Sugared & Spiced

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Le Cafe

Address: 651-8 Sinsa hanuisol 1F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul / 서울 강남구 신사동 651-8 하늬솔 빌딩 1층
Tel: 02-544-3700
Hours: 11:30am~12:00am
Price: [dinner] 14,000~16,000 won, [brunch] 15,000~17,000, [dessert] 6,500~11,000

Within walking distance from Sinsa-dong is Apgujeong (압구정), another sleek and stylish neighborhood filled with upscale boutiques, shops, cafes, and restaurants. As we made our way over to Le Cafe for a friend’s birthday dinner, we stumbled upon quite a few chic spots, all very picture-worthy. It’s too bad that I never had a chance to come back here during the day before leaving Seoul – I’ll just have to save this for my next trip.

Blush

Here’s Gorilla in the Kitchen, a popular restaurant owned by Korean celebrity Bae Yong-Joon 裴勇俊 (a.k.a. Yon-sama).

Gorilla in the Kitchen

Paul Smith

Across from Marc Jacobs is our dinner venue: Le Cafe.

Le Cafe

Interior

Wooden tables, soft lighting, open kitchen…there’s nothing to not like about the interior of Le Cafe, perhaps other than the fact that you will have trouble finding an empty table. Make a reservation to avoid this sticky situation.

Interior

Open kitchen

Dining table

The dinner menu is an assortment of pasta, risotto, and pizzas. Among the ten of us we sampled a little bit of everything, and the most memorable dish turned out to be the mushroom cream risotto (15,000 won), though the grilled salmon cream risotto (16,000 won) was quite a satisfying bowl as well. I also liked the roasting walnut quatre pizza (16,000 won), a thin, chewy piece of pizza dough simply topped with cheese and roasted walnuts.

Menu

Grilled salmon cream risotto, 16,000 won

Spanish seafood rice, 15,000 won

Mushroom cream risotto, 15,000 won

Shrimp olive oil pasta, 16,000 won

Roasting walnut quatre pizza, 16,000 won

Walnut pizza

The complimentary pickles were a refreshingly pungent contrast to all the creamy dishes we ordered. Be forewarned that these are not just tangy but quite spicy as well, so small bites please, small bites.

Pickles

Le Cafe is an ideal place for a simple, casual dinner. They also have a brunch menu that looks enticing enough, so perhaps this will be somewhere to come back to on my next trip to Seoul.

Le Cafe