Jeju Goes Cottage-Core with Cafe Gyulkkot Darak

The exterior of Cafe Gyulkkot Darak reminds me of the wardrobe that leads to Narnia or the rabbit hold that leads to Wonderland. For all intents and purposes, it’s an unassuming building from the outside. The words “squat” and “cottage” easily come to mind. But for anyone who takes the time to explore the cafe properly, there are treasures to be found.

A Cozy Cafe and a Deliriously Beautiful Garden

If there’s one thing you’ll find in abundance in Jeju, it’s groves of tangerine trees. They’re everywhere on the island, filling the air with a scent of citrus when the fruit are in season. When we drove up to Cafe Gyulkkot Darak, the thin strip of road leading up to the cafe was already filled with haphazardly parked cars. A few girls dressed in the “Korea travel aesthetic” were leaving through the front door as we made our way in.

The main cottage was filled with couples enjoying the AC and cottage-core ambience. We edged past tables and through the courtyard to the annex where we found more seats next to large windows overlooking a sea of flowers and trees.

The grove changes from season to season. In autumn, the tangerine trees are in full bloom with a few bushes and flowers filling the gaps in-between. We were there in early summer so we saw it filled with hydrangeas to the point we didn’t really notice the tangerine trees. I can’t tell you which one is better, but walking through the grove during early summer gives you the distinct feeling of having fallen through the looking glass.

On our visit, most of the visitors stayed indoors, preferring to snap photos against the warm brown woodwork. Maybe the garden grove looked intimidating with it’s tall bushes filled with flowers and the distinct hum of bees gathering honey. We stepped in cautiously, but we’re ever so glad we did. The garden has small outdoor seats nestled amongst walls of flowers and between tangerine trees. Eventually, we moved our drinks outside so we could sit under the capnopies and sip our drinks in a literal ocean of flowers.

Tangerine-Themed Menu Full of Goodies

If you’re visiting Jeju, it’s a given that you’ll be sipping tangerine or hallabong teas and coffees while taking in delicious morsels of similarly decorated cakes. We were visiting with family which meant we made a huge order. There was the Tangerine Latte, Jeju Green Tea Shot Choux Cream Latte, Tangerine Yanggaeng, Green Tangerine Mousse Cake, and Crumble Lemon Cheesecake.

The tangerine yanggaeng is a new take on the traditional redbean jelly with a tangerine twist. But the Jeju Green Tea Shot Choux Cream Latte has a layer of coffee, green tea, and choux cream making it ridiculously delicious. It’s really hard to go wrong, but if you’re visiting in the summer, there’s nothing more refreshing than a Tangerine Latte… or the Green Tangerine Mousse Cake. Or the lemon crumble. They’re all so good.

Where is Cafe Gyulkkot Darak?

The cafe is located in Seogwipo city on the south side of the island. Luckily, there’s a bus stop nearby so it’s not impossible to access if you don’t have a car on the island.