Godzilla Cafe in Korea: Cafe Ookii ( 카페 오오키이)

Over the years, especially throughout childhood, I found myself collecting all sorts of things from Beanie Babies and Disney figurines to McDonalds toys and Pogs (remember Pogs?). I’ve had a lot of collections, many of which still reside in boxes at my parents house, but none of them quite compare to Bae Tae Hyun’s Godzilla collection.

Bae started collecting Godzilla figures back in 2014 after having been totally smitten with the American Godzilla film that had been released that year. Since then, he has been collecting any type of Godzilla memorabilia he can get his hands on whether it’s current, vintage or even bootlegged. What makes his collection so interesting is that he doesn’t collect just figures but really ANYTHING Godzilla related including clocks, shoes, nightlights, vacuum cleaners, electric razors… I think you get the idea.

As his collection continued to grow, he realized he needed more room to keep everything. So, the “obvious” solution was to open a cafe. Let’s think about this. He opened a cafe purely for the sake of housing his ever expanding Godzilla collection. I think he may be my new hero.

In addition to creating a space for his growing collection, he also wanted to allow us mere mortals the opportunity to bask in the glory of true Godzilla fandom. It’s definitely not your run-of-the-mill theme cafe because it’s so personal. It’s quite obvious that there is a lot of love behind the collection.

Bae admitted there have been a few times when people would open the door, peak in and then immediately leave. We had a good laugh about it. I mean, haters gonna hate right?

Bae runs the cafe with his wife who is quite the Godzilla admirer herself. She hand makes all the desserts on their menu. My favorites are the Godzilla cut-out cookies. Instead of using your basic sugar cookie dough, she uses chocolate chip cookie dough, decorates them with royal frosting and outlines the details in chocolate! Not only are they super cute and delicious, but they also come in a bunch of different colors. Pink Godzilla? Sure, why not!?!

I’ve also tried her Hedorah nutella chocolate cupcake. All I can say is, you definitely need a sweet tooth for this one. The cupcake comes piled with a mountain of buttercream frosting. In my opinion it’s a perfect cupcake to frosting ratio, but even I couldn’t devour that monster on my own.

As for the drinks, they’re pretty good too! Nothing too out of the ordinary on the menu, but what makes them interesting are the trays they’re served on. The drink are served to look like they are engulfed by the fiery flames of Godzilla’s wrath. Well, they’re not real flames, but it’s a nice and fun touch!

The cafe itself is just a real chill spot to grab a cup of coffee and check out some cool Godzilla stuff. It definitely strikes up some interesting conversations. The hubby and I found ourselves reminiscing about our own toys and childhoods. So why not grab a purple Godzilla cookie, a “flaming” cup of coffee and get nostalgic at Cafe Ookii.

• Hours
  • 11:00 am – 11:00 pm, Thursday~Tuesday
    • Last order 10:30pm
  • CLOSED Wednesdays
• Address
  • 서울시 마포구 동교동 180-8
  • 180-8 Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• Phone
  • 070-8869-5572
• Website
  • Cafe Ookii
• Instagram
  • Cafe Ookii on Instagram