In my experience, people from small towns learn a lot by traveling, especially if you make it half way across the globe. The last half of December 2016 was spent traveling to all of the hot spots in South Korea (mainly the Seoul area). On Christmas, my destination was Myeongdong, an area known for its awesome shopping spots, restaurants, and everything else that encompasses the tourist’s dream. It was decided before setting foot on my Delta flight that I would take advantage of the Korea’s amazing coffee culture, and I wanted to tour as many unique cafes as I could during my trip.

It was mid-morning and time for my usual coffee stop; as I turned a corner onto a merging street, I saw in bright pink letters: “Hello Kitty Café”. I’m sure each Hello Kitty Café has its own kawaii-ness about it (there are many individual ones to be found in certain areas in countries like Korea and Japan), but I’m positive the one I found was at the top of the list. Everything in the café, aside from the greens and reds in the Christmas decorations, was pink, frilly, and super adorable.

I decided to order drinks for my friend and I. The café was full of girls taking selfies and boyfriends who had been dragged there, mostly likely against their will. My friend ordered a cookies-n-cream shake, and I ordered a green tea latte (the ONLY non-coffee drink I will ever order at a coffee shop). As expected, the drinks came out super cute, and my latte came back with some pretty decent-looking latte art on top. Hello Kitty's face with the words “Merry Christmas” were perfectly pressed into the foam! Though the drinks were a little too sweet for my taste, it was definitely worth it!

In addition to the coffees and other drinks, I’m pretty sure the food also came straight from an animated Sanrio kitchen. I have found that in almost any Korean café I have been to, the food and drinks not only taste delicious, but they are also more than picture-worthy. I was happy to see Hello Kitty Café follow suit. Though we didn’t order anything else after finishing our drinks, plenty of people could be seen sharing and photographing their artfully-crafted edibles. They had both salty/savory foods like hotdog plates and also sweeter dishes like syrupy, fruit-covered waffles and cakes.

On top of the beautifully crafted coffees, teas, and foods, the café even had a wall dedicated to merchandise like small luggage and bags, stationary goods, mugs and tumblers, phone accessories, and of course, plenty of plush kitties!

As expected, my friend and I made sure to take a few selfies and cute pictures before leaving because everything there was too adorable not to. Not only that, but back home in Georgia, Starbucks is as “cute” as coffee shops tend to get. With a combination of yummy food and drinks, all pink merchandise, and plenty of unique & pretty spots for taking photos, this café is definitely one that you MUST visit if you’re visiting Myeongdong anytime soon, especially if you’re a Hello Kitty fan or a lover of all things pastel.