South Korea, the nation of Kimchi has turned in recent years to a nation of coffee shops. In a city with more than 17,000 coffee shops (source: reuters), it’s not surprising that some of them are among the most extraordinary and bizarre themed cafe joints in the world! Korean themed cafes include ring making cafe , cat, dog and even sheep cafe, Hello Kitty themed cafe, Lego Cafe, selfie cafe and a photo studio cafe. Just think of a concept – there’s probably already a cafe in Seoul just like that!
Visit my post about 16 of Seoul’s Coolest Coffee and Dessert Shops
Travelling in Seoul, It’s impossible to avoid the cafe craze. When I was planning my trip, I made sure to include a visit to some of its more unique cafes and I will be sharing those experiences here during the next couple of weeks. The first experience I want to share is the Poop Cafe or Ddong Cafe, a coffee shop which mastered the art of turning poop into something cute and adorable.
You see, in South Korea poop symbolizes fortune and good luck. I’m glad that by the time we reached Seoul the poop-mania was already packaged into a cute, smiling and consumer-friendly format. I wouldn’t want to imagine the sorts of merchandise you could buy before this rebranding. If you’re curious about this Korean fixation for feces, Mimsie Ladner wrote an interesting piece about it at My Seoul Searching.
The cafe is located at the top floor of Ssamziegil, a colorful arts and crafts shopping center located on the famous Insadong street. In this 4 story building, surrounding an open courtyard, you’ll find more than 70 stores selling crafts, fashion and accessories, as well as galleries and workshops. You can easily spend a few hours there.
On the outside, Ddong Cafe might look innocent, but once you gaze in you’ll start noticing the quirky decor adorning this cafe shop. The food and drinks here are served inside cute toilet-shaped mugs and plates, and some of the food even resembles poop (luckily in its iconic form). The dishes are super aesthetic as well! No need to worry about any horror\disgusting stories here.
Here is what we ordered:
Ddo-ong Scone (₩800 \ ₪2.5 \ $0.7) – Even though we didn’t receive any jam with it (and realized too late), the scones were pretty nice.
Flower Ade (₩6000 \ ₪20.5 \ $5.5) – Very refreshing and instagrammable drink.
Rose Coffee (₩8000 \ ₪27.5 \ $7) – Despite the fact that we didn’t receive our coffee with poop art we were pretty satisfied. The amount of coffee is generous and the flowers were a nice touch, providing an interesting addition to the flavor and aroma.
The atmosphere in Ddong cafe is very relaxed and cozy. It’s a perfect spot to just sit back and plan the rest of the day.
After you’re done eating and drinking walk around the cafe place and try to spot all the quirky surprises scattered around. There’s also some memorabilia available to purchase.
If you still have room for some more poop, head outside to the poop bread stand and pamper yourself with a cute poop shaped pancake filled with chocolate or red beans. I got the chocolate filled one and it was super yummy!
Korean Pancake (₩1000 \ ₪3.5 \ $1)
If you’re visiting Seoul, Ddong cafe is a must visit. Not only is it playful and fun, but the quality of its beverages and sweets is surprisingly good, not to mention a great story to tell back home.
I know they say “Don’t poop where you eat (…poop?)” but for the sake of honest journalism we had to look into that as well. Perhaps the greatest surprise of all is Ddong Cafe’s toilets. Quite ironically, they’re the most normal thing about the place.
Ddong Cafe Online:
Getting Here: