After-Dinner Ice Cream at Baekmidang in Euljiro

The evening could wait a little longer

We had just finished dinner with people I had not seen in a while. I was full, but we were all still talking. What we wanted was somewhere quiet enough to sit a bit longer. It was already evening, and I felt like something without coffee. We headed to Baekmidang’s Euljiro branch.

After the tightly packed streets outside, I noticed the height of the room first. There was a steady hum, but it did not intrude. The café had the same restraint as its milk ice cream: everything looked deliberate, with little that called attention to itself. It felt like somewhere we could linger once the cups were empty.

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Soft serve after dinner

There is a point in the evening when I start calculating whether a coffee is worth staying awake later. Here milk and ice cream get top billing, and there was no need to make the calculation.

Baekmidang’s soft serve is familiar, but that evening I noticed how well it followed a full meal. It tasted clean and lightly sweet, with a clear milk flavor, and slipped easily into the pauses in the conversation.

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A weeknight near the end of the year

Several tables were filled by groups of friends and colleagues, perhaps because it was near the end of the year. Everyone seemed to have arrived with the same idea: they could take their time over something small before calling it a night.

There was room between the tables, and with the ceiling so high, the conversations around us stayed in the background. We spent the time catching up. Ice cream and a place to sit were enough.

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Where Euljiro changes pace

Euljiro is busy during the day and settles into a different rhythm after work. Baekmidang fits the moment when the neighborhood begins to slow down. It gave us somewhere to go before we were ready to head home.

A filling meal at the cafeteria and ice cream around the corner turned out to be an easy way to extend the evening. There was time to talk at the table, then more time to talk here.

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A few more minutes at the table

We had only stopped in for dessert. Even after we finished, there was no immediate reason to get up. We stayed in our seats and looked around before going our separate ways.

I remember that high room, the end-of-year crowd and the ease of picking up where we had left off. That was what I had wanted after dinner.