Today’s Weekend, Seongsu: The Artisan Ice Cream Café That Deserved More Time
A beloved Seongsu spot serving healthy, handcrafted desserts — and the most delightfully absurd donut you’ve ever seen — is gone.
There’s a particular kind of sadness that comes with revisiting old photos of a place that no longer exists. You scroll through the images, remember exactly how it smelled, how the light hit the wooden counter, and then remember — oh right, it’s closed now. That’s where I find myself with Today’s Weekend, the artisan ice cream and coffee shop that once occupied a cheerful corner on Wangsimni-ro 5-gil in Seongsu.
If you blinked, you missed it. But if you caught it, you didn’t forget it.
A Shop That Wore Its Values on Its Walls
The moment you stepped inside Today’s Weekend, it was clear this wasn’t just another trendy Seongsu café riding the neighborhood’s cool-factor wave. The brand had something to say, and it said it on every surface available.
A large sign propped against the counter read: “Good Ice Cream From Good Ingredients That Make You Feel Good.” Simple. Earnest. And — unusually for the dessert world — they actually meant it.
The donut display case made the commitment explicit: No Trans Fat. No Artificial Food Coloring. No Preservatives. Donuts, hand-made in small batches throughout the day, using only high-quality ingredients. Their tagline, “Handcrafted from Scratch,” wasn’t marketing fluff — it was the entire point of the place.
In an industry where bright pink glazing is almost always synthetic, Today’s Weekend found a way to make desserts that looked indulgent and were, at least by dessert standards, something you didn’t have to feel terrible about eating.
The Space: Retro Warmth with a Seongsu Edge
The exterior was impossible to miss. A bold red-and-white striped awning stretched across the shopfront, with bright green Parisian-style bistro tables and chairs spilling out onto the sidewalk. It felt like a diner had been teleported from mid-century America and lovingly dropped into one of Seoul’s most design-conscious neighborhoods.
Inside, the vibe shifted to something warmer and more considered. Warm wood tones dominated — a walnut-front counter, wooden shelving lined with trailing plants and rows of pink branded cups. Industrial pendant lights hung from the exposed ceiling. The walls were clean white and grey, punctuated by the shop’s own cheerful signage: weekend specials, menu boards, and a mini-fridge topped with the words “Take Me Home Tonight” — stocked with take-home pints for the truly committed.
Window seats faced the street, where the shop’s name — Specialty Coffee — was printed in chunky retro lettering on the glass, reversed from the outside. It made for an effortlessly photogenic backdrop, the kind that made you want to linger.
The Menu: Ice Cream Worth Caring About
The ice cream lineup rotated, but on any given visit you might find flavors like Double Vanilla, Birthday Cake, Lavender Honey, Banana Peanut Butter, Blueberry Sourcream, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Salt Caramel Pecan, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and Strawberry with Raspberry Swirl — a roster that balanced the familiar with the quietly creative.
Single scoops started at ₩6,000, with a double at ₩10,000, and you could add toppings: fudge chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, or rainbow sprinkles.
The coffee program was equally thoughtful: flat white, vanilla bean latte, affogato — drinks that suggested someone behind the counter actually cared about extraction. And then there was the Coffee Float, arguably the menu’s most photogenic non-donut item: a flat white poured over vanilla ice cream, topped with a waffle cone. It appeared on a sandwich board outside the shop, practically begging you to order it.
The Simpson Homer: The Donut That Started Everything
Let’s talk about the donuts.
Today’s Weekend made eight varieties, all priced at ₩3,800, ranging from Matcha Cream Cheese and Red Velvet Cake to Chocolate Crunch, Lemon Sour Cream, and Raspberry Pistachio. But the one that made everyone stop mid-scroll?
The Simpson Homer.
Bright pink. Generously glazed. Sprinkles everywhere. It looked like it had been lifted directly from the opening credits of The Simpsons — the donut Homer is perpetually reaching for. In a city that loves a good food concept, this one hit differently. It wasn’t just cute; it was immediately recognizable in a way that transcended language.
And then they took it further. The Weekend Dougnut — their signature dessert — placed a pink-frosted donut on a vintage-style plate, topped it with a generous scoop of ice cream, and then planted an entire upside-down waffle cone on top like a sweet, precarious tower. It was theatrical, joyful, and genuinely delicious. It photographed beautifully from every angle, whether you were shooting it against the two-tone grey wall or framed by the “Specialty Coffee” window lettering.
The Weekend Brownie followed the same format — a fudgy brownie base in place of the donut, equally loaded with ice cream and cone.
There was also a take-home pint situation, neatly stacked in the branded mini-fridge, packed in pink boxes stamped with “Just Made Specially For You.” Because even the packaging had something to say.
Why It Mattered
Today’s Weekend arrived in Seongsu at a moment when the neighborhood was reaching peak saturation — every second building housing a concept café, a pop-up, or a brand flagship. Standing out required more than good aesthetics. It required a point of view.
Today’s Weekend had one. The commitment to clean ingredients in a category that rarely prioritizes them, the warmth of the interior, the genuine playfulness of the Simpson donut and the weekend desserts — it all added up to a place that felt considered rather than calculated.
It didn’t feel like a brand exercise. It felt like someone’s actual idea of a perfect weekend afternoon, made tangible.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
I don’t know exactly when Today’s Weekend closed, or why. These things rarely come with explanations — one day a place is there, full of people eating ice cream and taking photos by the window, and then it isn’t. The green chairs are gone from the sidewalk. The striped awning is down.
What remains are photos, a few lingering reviews, and the memory of a pink donut that looked like it belonged in Springfield.
Seongsu will keep evolving — it always does. New cafés will open where old ones were. But Today’s Weekend was one of those places that earned its nostalgia honestly: it had a real philosophy, a real product, and a real sense of joy.
That’s rarer than it sounds.
Today’s Weekend was located at 서울 성동구 왕십리로5길 14-1, Seongsu, Seoul. It is permanently closed.
