After work Tuesday morning, I met Ava and Caillean in the middle of 홍대 at King's Crossing. Market with a large 9 3/4 extending from the building, the white brick building is decorated as close to the magical world of Harry Potter as you can get... without infringing on any copyrights.
The place was essentially a photography playground, with 5 levels of varying atmospheres to choose from. The cafe has gained so much notoriety that visitors must line up outside before being allowed to enter. While waiting, you can take pictures outside of the intricately decorated windows, or with the luggage cart that seems to be stuck in time as it goes through the brick siding of the cafe.
Once inside, we order our drinks, which acts as the entry fee. Most of the drinks are pretty basic for a cafe, including lattes, mochas, and caramel macchiatos, with the addition of regular or sweet non-alcoholic butter beer. They also offer a fair amount of bakery items, including Wizard's Cake, which is a mini sized replica of Harry's birthday cake. Since the were out of the regular butter beer, I opted for a plain latte, while Ava and Caillean settled for the sweet butter beer. In the interim of waiting for our drinks, we took plenty of photos in front of the wall of wands in front of the cafe.
Props were set up all around so that we could enjoy a real fiasco of magic in the making.
The drinks were also pleasing to the eye as well as to the taste buds. The lattes are swirled to perfection and the butterbeer is sweet and topped high with whipped cream, caramel, and golden flakes.
We sat upstairs on the second floor, surrounded by a dining area of mismatched chairs and soft lit candles. The decorations truly made you feel like you were in the midst of Hogwarts.
After our drinks, we explored the rest of the levels. The third was similar in purpose, but had a more grey-toned theme, as well as a fire place set up to the left of the entry way.
On the fourth floor, you can dress up in your designated house colors and show a little school spirit.
The tables on this floor are beds, set up to look like the dorms of the Hogwarts students. More props can be found around the room, and a Christmas tree stood tall in the very center.
We rode the elevator down, which is decorated in flora and newspaper clippings. In the basement, we found Hogsmead. The bar was lined in liquor bottles, with hogs heads on the empty spaces. Barrel bottom tables and wooden stools were littered about the room. It would be a grand spot for a nightly hang out, but it was a bit to early to be drinking anything more than butterbeer.
Back near the entrance, we took our final pictures before the big mirror that is said to show your deepest desires. For me, I saw my two best friends and a cup of coffee...
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Ava as she tied up her first trip to Korea. With the buzz of a new friendship, it was hard to imagine we had only just met one week before. After a million hugs and good wishes, I waved them off as I headed home for the evening.
Seems like there really is magic in the world.
The place was essentially a photography playground, with 5 levels of varying atmospheres to choose from. The cafe has gained so much notoriety that visitors must line up outside before being allowed to enter. While waiting, you can take pictures outside of the intricately decorated windows, or with the luggage cart that seems to be stuck in time as it goes through the brick siding of the cafe.
The drinks were also pleasing to the eye as well as to the taste buds. The lattes are swirled to perfection and the butterbeer is sweet and topped high with whipped cream, caramel, and golden flakes.
Back near the entrance, we took our final pictures before the big mirror that is said to show your deepest desires. For me, I saw my two best friends and a cup of coffee...
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