Tucked behind the high rises surrounding Yongsan station, in a slightly seedy neighbourhood catered more to ajjushis and company dinners, is where you will find Travertine.
Though a strange place to find a hip cafe, it's surroundings suited the cafe. With accents of steel, glass and prominently concrete, these industrial finishes fit in well with the neighbourhood. However, this was also teamed with various types of stone which added a more natural element to the interior. Hints of wood and greenery also added organic elements to soften the vibe.
The prime seating of the cafe was outdoors in the front of the cafe. Unfortunately, since I went on an early April evening, it was still too cold to sit outside, so I couldn’t take advantage of it.
Inside, while there were two other areas for seating, the main seating of the café area was a large stone. Now while aesthetically pleasing, after sitting without the back of a chair to rest upon, it was quite uncomfortable. I think it’s also worthwhile to note this is definitely not a place to do work, with the seating and tables being very low.
For the drinks, I had a hoji milk tea and my friend had an orange rooibos tea. Hoji tea is a green tea that is roasted. Since it’s roasted it has a nuttier and coffee like flavour, compared to your typical black tea. The tea had a nice strong flavouring without it being overpowering. And though very reasonably priced, I would have liked the serving size to be bigger. I also tried my friend’s orange rooibos tea and it’s flavour was also strong but not over powering.
So even from the drinks, this sense of natural combined with cosmopolitan comes through. With various styles of stone mixed in with the concrete and brick, the café wasn’t just pure industrial. Glimpses of the natural world were allowed to peek through.
In dead beat terms, if you’re in Yongsan and want a quick escape from the concrete jungle, this is a nice place to enjoy just a little of the outdoors.
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