A sauna or a café? 5 unique cafés in Seoul that are in right now.

It seems that most of the places that are known to be "hot cafés" in Seoul these days are, design wise, either minimalistic, industrial or sauna-like. In short, they're "Instagram-worthy." Shared Tabled located in Seongsu is undoubtedly one of them—the problem is, though, that it qualifies as all 3, filled with one of those large communal tables placed in the middle, minimalistic furniture and a tub-like seat decorated with off-white tiles and greenery. So, what do they sell? It's lots of different things, really: from Le Cafe Marly specialized in brunch menus, Italian eatery Say Cheese, Thai restaurant Noodle Nook, ¿Qué Tal? tapas bar and Elements offering Busan Gorilla Brewery's craft beers have gathered up to create a "shared table." A food hall sounds great (especially considering that there aren't many places to eat around the café except for a famous gamjatang restaurant) but the issue is that the place gets way too noisy to dine or wine. Looking at the numerous pitures of Shared Table featured on social media may easily attract you to head over to Seongsu, but it turned out that unfortunately there's a huge discrepancy between the 2-dimensional illustrations and the reality.

The French phrase on ne sait jamais translates as "you never know" (or "you can't really tell") and indeed, it's hard to tell exactly what the concept of this café on Itaewon-ro 54-gil is. Director Park Ki-dae says the tiled walls and floors most likely cause customers to mistake it for a bathhouse concept, while others even think it's a Dr. Fish (a café chain in Seoul famous for fish pedicures). So what is it really? As Park puts it: “People can envision what they want from it.” From the blue bath-like rectangle in the center of the café one can face the kitchen from which fresh French, American, Japanese and Italian-style baked goods come out—the most famous item being their Italian tiramisu. Throngs of people come on the weekend (beware the lines) for the soft and delicious desserts paired with Anthracite coffee.