to friends dipping their spoons into the same soup bowl at dinner . Koreans share everything, to the point where if they had only one cookie, they’d break it in half and share it with you.


So we got this dessert – a waffle with a Dairy Queen type lump of yogurt. Anyway, it had a drizzle of strawberry syrup on it. On the plate, in one corner, was a picture of Hello Kitty made with chocolate powder, so you could eat it!
We enjoyed our dessert. Chris says there is a lot ‘o this waffle and ice cream things in Korea .
Read The Coffee Prince Cafe & the Korean breakfast

Cafes for Pets
Hongdae is filled with cool cafes, but you must explore to find them.
“Leaving Hello Kitty café, we walked to a place that she said was the café for the K-drama show “Coffee Prince”. It was really small and somehow didn’t look like the café on the show, but they advertise it as the place. Maybe it just looked bigger in the movie.
We found a place called Cats Living, a cat café (a blog review here). Went to look. Lots of cats of all kinds and people having drinks while the cats roam all over the place. The man wanted to charge us 8,000 won entrance fee, so we left.”

| There are many gems tucked away in Hongdae. If you only keep to the main streets or your focus locked solely on street-level, you’ll miss a lot. There are many off-shoot alleyways and joints resting on second to third floors of buildings.
For instance, pet cafes like the Bau House (Dogmattica‘s map here), Tom Cat’s Cafe ( once a traveler‘s review here) or Cats Living (Korean website here) are discovered through looking up at the store signs, which climb along a building. My mom was right about the Coffee Prince cafe not looking like the original café of the show. I did some research and found that ‘Tirimisu Cafe‘ is part of the franchised version that MBC built later. The real C.P. café is much larger and surrounded by trees (read arncyn’s Squidoo post). |



Where to stay in Hongdae:
Tons of options in Hongdae for anyone’s budget. This neighborhood has everything from hotels to hostels. I’ve stayed at a hostel in this area, but didn’t love it enough to recommend it.
Related Posts:
10 Cool things to do in Seoul
Backpacking Seoul: Getting there from Daegu
Petra Palace (Mediterranean & Falafels)
How to make your own Korean drama film tour
Top 8 Things to Do in Jeju Island
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Additional information:
Download a pdf of the Seoul Metro map
Download free Korea travel apps:4 Essential iPhone/iPod Apps for Korea
Need to rent a phone or use yours in Korea, read here.
Have you been to any cute or quirky theme cafes?
20 Comments.
[…] Korea can’t all be cherubs, K-pop and cute Hello Kitty cafes, can it? At some point, you’ll wanna scream, “Gimme raw, gimme edge, […]
I secretly love Hello Kitty! I’d love to check out that cafe 🙂
@Karisa: Actually, they just opened a Hello Kitty Cafe in Incheon Airport in the International section! Now, all you need is a layover in Korea!
[…] to see a Hallyu star’s cafe. But there was nothing entertaining about it. Not like the Hello Kitty Cafe or Coffee Prince Cafe you’d find in Seoul. You’d have to be coffee lover to love this […]
Looks like some cool & different places to visit, we might have to recommend some of these.
@Places to Visit: Feel free to recommend. 😉
[…] projected on the walls. Its look is all vaguely reminiscent of a cool Korean café set in Seoul (examples here). red house […]
Oh wow, those look like fun! I’d love to hang out at the Hello Kitty Cafe, not gonna lie.
We have some beautiful cafes here in Cancun, but nothing like that. Although childlike innocence is the big thing in Mexico, as well. I see grown women wearing hair ribbons and bows at my office all the time 🙂
@Laura: Wish you would post some of that innocence in your blog. I’m aware there’s frilly gowns and dresses for quinciera parties and stuff, but that would be interesting to see.
RT @digidrift: Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? http://t.co/JdsHCPiZ via @grrrltraveler
Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? http://t.co/JdsHCPiZ via @grrrltraveler
How cute can you get? Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? http://t.co/jLvvab5k via @grrrltraveler
There are zero cute cafes in Nepal … zero. Kinda glad too.
Well maybe not. I only visited one cute(ish) cafe in Bangkok’s Chinatown. A milk bar.Okay it wasn’t as cute as some of the one’s you posted above. But it was as cute as it get for me.
In fairness it was really nice. Super crowded, nice snacks, just out of my element.
I see why people would like them. I really do. I’m just not that into themed places. Even in KTM I tried Rumdoodle where the Trekkers leave their mark on giant footprint cut outs. It’s nice for a one off but as a regular … nope.
I certainly would like to try a Korean Hello Kitty Cafe out. Maybe match it up to a Japanese one?
@Dave: Did you leave your mark on the giant footprint? 😉
I wouldn’t think this was your kind of post, Dave. LOL. Milk bar? That’s curious to me. Does it only serve milk products or does it have b&w cow patches with udders on the wall? Curious how they sell that. Similarly I don’t understand return visits. Then again, I don’t understand why I think this way. look at non-cutesy joints like Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, Coffee Bean… They’ve got probably similar menus as cutesy cafes but people frequent them… even more in fact. hmmm…
[…] https://grrrltraveler.com/2012/03/hello-kitty-cafe/ View more posts in: […]
Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? http://t.co/jwTQyRat via @grrrltraveler
RT @grrrltraveler: Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? Exploring Seoul’s theme cafes via @grrrltraveler http://t.co/J7aRxbLU
Perhaps this is how they stay youthful? Sounds like fun! =)
@Andrea: Perhaps so!
Hello Kitty! What’s up with Korea’s cutesy cafes? http://t.co/ydTUQCnW via @grrrltraveler