There’s a miniature black Mercedes G-Wagon parked on the sidewalk. A row of weathered wooden theater seats lines the entrance. And somewhere above the door, the words “HELL YES” are spelled out in gilded lettering on a rusted, vintage-style signboard. Welcome to Goonies Coffee — the café in Seoul’s Yongridangil that doesn’t ask for your attention so much as it demands it.
Named after the beloved 1985 adventure film, Goonies Coffee sits on a quiet stretch of Hangang-daero 44-gil in Yongsan-gu, tucked between the former U.S. military base district and the now-fashionable alleyways of Yongridangil. The building itself — red brick, raw concrete, rusted steel trim — looks like it was airlifted straight out of Brooklyn, circa 1992. That’s not a coincidence. According to the café’s own branding, Goonies was conceived as a love letter to 1990s New York street culture, filtered through the rebellious spirit of the film that gave it its name.
This is not a café you visit for the Wi-Fi.
A Tale of Two Sections
Walk through the front section and you’re immediately enveloped in organized chaos. Every surface — walls, pillars, ceiling borders — is plastered with a dense collage of black-and-white zine art, graffiti tags, punk flyers, and street photography. It’s the kind of wallpaper that rewards a long stare; the longer you look, the more fragments of text reveal themselves. “Stay Wild.” “Hell Yes.” “Bite Me.” “Game Over.”
Running along the top of the wall in bold, stenciled block letters is the café’s unofficial manifesto:
“TO BE OLD AND WISE, YOU MUST FIRST BE YOUNG AND STUPID.”
Seating here consists of olive military-green leather benches paired with vintage army trunks repurposed as coffee tables. Industrial pendant lamps — heavy, rust-patinated — hang from chains. A lone speaker sits in the corner, broadcasting whatever the DJ mood of the day happens to be. The vibe is part underground record shop, part anarchist zine library.
Cross through to the inner lounge and the register shifts dramatically. The raw punk energy gives way to something cooler and more cinematic. The walls turn matte black, and an entire gallery of large-format black-and-white photographs runs the length of the room — iconic rock-and-roll portraits, fashion legends, counterculture figures — all anchored by a large illuminated sign that reads “WE ARE GOONIES”. The ceiling here is a beautifully cracked pressed tin tile panel, which looks as if it was salvaged from a 1920s Manhattan jazz club. Row upon row of plush olive-green sofas line the wall, each paired with a black pedestal side table topped with dark red marble. The ambient lighting is warm, almost amber, bounced off the brass light fixtures embedded in the tin ceiling. It’s cinematic and deeply comfortable — the kind of room that makes an afternoon disappear.
The contrast between these two spaces is the whole point: the café is simultaneously a grunge hideout and a grown-up lounge, held together by a shared sense of outsider cool.
The Details That Make It a Collector’s Cabinet
Beyond the two main rooms, Goonies rewards the detail-oriented visitor. Behind the bar counter, a massive moose skull with full antlers is mounted against a dark panel — lit from below like a natural history museum exhibit. Spread across the counter beneath it: gold-toned curiosities, open books, small sculptures, jewellery displays, and what appears to be a vintage company seal press. It reads less like a café bar and more like the desk of a well-traveled eccentric.
The bar itself is an event. Perched alongside the pastry display are Chucky dolls, horror movie figurines, demon masks, and a green elf — all grinning with unsettling cheerfulness next to a vintage Coca-Cola enamel sign. A hand-chalked menu leans against the display. Bottles of craft beer are lined up in an aged metal tray. And the pastries — stacked in proper plates rather than glass cases — look genuinely delicious.
Outside, the vintage wooden flip-back theater seats bolted together along the covered entrance are one of Seoul’s most photographed café details. Numbered and worn, they face the window display of the coffee bar inside, making the whole entrance feel like a one-screen cinema that ran out of films and decided to serve espresso instead.
What to Order
“The counter display shifts with the season — what follows is what was on offer at the time of this visit.”
The coffee program at Goonies is taken seriously. The bar is equipped with professional espresso machines, and the café has its own blend roasted to complement its Brooklyn-inspired identity — reportedly leaning toward nutty and berry flavor profiles.
Signature drinks spotted on the menu and counter:
- Iced Black Coffee with Lemon & Rosemary — served tall, dark, and garnished with a slice of lemon and a sprig of rosemary; it arrives looking like a cocktail and drinks like one too
- Espresso-based menu — cappuccino, latte, and seasonal variations
- Soft drinks and craft beer — making it equally viable as an afternoon or evening stop
On the food side, the current counter display features:
- Strawberry Croffin — a croissant-muffin hybrid topped with a full strawberry
- Pistachio Croffin — the richer, nuttier version
- Matcha Tiger Cakes
- Choco items
- Terrine
- Assorted cookies and bite-size pastries
Prices are reasonable for the area, and the sticker-label tags handwritten in English give the counter its own DIY gallery feel.
Getting There & Practical Info
Goonies Coffee is located in the Yongridangil area of Yongsan — the emerging strip of independent restaurants and cafés that has grown up around the former U.S. military base zone.
| Address | 서울 용산구 한강대로44길 21 (Hangang-daero 44-gil 21, Yongsan-gu, Seoul) |
| Nearest Stations | Sinyongsan Station (Line 4), Samgakji Station (Lines 4 & 6) |
| Phone | 02-794-8999 |
| @goonies_coffee | |
| Hours | Check Instagram for current hours; generally open daily through evening |
As of early 2025, Goonies continues to operate at this location with no major changes to its concept or format.
Who Is This For?
Goonies Coffee is genuinely one of a kind in Seoul’s café landscape. It doesn’t fit cleanly into any single category — it’s not a specialty roastery, not an aesthetic Instagrammable box, not a quiet study café. It’s closer to what would happen if someone with an obsessive love of 80s films, 90s New York street culture, and very good taste in music decided to open a café that felt like their personal world rather than a brand.
The crowd reflects this. You’ll find a mix of young Koreans with an interest in subculture aesthetics, expats from the nearby neighborhood, design-world types, and the occasional visitor from overseas who tracked it down after seeing it described as “the most un-Korean café in Seoul.” That description is both accurate and incomplete — Goonies is absolutely a Seoul café in its execution, attention to detail, and quiet perfectionism. It’s just filtered through a very different set of references than the ones the city usually reaches for.
If you’re the type of person who still knows every word to the Goonies theme, or the type who appreciates a space built with genuine conviction rather than commercial formula — this one’s for you.
We are Goonies. Hell yes.
