Cafe Eero: Seoul’s Trendy Haechi Cafe

There’s something about mythical creatures from Asian cultures that has me obsessed. From Bali’s barong to Okinawa’s shisa, I have a small army of handcrafted creatures adorning my shelves at home. And while there are a lot of interesting mythical creatures in Korean folklore, the haechi has always been my favorite and that’s kind of why I feel this cafe was made for me.

Myth in the Modern Day

Cafe Eero is a gorgeous space that embraces modern architecture and traditional Korean culture. And, of course, the theme is none other than the haechi, a protective animal, able to tell good from evil and also able to ward off misfortune and prevent fire.

The cafe has both a first floor and basement. And while both floors embrace a serene ambiance and balance of the elements of earth, fire, water and wind they are still very different. The first floor floods with natural sunlight and a view of the beautiful garden. While the basement is dim and candle lit with a secret art installation that is not to be missed.

Beautifully Crafted Cafe Cakes

As beautiful as the cafe is, what really drew my attention was their Haechi inspired dessert menu. They have basque cheesecakes, mousse cakes, sable cookies and soft pound cakes all infused with traditional Korean flavors and ingredients. However only the mousse cakes and sable cookies feature the whimsical Haechi motifs, so obviously I had to try them.

The sable cookies came in corn, black sesame and mugwort flavors, which all sounded pretty interesting to me but I’m always partial to black sesame. This cookie featured a flavorful black sesame cream sandwiched between two soft chocolate sable cookies and garnished with crunchy black sesame seeds. It had a nice balance of textures, flavor and wasn’t overly sweet. Not to mention it was totally adorable.

The mousse cakes are called “Haechi’s Divine Forest” and they are really like little works of art. Each one consists of a white rice pudding type mousse with a crunchy brown rice crust and different fillings according to the season they represent. And let’s not forget the adorable edible haechi that comes on top. I got Haechi’s Divine Forest (summer), which came with a deliciously tangy hallabong filling that was 100% my taste.

As for the drinks, they have a lot of coffee and non-coffee drink options that range from various flavors of sikhye (traditional rice punch), teas and ades to signature coffees and even cocktails. I was tempted to try their hallabong sikhye, but I couldn’t resist my caffeine urges and opted for the Seoripul Cream Latte which is a sort of grain infused latte topped with a thick sweet cream and puffed rice. It was really tasty, though it does require a bit of continuous stirring to prevent a grainy build up at the end.

With all the hyped up cafes in Seoul all over Instagram and Tiktok, I was really surprised to see that this was not one of them. It truly is one of the most lovely and thoughtfully curated cafes I’ve been to. If you want a taste of what a real Korean cafe has to offer, be sure to add this spot to you itinerary.

How to Get to Cafe Eero

Cafe Eero is just a quick 5 minute walk from Seocho Station on line no. 2 (the green line). Just take exit no. 1 and take the second right. The cafe should be on the second block on your left.

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