The Feeling of Traveling at Yeonnam — Finding Travel in the Alleys of Yeonnam-dong

Discovered while coming and going through Yeonnam-dong, where the Pitch by Pitch office is located. Various places that spark a sense of travel through seeing, eating, and drinking.
Here are six spots chosen according to the editorial team’s taste.

Words Pyo Youngso, Hur Taewoo, Parc Jinmyoung
Photos Park Shinwoo

Lundi Coffee

In Yeonnam-dong, where many shops close on Mondays, there’s a café that absolutely refuses to close on that day. Just a five-minute walk from the Pitch by Pitch office, Lundi Coffee is run by Yoo Seongil, who spent about four years working as a barista before opening his own space, together with his French wife, Salomé Battahar. Hoping that people can find strength on a tiring Monday through a good cup of coffee, they named the café Lundi, the French word for ‘Monday.’
The signature menu items are the Lundi Coffee, espresso poured over milk, and the Cream Latte, a latte topped with handmade cream. The most popular item is also the Lundi Coffee — the subtle sweetness of milk cold-brewed with vanilla bean and fruit blends beautifully with the coffee, making it quite the crowd-pleaser. The drink menu clearly shows care and attention, from the Crimson Tea, made by cold-brewing hibiscus tea with fruit, to lemonade made with homemade candied lemon. The wife’s touch shows in the homemade French dessert menu — crêpes made using a recipe learned from her mother during a visit to her in-laws’ home in Thionville, a small town in northeastern France, last summer, along with chocolate mousse and lemon sorbet, both beloved treats in France.

Lundi Coffee aims to be a comfortable café that anyone craving good coffee can drop into anytime. When the couple first began preparing to open the café last spring, what they had in mind was a warm, wood-toned atmosphere like London’s *Monmouth Coffee Company. In the early days, they installed a standing bar with counter seating, but went through some trial and error before bringing in chairs and tables to match Korea’s coffee culture, where people like to settle in and stay for a long time. For similar reasons, they’re seriously considering moving to a larger space. In Yeonnam-dong, where a new café seems to appear with every step — from budget-friendly franchise coffee brands to social-media hotspots armed with the latest trendy interiors — making a living from coffee is no easy feat. Simply having held on to one spot for over a year already deserves applause. Of course, much of that is thanks to those who show affection for this small neighborhood café: the elderly couple who always come together and order cappuccinos, the regular who orders nothing but the Lundi Coffee every time, and the foreign guests staying at nearby guesthouses who stop by. Yoo’s modest joy in the conversations he shares with customers and in an emptied coffee cup surely plays its part too. Delicious coffee, a kind owner, a comfortable atmosphere — if these are the three criteria for a neighborhood café worth returning to, there’s no reason not to visit Lundi Coffee. All the more so given its thoughtful habit of recommending nearby cafés without any ulterior motive. If you’ve had a cup of coffee at Lundi Coffee, be sure to also stop by **Hwandae, another Yeonnam-dong café that Yoo recommends.

*A roastery coffee brand that started on Monmouth St. in 1978 and now runs three locations in London. It’s famous for using beans sourced through fair trade with single-origin farms.
**Opened by a regular customer who frequently visited Lundi Coffee for coffee and conversation even before it officially opened. 1F, 70 Yeonnam-ro 1-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

Check-In Books

The business hours of the travel bookstore Check-In Books are as unpredictable as a traveler born with wanderlust in their veins. No one knows exactly when it will open or close, but owner Ko Yoonkyung does follow one rule: run the bookstore for 20 days a month and travel for the other 10. She originally tried operating on fixed dates, but found it hard to coordinate her schedule, so she switched to simply keeping track of the number of operating days instead. Ko, who runs Check-In Books alongside her travel agency Go & Do, always seems to have the word ‘exhausting’ on her lips, yet the secret to keeping the bookstore’s doors open for six years running might just be her attitude of quickly letting go of the impossible and flexibly adapting to whatever situation arises. Ko first entered the travel industry at a major domestic travel agency, then moved on to an agency specializing in off-the-beaten-path destinations, where she developed her own philosophy about travel products: ‘I won’t sell anything to anyone that I couldn’t recommend to my own parents.’ As a one-person agency, she mainly runs individually customized private trips, and often takes on outside requests such as escorting VIP events. For Ko, who boards a plane at least once a month whether for work or leisure, Check-In Books — tucked on the second floor of a small building along the back alleys of Gyeongui Line Forest Park — is a space where she can briefly forget about work (travel). It first opened in 2019 in Yeonnam-dong, the neighborhood she knows best, weathered COVID-19 and one relocation, and has arrived at its current form: a place that sells books, sells wine, and offers travel consulting all at once. The fact that she makes a list of bookstores in a city before traveling there, and visits them whenever she has time, marks her as a bookstore owner through and through. Running a travel agency makes regular business hours difficult, and she constantly worries about rent, but thanks to (or because of) the many regulars who make a point of visiting from afar, she says she keeps putting off the decision to close for good.

She gave up long ago on trying to strike a perfect balance between running the travel agency and the bookstore. Instead, she juggles the two (something that looks effortless from a distance but in reality never really stops) with an endless drive to plan interesting projects and try things boldly. Because her line of work often means revisiting places she’s already been, her curiosity and enthusiasm for new travel tend to wane — which is why she collects copies of ‘Animal Farm’ published in various languages around the world, and runs a Room Service program (a service that sends out packages made from souvenirs personally purchased at travel destinations, first launched in January 2023 and sold out every time since) as her own way of finding fresh joy in the process. There are plenty of hard moments, but whenever she gets feedback from a customer saying a place she recommended was truly wonderful, Ko thinks to herself: ‘I hate this job so much, but I don’t think I could live without it!’ And so, following last year, she’s once again prepared a summer program in Kyoto this July (renting out a machiya in Kyoto as a temporary guesthouse and traveling together with the guests), and starting in October, she plans to launch a lineup of signature Check-In Books packages, beginning with an ‘Art Trip with a Paris-based Artist.’ If she has one goal as a bookstore owner, it’s to one day cover the rent using only the profits from selling books. Here’s hoping that day comes sooner rather than later.

A-House

Paintings, ceramics and porcelain, woodwork and glass crafts, tea and books, and all sorts of objects whose purpose you can’t quite guess. It’s nearly impossible to define or categorize everything that fills this space in a single word. Tucked quietly away down an alley in Yeonnam-dong, it could be called a showroom, a gallery, or even a café. For visitors curious about the purpose of this artistic curiosity shop, a small signboard reading A-House offers a subtle clue. “It means starting from A. And the A in art, and the A in Akita. We originally opened A-House first in Akita Prefecture, Japan.” explains Park Seonghui, who runs the space through her travel agency, Inpainter Global. “It’s been an artist residency and café that started in 2018 at *Tsurunoyu in Akita, where Korean artists like Lee Soeul, Kim Seonwoo, and Kim Seonyeong stayed and created their work.” Park is a Japan travel promotion specialist and travel writer. Over a decade ago, she helped introduce Akita’s hidden scenery and hot springs to Korea through the drama ‘Iris,’ and later held an art festival in the Nyuto Onsen hot spring village under the concept of a ‘forest village gallery,’ featuring both Korean and Japanese artists. Rather than stopping at planning travel packages, she has promoted destinations by adding a cultural dimension to her outreach. Sadly, A-House in Akita closed due to the pandemic, but A-House in Yeonnam-dong, which opened in May 2019, has taken over that role. In other words, this place is a living archive that carefully gathers together Inpainter Global’s journey through travel.

*A hidden hot spring (秘湯, secret onsen) in Akita Prefecture with roughly 350 years of history. Known for the atmosphere of a ryokan that stubbornly preserves tradition, it was even named by ‘The New York Times’ as a hot spring you must visit in Japan.

Before opening A House, Infpainter Global first drew attention with distinctive Japan *travel packages. Themes that a typical travel agency would hesitate to approach stood out, such as trips to hidden Japanese hot springs, journeys accompanied by illustrators, and experiences centered on traditional tea and sake. Fans emerged who resonated with the brand's attitude of delivering experiences tailored to each individual rather than off-the-shelf trips. Travel that feels handmade—trips where every sensory detail encountered along the way is carefully considered. The experience of travel continues in another form at A House. The space regularly hosts workshops and talk concerts by experts to share travel know-how, and it constantly exhibits works by artists who joined its residency program as well as crafts by Japanese artisans. Travel has even led to products made in collaboration with artists. After a trip exploring tea gardens across the country, a traditional tea packaged with illustrations by artist Lee Soeul was released, and after gathering content from a brewery trip, a limited-edition Jinmaek soju came out through an art collaboration with artist Kim Seonyeong. These, too, carry a distinctly handmade feel. Building on its activities so far, A House says it will create an even more active hub for travel exchange. A place you can't seem to leave once you've experienced its trove of travel memories—what other objects will fill A House as it continues crafting a distinctive sense of travel?

*Infpainter Global's themed Japan travel packages can be booked at Sonotabi (sonotabi.com) and on the Pitch by Pitch website.

Lisbon Cannery

A Portuguese canned-fish shop in Yeonnam-dong that only turns on its lights at night? That's the first impression of Lisbon Cannery. Without any prior information, you might really mistake it for a grocery store selling canned fish and wine. Since it's just steps from the Pitch by Pitch office, I often pass by it on my way home from work, and every night a few guests are chatting with the host inside. It seems to have gathered quite a few regulars. It makes you wonder what kind of conversation could possibly revolve around canned fish.
Lisbon Cannery's true identity is indeed a canned-fish shop. As manager Kim Yujeong, the host, explains, it's a place where you can pair Portuguese canned seafood with wine. It serves as a showroom and bar run by Novastella, the company that holds the exclusive import rights for Ramirez, Portugal's beloved canned-fish brand. Seven years ago, Kim and her husband, who serves as CEO, began pondering how to maintain steady contact with customers from the moment they first started importing the cans—and Lisbon Cannery was the answer. They already had some confidence, having confirmed a positive response through roughly 200 Ramirez pop-up events. It started as a small shop with the concept of a tiny cannery in Lisbon. Modestly furnished with a bar table seating about eight and shelves of canned goods, the space brims with life. Opened in 2022, it's now in its second year and has already built up a loyal following through word of mouth. Above all, it's the flavor of the product and the atmosphere of the space that draw people in.

Since Ramirez cans use nothing but seafood, olive oil, and salt, they carry no fishy taste—instead, they deliver a wonderful depth of flavor. Piling a generous piece of sardine onto laver, crackers, or baguette lets you taste it all at once. The thick, tender sardine flesh seems to melt in your mouth, completely overturning any preconceptions about canned fish. You can start with sardines and build your own menu with mackerel, cod, or squid cans depending on your taste. Since you can pair them with wine, it's no wonder regulars keep coming back. Once hooked, diners rarely leave Lisbon Cannery without *buying three or four cans to take home.
Riding this popularity, the shop recently opened a second location in Cheongdam-dong, and there are plans to open a third. In fact, Lisbon has a canned-fish specialty shop in nearly every neighborhood, so there's no reason Seoul couldn't do the same. Still, manager Kim Yujeong says she wants to preserve the intimate, neighborhood feel unique to Yeonnam-dong, so this location will remain the starting point of Lisbon Cannery. One of the shop's charms lies in the unique events that only a place like Yeonnam-dong can host—sometimes a regular customer takes over as manager for the day, or an artist or chef is invited to create a special canned-fish menu. It could be called Yeonnam-dong's own Ramirez food culture community. So if you visit hoping to sample the taste of Portugal, be a little careful: the moment you sit down at the bar, you might become a canned-fish devotee before you know it.

* Ramirez canned goods can also be purchased through the online Smart Store.

Pietra

From a nature-loving (or perhaps spiritual) point of view, perhaps the greatest perk of working at Pitch by Pitch is that the office sits right next to Gyeongui Line Forest Park. Walking along the old rail line, you can truly feel the distinct change of seasons—cherry blossoms in spring, roses and trumpet creepers in summer, foliage in fall, and snow-covered trees in winter. Walking from the forest path toward Gajwa Station, you'll come across several relaxed, characterful neighborhood shops, and the ones people flock to shift a little with each season. In summer, one that especially catches the eye is Pietra (Italian for 'stone'), an artisanal gelato shop housed in a blue building reminiscent of the Sicilian sea.
Pietra's owner, Shin Seok, is a Yeonnam-dong resident who fell for the neighborhood's pastoral, easygoing atmosphere and often walked this path. One day, he came upon a building whose roof looked as if it had been cut in half—and it felt like fate. He went straight to a nearby real estate office and asked to be contacted if a space in that building ever opened up. A year later, Pietra opened its doors. Drawing on his background in construction, he led the interior design himself. The tables and chairs are all shaped like stones, and the walls echo the texture of stone as well. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, you get a panoramic view of the forest path just outside and the small garden beside the shop—stone, trees, and light coming together in harmony.

For Shin, making gelato isn't so different from architecture. A longtime ice cream lover, his pursuit of 'something more delicious' led him to immerse himself in making gelato—the form of ice cream that could be made with the finest ingredients. Only the materials differ; designing according to his own method and giving free rein to imagination is exactly what architecture and gelato-making have in common. The reason it took a full year after signing the lease for Pietra to open was his intense, studious devotion to mastering gelato. One of the signature menu items born from that relentless effort is Bronte pistachio, made with pistachios grown in the Sicilian town of Bronte. Accounting for just 1 percent of the world's pistachio production, Bronte pistachios endure long years growing on the slopes of Mount Etna. Perhaps that's why a single scoop of this gelato carries the taste of the fruit's resilient vitality, fertile soil, and intense sunlight. In his search for delicious, wholesome ingredients, Shin naturally began partnering with domestic farms as well. Red plums, green peas, plum blossoms, corn, and other *seasonal fruits and vegetables sourced from Korean farms are transformed into gelato.
Now in its third year, Pietra opened during the pandemic, a period when countless shops opened and closed in quick succession, yet it endured—much like the pistachio that manages to bear fruit on a volcano. Shin still focuses on crafting gelato largely on his own. Someday, he says, he hopes to visit Bronte in person and meet face to face with the farmers who grow the pistachios—not just as producer and buyer, but to spend time understanding one another's lives. Of course, that too would be part of the effort behind Pietra's ever more delicious gelato.

* Two or three menu items change each month depending on what's in season.

Haru no Yuki

Sometimes a rebellious streak can be alluring. That’s part of why I was drawn to Harunoyuki, an oden bar operating in Yeonnam-dong under the tagline ‘the tavern that’s not on any map.’ In an era when both customers and business owners rely so heavily on map apps, the idea of a place that simply isn’t listed felt almost audacious—it must have taken real courage for the owner to make that choice. Lee Joongmin, the head of Harunoyuki, explains that he wasn’t interested in chasing reviews or marketing buzz; instead, he wanted to run this space for the long haul with the regulars who make up about 80 percent of his customers.
Lee first fell into the world of cooking through Western cuisine. After working his way through Korean and Japanese food service, he eventually opened Harunoyuki. Captivated by the distinctly Japanese atmosphere that’s hard to replicate elsewhere, he even spent a year living near *Kamakura (鎌倉市) to experience the local culture firsthand. While preparing to open Harunoyuki, he thought back to a neighborhood pub he used to frequent in Kamakura—a place with no flashy promotion or polished menu photos, yet always lively and packed. He poured that same longing into this space. Above all, he wanted it to feel like a comfortable place to drink. That’s also why he chose fish cakes, something anyone can enjoy without hesitation, as the main dish. The restaurant’s signature dish is **oden moriawase (盛り合わせ), a mix of fish cakes, egg, scallop, baby octopus, konjac, and tofu simmered in a slow-cooked broth. Customers especially praise the broth—its deep flavor comes from long-simmering seaweed, bonito flakes, and specially selected soy sauce.

* A small city about an hour from Tokyo, Japan, familiar to many as the setting of the manga ‘Slam Dunk’ and the film ‘Our Little Sister.’
**Meaning ‘to arrange several dishes on one plate,’ adding moriawase after a single dish name indicates it’s served as an assortment.

Inside, the space features an L-shaped bar counter wrapping around the kitchen, designed so solo diners can enjoy a meal without feeling out of place, along with a table in the back that seats up to four. Even the wooden bench placed outside was chosen with customers in mind—many restaurants in Japan still operate with floor seating, and this is Lee’s take on that tradition. The various figurines and posters he’s collected also catch the eye. It’s striking that even the smallest, fingernail-sized figurines are free of a single speck of dust—a level of attention to detail that Lee considers part of Japan’s culinary culture, one he doesn’t overlook when caring for the space. He hopes that visitors will taste the simple, humble flavors here and come away with a renewed appreciation for the small comforts of everyday life. True to its name, which means ‘spring snow’ in Japanese, Harunoyuki is the kind of neighborhood tavern where anyone can find a warm, romantic moment.