For a couple of years after moving to asia I keep seeing pictures of friends and people drinking their coffee in…arguably…cute/fun toilet cups. I know that there’s several toilet/poop related things in Korea. There’s a toilet shaped “amusement park” which I’d say is more of a educational learning center in Suwon, another “amusement park” which looks more like a Poop themed Trick Eye Museum, and the poop cafe.
I figured that to meet up with friends the poop cafe might be a fun/silly thing to try so we all agreed to meet there and have silly cartoon poo shaped snacks. We met in Insadong, the ‘traditional’ section of Seoul at the Ssamziegil Mall which I had never been to before. The mall is kinda fun, there’s a ramp that goes all the way up or you can take the stairs. But if you take the ramp you’re walking the whole mall in a big square, up and up and up past all the little shops which are mostly artist shops. At the top is an outdoor garden and the poop cafe.
We grabbed seats and looked over the menu. From the look of some of the pictures, the ice cream with it’s coloring looked a little too realistic of someone’s upset stomach, so I decided not to get anything with ice cream and opted instead for a waffle that came with a caramelized banana. The waffle was shaped like a cartoon poo and covered in chocolate that I think was suppose to be like a hazelnut spread but just wasn’t as good as a chocolate or hazelnut spread, so I scraped most of it off.
I also ordered a milk tea that just tasted off. Like some weird fake sugar or powder. I had hoped it’d be in a “cute” themed mug but it came in a regular glass. So did my friends drink. I had assumed because my drink fell under the umbrella of latte that it’d come in a toilet and I was wrong. You have to know ahead of time to request the toilet mug. And you can only get it with hot drinks.
Disappointing seemed to be the theme for the cafe in general. It wasn’t as themed as I expected and food and drinks were lackluster. It seemed like something that use to be very popular but is still holding on despite not being as popular anymore, or like going somewhere during off season. I do however think if you’re in the area with kids it’d be a good palate cleanser for them from all the traditional stuff in the neighborhood. Outside and also on the first floor of the mall are places where you can get poop bread 똥빵 with various fillings. These are much cuter, in my opinion then the stuff in the cafe.
Note that the cafe itself is on the roof, aka the fourth floor of the mall. You can either take the stairs or walk the ramp all the way through the “mall” till you reach the top.