NUDAKE House Dosan is an artisanal dessert brand under the popular Korean GENTLE MONSTER eyewear company.
This flagship store is located on the basement level of GENTLE MONSTER’s HQ in Apgujeong, Gangnam, Seoul.
With its minimalist interior and desserts that look like art sculptures, NUDAKE is definitely one of the most unique cafes we visited during our Seoul trip.
However, we found the desserts to be over-hyped and overpriced.
NUDAKE House Dosan in Seoul
K-pop fans would be familiar with the GENTLE MONSTER eyewear brand which counts Blackpink’s Jennie as one of its ambassadors.
GENTLE MONSTER’s flagship store is located in the heart of Apgujeong, Gangnam – one of the most popular neighborhoods for fashion and cafes.
NUDAKE is the eyewear’s artisanal dessert shop that is located in the basement of Haus Dosan, the brand’s 5-storey retail building.
NUDAKE House Dosan – where desserts look like art
A step into NUDAKE is like a step into a modern art museum.
Clean lines, grey concrete walls, and neutral trimmings frame the space, with a centerpiece elongated table showcasing NUDAKE’s desserts like exhibition pieces in an art gallery.
The desserts offered here are definitely intriguing and creative.
Items that caught our eyes include the Peak (KRW23,000 or US$18) – a black croissant tart containing rich matcha cream, Fog (KRW57,000 or USD44) – an ombre cake layered with black olive cream and cheddar cheese, and Yang Pain (KRW4,000) – a black brioche bun filled with mascarpone cream that’s shaped like a sheep sculpture.
Other curiosities include the Microissants (KR2,500) – French pastries in the size of a fingernail, and the Cauli (KRW36,000 for small) – a carrot cake immaculately shaped like a cauliflower.
Pretty but over-priced
We ordered the Peak, which appears to be one of the main selling items here, as well as the OIK (KRW12,000) – a dessert cube made with apple mint and dill mousse, with cucumber jelly and tomato jam.
The Peak is a croissant tart darkened by the addition of squid ink.
It contains a generous pool of green matcha cream in the middle, which oozes out when cut open. The cream is perfect for dipping the bread into.
While pretty in presentation, we found the dessert to be underwhelming. The pastry was dry and lacked buttery fragrance.
While the matcha cream had enough matcha umami with a hint of sweetness, we found the cream-to-bread ratio to be uneven. Hence, it got a bit too cloying after a while, and we couldn’t finish the pastry.
OIK is an acquired taste
Similarly, the OIK looks pretty but it was a bit too out there for us. The cold dessert has a sweet minty base, with a hit of tomato and cucumber flavours in between.
Ming found the dessert a bit too weird, but Max was able to accept this interesting flavour profile. But it was not wild enough to blow our minds.
Summary
While we enjoyed the space and creative expression here, we ultimately found the pastries we tried to be underwhelming and overpriced.
Hence, we advise that you temper your expectations if you plan to visit NUDAKE.
NUDAKE House Dosan
Address: 50 Apgujeong-ro 46-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 11am-9pm Daily
Phone: +82 70-4128-2125
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nu_dake
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