Just look at the rain on this morning :(
In any case, we headed to Isaac Toast at Hongdae! I took the above picture from Isaac Toast.
Because we discovered this place by accident, I do not have its exact address but..
Walking direction: After coming out of the staircase of exit 9, turn left into Hongdae and walk straight till the second street. Turn right then walk straight until you hit the main road of Hongik-Ro (you should pass by the tourist information centre)
At Hongik-Ro, turn left and you will see the big big Hongik University straight ahead. Go up that gentle slope then turn right and cross the road. Head straight for just 10 metres more and you will see the Isaac Toast sign.
Isaac Toast is on the second floor!
Opening hours: 8am to 10pm Mon to Fri | 9 am to 10pm Sat + Sun
It was really good but you must wonder... why would you pay $4 for toast haha. I think it is worth it la tbh it tastes good :D
We ate there twice, and tried Ham and Cheese, Ham Special, Bulgogi and one other. All tasted quite good! For drinks we tried cafe mocha and caramel macchiato. Both were good too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then began the long journey of going to Apgujeong-Rodeo station to do our KPOP-chionging :D
AT the station itself.... I SAW GOT7?! LOL
and I saw Daehwi too lol secute
So when you exit from exit 2, you should start to see this street with pink, white and blue stripes and all the bears!
But top tip: DO NOT BE DECEIVED. THEY NO MONEY TO LINE THE WHOLE STREET WITH THOSE STRIPES. If you keep walking... YOU WILL FIND MORE BEARS. LIKE THE BTS BEAR. (Total walk... was quite long tbh. Almost 10 mins of walking in a straight line)
The very last bear was Block B's!
And then we went to JYP's building.
We made a wrong turn so I'm not gonna tell you what went wrong. Instead, refer to this map!
Essentially when you see Block B's bear and this map, turn LEFT and walk straight straight straight for 300m. It is really that easy (wish I knew this before going there on my own :<)
You should see Around Us Entertainment (company of HIGHLIGHT) first on your left....
then JYP Ent shortly after on your left too (with dunkin donuts on the right)
(p.s I took the above picture by walking PAST the JYP building then looking back. This angle captures the full building better)
There is actually also cube entertainment BUT THEY MOVED so the building is there but no CUBE sign anymore. No Cube cafe also? :(((( This building was on my left as I took a pic of the JYP building
We did not go to FNC or SM because it was too far AND we had a packed agenda. I was also a bit worried about ChoA's departure and didn't want to go too near FNC's building soooooooo we left.
We headed back to Apgujeong Rodeo and walked on ground level to Exit 6 for The Min's Cafe, which is a cafe operated by Homme's Changmin's parents.
While walking there, this was above apgujeong-rodeo station itself! SO CUTE AND SO HUGE
There was also this pop-up store to buy the bears (with this smaller version of the gangnam style bear in front of the store) but loads were out of stock, including BTS. Then again why pay for this hmmm I'd rather not la.
Back to finding The Min's.
Directions: Go to Exit 6 of Apgujeong-Rodeo station and walk straight until the third road in which you turn left. Head down and turn right at the first right turn. It will appear as though you are walking into some weird back alley BUT I PROMISE YOU WILL SOON SEE THIS.
Alternatively, walk straight all the way and keep a sharp eye for a small sign saying "THE MIN'S" with an arrow pointing into the building on your left. That will still eventually lead you to THE MIN's but it is harder to spot.
We are here coz... Homme is part of BigHit and mum wanted to drink the drink Jimin drinks. LOL.
Photodump!
The reddish drink is THE drink that Jimin drinks, which is a five berry drink. It was super sweet and tasty. It was smaller than the lemonade drink I bought but honestly the lemonade (while still delicious and tangy) is something I would forgo to have the five berry drink again.
There were A LOT OF SIGNED ALBUMS HERE. It was really nice to just sit here and look around because it really almost felt like I was visiting another person's home.
The sitting capacity is about....20 pax maximum? But the immo (which I think is CM's mum) told us not to sit in the sun and persuaded us to sit inside instead coz it was hot... so sweet of her!
Tbh I would come here just for the drinks even, not just because of the hype over BTS coming here and frequently supporting their fellow labelmate.
I mean quite sad la, that people come here because of BTS instead of Changmin but tbh this cafe has a homey ambience and delicious drinks and a lot of things to see. There is nothing to not like :>
Check out Day 2 Part 2 here!