I Like Mountain, Hannam: brunch beside the redevelopment
When you pick a brunch place in Hannam for friends, a date or family, the Instagram cafes come to mind first, and then you arrive and it is crowded with ordinary food, or pretty but too cramped to stay. Good photos, good food and room to sit: all three together is rare.
This time I turned toward Hangangjin and went to I Like Mountain in Hannam. I heard on the way that the owner used to be a police officer. Whatever the background, it is a cafe with real design sense and care in every corner.
Before you go
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Timing | Weekday morning at ten there was room; from eleven it filled. Weekends can mean a wait, so go early |
| Seating | The ground floor is small; the second and third floors have most of the seats, so groups should go up. There is outdoor seating downstairs |
| Getting there | Near Itaewon station and the Hannam-dong community center. The lane is narrow for cars; park at the Hannam public lot and walk five minutes, or make it part of a walk through Hannam |
| Korean name | 아이라이크마운틴 한남 |
Next to the fence
The odd thing about the walk in: right behind the cafe is the Hannam District 3 redevelopment site. A clean, well-designed cafe and a huge construction zone share one lane, and the contrast is strange. It is a single frame that shows exactly where Hannam is right now. The outdoor tables are set against the construction fence as if it were a wall, which gave the terrace the feel of a tourist site in Egypt, and I enjoyed that more than I should have.
Inside, natural light fills the room. The ground floor is small and neat, but with the second and third floors there are more seats than you expect. Every plate, every lamp, every object shows someone chose it; not a template cafe interior but a space put together by someone with an eye. It is not loud, good for a book or a conversation. It does not feel like Hannam and still has a little of the Hannam mood.
At the next table a group of women were busy with photos; at another a family ate with a child. It was a weekday morning and the room was filling, so on a weekend I would come earlier. Every corner photographs cleanly, and a clean design makes people look good too. Even the menu has some art in it.
What we ordered
A grilled avocado sandwich, blueberry toast, an americano and a black sesame banana shake.
Avocado, pepper and oil together tasted far richer than an avocado sandwich has any right to. I could not work out how an ordinary sandwich came out this different. The blueberry toast came with herbs and pepper on top, and that pairing over the sweetness turned a dessert toast into a proper plate. The americano was clean. The black sesame banana shake was the surprise: sweet, but it fills you up, and with the toast it was a real meal. I will order it again, and I wanted to try the other shakes but there was no room left.
I’d recommend it for a Hannam brunch with friends, a couple or a family, when you want the mood as well as the food. The design and the cooking are both in balance, and sitting there while Hannam changes around you makes it stay in the mind.
My rating: 5/5.