Owner and barista Hye-jin Moon says she loves to see her customers relaxed and languid, rather than the hurried panic that many Seoul office workers embody. From the outside, Hello, Stranger looks like a tiny space that might well be hidden if the right car parked in front. But upon entering, you can see that the space is long and deep, and it feels as cozy as home. The cafe shelves in particular hold something special: on these shelves, independent artists and designers sell their wares on consignment. Every so often, you may come across an indie musician performing in the space as well.
It may be an unusual selling point, but we can't talk about Hello, Stranger without talking about their signboard. They were amongst the first in this area to use ultra simple and concise Korean characters on their sign, sparking a local design trend. As a result, they won a "beautiful sign contest" in 2012 run by the KBS Korean Language Agency.
Hello, Stranger is the perfect place to curl up for a long afternoon—not only does their coffee taste great, but their others snacks including pancakes, brownies, homemade grapefruit and oranage-lemon honey teas, and orange-lemon taste delicious as well. Depending on the type of coffee, certain coffees can be refilled.