Cafe Onion Seongsu — Restaurant in Seoul

This space was originally built in the 1970s. Over the past 50 years, it has been transformed into a supermarket, restaurant, residential home, workshop, and factory. Each time, unnecessary parts were demolished, and necessary parts were haphazardly added. Due to the focus on utilization rather than aesthetics in the space's transformations, its original appearance has gradually been lost over time.

As we explore this space, we discover value within the old structures that new ones cannot provide. The paint marks on the floor, the added bricks—each serves as a poignant reminder of the passage of time. Our focus is on reviving this old space by preserving all these traces. It needs to be reimagined as a blend of history and modernity.

ONON is crafted from materials that respect seemingly unrelated yet organically connected structures, carefully considering user functionality. Even the furniture is created with architectural elements, making it an integral part of the space. The coexistence of plants adds a familiar touch, as if they have always been here.

This space will serve as a sanctuary for relaxation and purification of the soul, a refuge where the noise in visitors' minds can quiet down. We hope it will be remembered as a place that inspires new lives for some and complete...

This cafe is nothing new to the locals and tourists but imma give an honest to-the-tee dissect of the pastries and coffee I've tried here. I ordered the condensed milk nuts bread, onion signature pandoro, mushroom cheese bread and coffee latte. Coffee: was good but nothing to write home about. I've had worse and better coffee in Korea and this place's ranked somewhere in the middle (acceptable rank). Signature pandoro: not as dry as I've heard others desrcibed it, and not overly sweet despite all the powdered sugar. It was of good texture and since it's my first time trying a pandoro, it does look and taste like the prototype i saw online though this's defo not the best type of bread to dip in coffee cause they just kinda dissolved lol. But this is not worthy of being labelled the signature, tho. Condensed milk & nuts bread: the best one out of the bunch. Could've used a but more condensed milk but overall, good and moist texture with well balanced nuts filllings. Heavily recommended. Cheese mushroom bread: it was cheesy and savoury, very delicious. Also recommending to those who's on the savoury side. Service was very good, lots of seating choices (and defo less crowded than the one in Anguk for sure). Came by 2 days before Christmas and the ambience was so cosy,...

There is also an open rooftop terrace on the second level, which would be brilliant and breezy in a cooling season such as autumn, or at the magic hour when the sun is setting. We did not went up as it's super hot. Don't forget we went there during summer 😂

For food wise, there are over 20 varieties to choose from all freshly baked in-house. The most popular choice would be the Pandoro, an Italian-style bread covered in powdered sugar. We could see ever food tray had 1 on it, so we give it a try too. When the fork went down from the tip of the cone, the white sugar fell like snow from the top of the mountain. The texture was pleasantly fluffy. Strawberry pastry were pretty good.

For drinks wise, the strawberry milk tea taste more of their milk and it's a nono for me. Didn't finish the drinks though. Chocolate latte taste a bit odd to me either.

Nevertheless, it's a good experience of food/drinks tasting. But we will not be going back anymore. 😅 So share with me your experience if...