Eating and Drinking My Way Through Seoul

Seoul days have a rhythm: coffee, food, coffee again, something sweet, one more coffee. This one wandered through a few neighborhoods and never once went hungry.

The diner stop

Around Seongsu-dong — the old warehouse district turned cafe strip — you can find diner-style plates that would pass in the States. A stacked pastrami sandwich, a plate of meatballs, cold sodas in glass bottles. It’s an odd thing to eat in Seoul and that’s exactly why it works.

Sweet, then coffee

Every neighborhood in Seoul has its own cafe personality — Seongsu goes industrial, the older quarters go quiet and brick-lined — but the drinks are serious everywhere. An iced latte in July or a flat white at a corner table; either way, there’s always one more stop.

The surprise

And on the way between cafes — a rabbit on a leash, out for a walk like it’s the most normal thing in the world. In Seoul, it kind of is.

More Seoul: the same city in winter, when the alleys fill with snow.