A few days ago, I visited Cook and Book, a vegan café for some ice cream and cake (nope, it's not my birthday!).
Though located in a quaint, quiet little alleyway near Hapjeong Station, it's quite famous for its delicious dariy-egg-butter-free breads, drinks, meals, and vegan cooking classes. That's right- vegan cooking classes (more on that later)!
It was around 4pm when I got there- a somewhat awkward time between lunch and dinner. I had lunch not long before, and was planning on having dinner with my family soon, so even though I wanted to try their veggie burger, I had to restrain myself. :)
Upon entering, I was baffled by all the adorable décor. The place was kinda small, as most privately owned cafés in Korea tend to be, and almost had a homey feel to it. There were shelves upon shelves of both English and Korean books, a sofa, coffee table, one wooden super long table, two wooden small tables, stuffed animals, succulents lining the windows, old sewing machines, and more "cutesy" stuff. It felt like I just entered a cute fairy house, or maybe a cottage house?
I ordered a vanilla soymilk soft serve with raspberry preserves on top, and it was amazing. I haven't had soft serve in the longest time, and upon initial taste, the ice cream threw me back into the memories of my childhood. The raspberries were sweet and tasted somewhat fresh (despite being from a jar), and the ice cream was soft and melty, and had a slight soybean-y flavor (which I loved). The one thing though, was that the ice cream was somewhat icy, like a slushy, and not as creamy as I imagined it would be. But I mean, it's ice cream. I'm not complaining!
After filming a review of the soft serve for my video (coming soon!) and being stared at by everyone else for speaking English and talking to a camera, I ordered a dark chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting to-go. My friend Emma had asked me to eat something chocolate in her place and I was more than happy to fulfill that wish. My family all wanted a taste, so we all had a piece, and it was so magnificently chocolate-y! It was slightly dry (maybe because we didn't eat it until later that night?), but so good. The frosting was my favorite part. I'm 99% sure it was made of coconut cream/milk and it had a slight sweet, nutty coconut flavor in the frosting, which was pretty well covered up by chocolate, if you ask me. So even if you're not a fan of coconut, you can eat it too!
Overall, a successful trip to Hapjeong. I will definitely be returning soon for a veggie burger, a slice of cake, and a soy latte. :)
Video coming soon!
Cook and Book
361-26 Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
02-325-1028
http://blog.naver.com/cookandbook
