Sueungo Cafe – Pied and gone to Heaven

UPDATE – SPRING 2014 – Su has moved her cafe to Okdong, and renamed it Melrose Cafe. You can still get the great coffee and pies, and order her beautiful cakes, but seating is more limited, and sadly the meals are gone. Melrose Cafe is near the Okdong entrance to Ulsan Grand Park, and is pinned on the Interactive Map.

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For years, Ulsanites have lamented the lack of decent pastry in this city. While there is a good bread and cake bakery in Seobudong, out near the old Foreigner’s compound, nowhere has been able to serve real pies and tarts. Paris Baguette’s pastries are notoriously over-baked well past the “golden” stage, and are often filled with sweet potato or sneaky-bean that just doesn’t satisfy the craving for a good slice of apple or key-lime pie.

Enter Sueungo Café, in Mugeodong.

Located on the main street, just across from the University main gate, towards the bus stop, this little basement café is full of charm and (more importantly) amazing pies and tarts.

Su-Eun Go, the pastry chef, studied Baking and Pastry Art at the Culinary Institute of America, one of the top cooking schools in the world. She worked along side America’s best chef, Thomas Keller, in a Michelin 3-star restaurant in New York City, at the Salon de Thé in Paris, and the Singapore Hilton Hotel. She returned to Ulsan recently, because she wanted to be back with her family.

Lucky us!

Sueungo Café offers a variety of temptations for those who are not counting their calories. When we were there, there was apple tart, pecan pie, pecan diamond (made with caramelized pecans), and pumpkin pie, but I ignored them all in favour of the chocolate cream pie with meringue.

 

The chocolate cream was rich, but not overly sweet, the flaky crust was lined with dark chocolate, and the whole creation was topped off by a sweet meringue baked in perfect peaks. It was absolutely divine. I washed it down with a strawberry smoothie, topped with real cream.

My partner in crime had arrived in need of a proper meal, so he went in favour of one of the brunch sets, which are conveniently served all day. On offer are Maple French Toast, Buttermilk Pancakes, Honey Bread and Cheesy Garlic Bread, but as he was seeking something savoury, he chose the Croque Madame. This French classic is a hot sandwich made with thick slices of homemade bread, Emmental (Swiss) cheese, and ham, smothered in a rich, creamy béchamel sauce, and topped off with a fried egg. To say it was tasty doesn’t do it justice. The set comes with a cup of good coffee, too.

 

The interior of the café is comfy and chic, with tables and a few booths. The menu is written only in Hangeul, but it’s all Konglish, so it’s easy to puzzle out what you want (just bring your handy guide to reading Hangeul). Basically, they serve various styles of coffee, green tea or sweet potato lattes, lemonade, smoothies, and Marco Polo tea, which smells incredible (but it was too late for me to be drinking caffeinated tea), along with the food mentioned above.

The café is open from 10am to 9pm Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday. (updated Nov 2013)