Cafeography
Seoul · Yongsan & Yongridan-gil

Cafés in Yongsan & Yongridan-gil

Cafés on the Yongridan-gil lanes between Sinyongsan and Samgakji: architects' coffee rooms, in-house roasters and a fifth-floor hand-drip bar.

Photo: Constantine Kim, Pexels License

Yongridan-gil (용리단길) is the name for the lanes between Sinyongsan and Samgakji stations.1 Its trade took shape in 2017, when Amorepacific moved its headquarters here with about 6,000 staff; HYBE followed in 2021 and the presidential office arrived nearby in 2022.1 Rents rose with them, and a 2025 report counted the street among the country's steepest increases of the previous two years.1

Older trade sits next door. Samgakji's gallery street dates from the 1950s, when painters settled here after the Korean War to make portraits for American soldiers at the Yongsan base.2 Today's cafés answer to two crowds, the office lunch and the weekend queue, and GQ's advice in 2023 was to dodge Samgakji's waits by walking toward Hangangno 3-ga, near Yongsan station.3

Local tip: On a weekday, go to Pont Cafe in the morning or after 14:00; Esquire warned in 2021 that the office lunch fills it.4

At a glance

82Cafés listed
3With opening hours
10:00Earliest opening
22:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Moscent, from 10:00 (Mon–Fri 10:00–22:00 · Sat–Sun 11:00–22:00).
  • Most listed streets: Ichon-dong (2).
  • Most common features: specialty (11%), wi-fi (7%), bakery café (2%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Seoul.

Coffee chains in Yongsan & Yongridan-gil

Chain

Mega MGC Coffee 메가커피

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Chain

A Twosome Place 투썸플레이스

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Lunch hour on the Hangang-daero lanes

Pont Cafe on Hangang-daero 15-gil opened in August 2020 in an old building, keeping its gabled roof, and roasts its own coffee, including a bean called Overtime.4 Hot drinks came in cups made from coffee-cherry husks when Esquire visited in 2021.4

Invited, on Hangang-daero 52-gil, rotates the roasters, tea and bakery brands it serves; in 2018 the guest was Australia's Dukes Coffee.5 Cafe Aalto, in the basement of the Amorepacific building at Hangang-daero 100, opened as Aalto by Mildo, the bakery Mildo's first café and a collaboration themed on the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.5 Its Aalto coffee was described that year as nutty, like chestnut.5

Hangangno 3-ga: an architects' lobby and cream coffees

3F Lobby is run by the architecture firm Lobbyist, which also uses the third-floor room, dressed as a hotel lobby, as its office.6 Its Lobby Blend came by Chemex in 2021, on a wooden tray with a sphere of ice and a small brownie, and mugwort tiramisu cake is the house dessert.6 Bold Hands, a café and bar, pairs an espresso with whisky, and its bar staff work on a lowered floor, at customers' eye level.6

Mercury Espresso Bar on Hangang-daero 11-gil tops its Beaten Cream with dalgona (Korean toffee) cream and builds its Misu Cream from misugaru (roasted-grain powder) cream and rice cake.3 바통 (Baton) on 15-gil cooks home-style brunch with its own bread and sauces.3 Travertine Coffee, a converted house on 7-gil with a glass front, was brewing light roasts from Denmark's La Cabra in 2021, rested about a month.4

Samgakji: Engineering Club and a fifth-floor bell

엔지니어링클럽 (Engineering Club) opened in May 2023 on the ground floor beneath the office of Studio Heech, the architecture practice that built it.7 Director Park Hee-chan says the name draws on Victorian engineers, and the fittings follow: lights worked by pulleys, a bar table using a glass suction lifter, a counter that borrows from the metal joints of aircraft wings.7 It selects and roasts its own beans, and sherry tiramisu is the signature dessert.7

Moscent on Hangang-daero 52-gil offered three beans and seasonal single-origin pour-overs in 2025, and its signature is an Australian-style cappuccino with denser foam.8 손 커피 (Son Coffee) is up the stairs of an old building on the fifth floor, where you ring the bell and the owner lets you in; it pours hand drip by origin, and cocktails, at a few tables.9

A supermarket sign and a rock wall

Dripsso on Baekbeom-ro 77-gil opened at Christmas 2024 as a roastery run by one person.10 The name joins hand drip and espresso, and so does the method: drip coffee is brewed ahead, aged two days as a concentrate and used for each order.10 The old Hannam Supermarket sign and a drinks fridge outside were left in place, along with a calligraphy gift from the neighbor across the way.10

ALLD’se, in a former tiled-roof house in a quiet lane near Yongsan station, has a rock wall that recalls Jeju's stone walls and, as Harper's Bazaar put it in 2022, feels like stepping into a cave.11 It serves espresso drinks, teas, ades and simple desserts.11

Sources

  1. 신한 프리미어 패스파인더 동행 용리단길 임장…'250억 잭팟 이렇게', Bizwatch (April 2025), accessed November 2026
  2. [GO!SEOUL/2024.06] 서울 HOT한 골목거리 모음, Seoul Tourism Organization (June 2024), accessed November 2026
  3. 숨겨진 맛집 명당, 한강로3가의 핫플 11, GQ Korea (January 2023), accessed November 2026
  4. '동네 카페' 요즘 대세 힙플레이스 신용산 편, Esquire Korea (March 2021), accessed November 2026
  5. 신용산과 삼각지 사이, '용리단길'에서 발견한 핫플레이스 6곳!, Allure Korea (August 2018), accessed November 2026
  6. 'BTS 성지' 용산 한강로3가 요즘 뜨는 카페와 맛집 4, Esquire Korea (September 2021), accessed November 2026
  7. 건축가가 만든 카페, 엔지니어링 클럽, Design+ (September 2023), accessed November 2026
  8. 삼각지에서 꼭 가봐야 할 카페 추천 4, Esquire Korea (November 2025), accessed November 2026
  9. 요즘 MZ 세대가 삼각지에 모이는 이유? #삼각지핫플, Harper's Bazaar Korea (April 2022), accessed November 2026
  10. 사람 많은 성수동이 싫다면, 삼각지 카페 4, The Edit (April 2025), accessed November 2026
  11. 용리단길 한가운데 나타난 동굴? #신상핫플, Harper's Bazaar Korea (July 2022), accessed November 2026
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FAQ

Yongsan & Yongridan-gil cafés: questions

What is Yongridan-gil in Yongsan, Seoul?

Yongridan-gil is the name for the lanes between Sinyongsan and Samgakji stations. Its trade took shape after Amorepacific moved its headquarters here in 2017 with about 6,000 staff, and HYBE followed in 2021. A 2025 report counted its rents among the country's steepest rises.

Which cafés in Yongsan, Seoul, roast their own coffee?

Pont Cafe on Hangang-daero 15-gil roasts its own beans, including one called Overtime. 엔지니어링클럽 near Samgakji selects and roasts its own, and Dripsso on Baekbeom-ro 77-gil is a one-person roastery that opened at Christmas 2024.

Which Yongsan cafés in Seoul are run by architects?

엔지니어링클럽 near Samgakji station was built by Studio Heech, whose office is upstairs, and opened in May 2023. 3F Lobby near Yongsan station is run by the architecture firm Lobbyist, which also uses the room as its office.

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