While in Seongnam, a city just south of Seoul, I found myself in a newly developed apartment town outside of the city centre.
On the corner of a residential building, with a charcoal brick façade surrounded by a little garden is Bunk Off. From the outside of the café and wine bar, it looks like it’s too small to be a store room, let alone a café, but looks can be deceiving.
When first entering the café you are met with the small ordering counter. This was a small mezzanine area. To the left of the ordering counter was staircase down into the main area of the cafe and which was were the seating was.
The space had a lot of industrial finishes. The floor was polished concrete and the wall and ceiling were covered in concrete sheeting. This concrete sheeting gave off a patch work feeling and adding interest to the eye. There was also a lot of exposed piping that was either silver or painted a grey colour. This grey was also used on the staircase and railings.
But despite the café’s industrial foundations, the space felt warm and cozy. There were soft beige curtains that hung from most of the walls in the main area and warm lighting countered the greyness of the space.
Moreover, despite being in a semi-basement, the seating area of the café felt airy and open. From the ground level there were windows that let light straight into the seating area of the café. Also, since there was a mezzanine level in the café the part of the café with the stairs had a very high ceiling.A large mirror covered almost the entire of one wall and this made the space feel double the size.
Decoration mainly came from the furniture such as the lighting fixtures and curtains, however there were also posters and plants that completed the space.
As for seating there were tables for twos or threes. They were a good height for working, but also since the space was also a wine bar it seemed more like for catching up with friends over a glass of wine than working.
As for me, I got a hot apple milk tea and the monkey brown cheese croffle. The milk tea was sweet with a distinct apple and tea flavour. It was a unique flavour to have as a milk tea but was sweet and caramel like. The monkey brown cheese croffle was a croffle with vanilla macadamia and choc chip ice cream topped with brown cheese. The croffle was cooked well and was jam packed with toppings. The ice cream was delicious and with the choc chips and macadamias had a nice texture. The brown cheese also added another flavour profile of milky caramel to the dessert. However it was quite sweet and together with the sweet milk tea it was a bit too much.
Bunk Off is an architecturally interesting yet cozy café. In dead beat terms it’s a cool yet comforting place to grab a drink and maybe a bite to eat. If you’re in the area, it’s worthwhile to plan a meeting with friends and take some time to soothe your soul whether that be through sweets or with a glass of wine.
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