Of the many café – luxury destinations on my Korea bucket list, I’ve crossed one off this time with a visit to the glamorous Café Dior by Pierre Hermé — a fusion of two world famous French icons in fashion and pastry! Essentially my dream destination!
This elegant little space sits on the top floor of the Dior flaghip boutique in Apgujeong, Gangnam, a glammy neighborhood known for being one of most affluent in Seoul, home to miles of high end fashion houses and entertainment companies. I initially discovered the cafe on instagram, and just scrolling through the feed listed under the geotag, I could already tell what sort of district I would be heading into. I was basically scrolling through a compilation of fashionable girls in glitzy outfits and luxury bags (taking pics for the gram is basically a widespread phenomenom among young Korean women to begin with. I had an excuse to take as many pictures to my heart’s content!). Pretty much the main incentive of reserving a spot at Cafe Dior and paying an exorbitant amount of money on coffee and pastries is to take pictures for the gram, a notion that was actually confirmed by the servers at the cafe. No shame here on my part!
The actual Dior boutique is basically a giant art piece meant to reflect and emulate Christian Dior’s work. The wonderfully sweet SA had gone on to tell me that it’s supposed to resemble long wavy drapes of woven cloth or dress. I felt as if I had stepped into an art gallery. It was such a beautiful boutique.
AS FOR THE CAFE: We made a reservation; however, this requires you to call a Korean number and I know not everyone has access to a Korean phone. Our reservation was set for a Saturday at 11am, a time that I thought would be super popular, but there was actually a good amount of seating around us. I think I only saw two other parties while we were there. I’m willing to say it should be okay to walk in? Hope it wasn’t just that day…
If you’re going to do that though, reservation or not, first stop to think whether you want to spend close to $100 per person to have afternoon tea and drink tasteless $30 Dior latte (in general good coffee is hard to find in Korea to begin with– don’t stretch out your expectations based on price and ambience) Again, it’s really for the experience. I’m just WARNING everyone out there that if you’re trying to get your money’s worth where taste and quantity is involved, this is not the place to go!!!
That’s not to say I personally didn’t enjoy my experience here. Definitely more of a one-time thing, but if you know me, I’m all about that bougie lifestyle (or pretending to have one), and in this case, you’ll be paying to have tea and macarons from fancy designer bone China inside this beautiful gallery of Dior artifacts. And to take pictures for the gram. I would recommend dressing up! Everything was so glammy — I loved it.
As usual I couldn’t resist and could not get myself to leave the boutique empty handed. While I’ve been ogling the mini Lady Diors for a while, my budget (and my conscience– actually more the budget) did not allow for another bag, especially since I had already purchased another one earlier on the trip.
That didn’t stop me from peeking at the SLG’s…
My first Dior piece! Not the mini Lady Dior bag, but the mini Lady Dior wallet! I love the color and the classic Dior stitching. Among all the various justifications I come up with when making these decisions, I thought this would be a nice little gift to remember the visit by.