Upstairs at Gabedo’s City Hall Café

Gabedo’s Namdaemun branch shows the marks of an older building. The City Hall branch feels quite different. Coming out of the Bukchang-dong lanes onto the main road, the view opens up and a glass-fronted building appears. The two cafés are close enough to visit on the same walk, but this one feels designed around the café itself.

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From the Lane to the Main Road

Near Namdaemun, signs, people, shops and vehicles overlap in narrow lanes. The City Hall branch faces the larger road. It feels different as soon as you approach, because you can take in the whole building at once.

The exterior is glass and a pale finish rather than red brick. At Namdaemun you first notice the age of the building. Here you can see its arrangement, with parts of the interior showing through. Lit up, it could almost be a small gallery.

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A Different Use on Each Floor

The café takes up four floors. Each has its own name and a different feeling once you reach it.

• 1F · A Taste of Time
• 2F · A Private Rest
• 3F · A Place to Pause
• 4F · Culture Room

The light and the way the seats are set out change by floor. There’s plenty of movement where people place orders on the ground floor. The atmosphere grows stiller as you go up.

The stairs put more distance between you and the sound of the café below. At the Namdaemun branch, I felt as though the stairs took me into the past. Here I was stepping out of the pace of the main road.

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Tall Windows and High Ceilings

The height is what stands out. The ceilings are high and large windows keep the rooms open. Take a window seat and you can look down at the road, the buildings and people walking past.

In a café deep in a lane, your attention tends to stay inside the room. Here the outside view comes with it. You can drink a coffee and keep looking at the city.

At night the lights of the street are clear through the glass. The café keeps its own lighting low enough for the view to come through. I could see why people liked the window seats.

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After Dinner

I came after a meal and ordered coffee and a small dessert. It felt like somewhere to go when dinner was over and you wanted the evening to keep going. You could finish a conversation or sit without much to do.

Gabedo’s drinks and desserts are dependable. They fit easily into the visit, and I remember the time I spent there more clearly than what I ordered.

Each flight of stairs makes it a little easier to stay. Some people were still talking, some had a laptop open and others were quietly passing the time. There was room for all of it.

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Same Name, Different Rooms

At Namdaemun the pleasure comes from being in an older building and noticing what it has kept. At City Hall the design gives you some distance from the street.

You could visit both in one day and have quite different experiences. The City Hall café is the one I’d think of if I’d finished dinner and wanted somewhere to sit for a while.

Outside, the city was still moving. Inside, I had a little more time than I expected. That is what I remember about the visit.