In what was once Hongdae’s quieter cousin, Yeonnam-dong, even despite corona, the neighbourhood is a hot spot for dates with cafes and restaurants alike. In one of it’s winding side streets, you can find Plouf.
Plouf is a café and bakery as well as a natural wine bar. It’s a café that has mixed a lot of elements together, but executes them well.
The cafe is on the second floor of the building. Its interior is inline with a lot of current cafe trends; carpet, silver surfaces, concrete and glass tables. Which meant that it had a muted blue and silver colour scheme.
There was only about seven tables, so the café was small. But the seats were well spaced and didn’t feel too cramped. Both the chairs and tables seemed custom made and with their silver metal frames, tied in well with the rest of the colour scheme.
The chairs were quite interesting for a café as they had canvas seats and backing, which though comfortable reminded me of camping chairs.
The tables were beautiful with metal framed and glass table tops. However, while the table was a nice height, there was a bar beneath the table top that was quite low. So for people with longer legs, i.e. me, it was a little uncomfortable to sit at.
The café had three large windows, meaning a lot of natural light could enter the café. This was great for taking photos. The front window of the café was where the bakery goods beautifully displayed. This made it serve a double purpose of display and decoration.
There was also a corner of the café that had a mirror alongside a display, a perfect selfie spot. There were also cute posters and plants used for decoration throughout the cafe.
The interior had a lovely ambiance, and with the combination of bakery goods and wine, meant that this was definitely a socalising café. Moreover the addition of bakery goods (and wine) with this on trend interior aesthetic, was winning combination.
This is because the quality of the drinks and bakery goods were excellent. I got a royal milk tea, my friend got an ammericano, and we shared a scone and vanilla egg tart.
Whenever milk tea comes in a bottle you’re almost guaranteed that it will be good. This is because it means that it’s been premade and brewed properly, rather than being an instant mix or made on the spot with syrup.
So this milk tea was delicious. It had a lovely velvety texture with a nice tea flavour. It was also on the sweeter side, which for me was tasty, but slightly masked the tea flavour. My friend said the ammericano had an average depth of flavour and was on the bitter side, which he prefers. But he also thought the milk tea was the best of the two drinks.
For the baked goods, although labelled as a vanilla egg scone, it was definitely an egg tart. The pastry stayed together well and was buttery and delicious. The vanilla filling was silky with a perfect amount of sweetness, and wasn’t too eggy.
The scone was delicious too. It was topped with raspberry jam and a small square of butter. The scone’s texture was not crumbly or cakey, but rather, lovely and buttery. This meant that it wasn’t dry. So although there was only a little of the jam, it wasn’t needed to add extra moisture to it. Also both came warmed, which was an added bonus. The constant aroma of warming/cooking baked goods added to the comforting atmosphere to the café.
Plouf is a café that takes all the elements of what’s trending in cafes, and makes it into its own. In dead beat terms, this café knows how to execute things well. This is a beautifully decorated café that also has the added elements of a good bakery selection and wine. This makes it a perfect place to catch up with friends and take a few pictures here and there.
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