Cafe Lalo (카페랄로) is a cool cafe next to reservoir in Pangyo, in Bundang, south of Seoul. It took an hour to get there from central Seoul and I used a red intercity bus. Another reason was to check the routes into and out of Cheongyesan mountain; it was too late in the day to hike, but I was thinking for another day.

I had to walk about 10 minutes from the closest bus stop and this is quite out of the way. through the main town of Pangyo took me past lots of newly built apartments and low-rise buildings and it seemed like it could be a pleasant place to live, with reasonably good swift access to Seoul. I noticed a big Korean firms out here too, so this is obviously a relatively new up and coming area.

After passing the reservoir, I got to the cafe, which was in a modern square concrete building. It was a Monday late in the afternoon and seemed quite busy. It has a few floors, a rooftop and a nice garden next to the reservoir. They had a nice selection of cakes and other breads but because it was late in the day, they were running short. They also served a good selection of drip coffees.

I grabbed my coffee and headed to the rooftop to eat my twist donut. It was a cool space overlooking the lake, and there was some interesting artwork up there too.

After my doughnut, I went down to the garden and crank the coffee by the reservoir, taking pictures and chilling out. They own some ducks which have a cage in the car park and I guess run around the lake during the day.

I headed off after a couple of hours, and rode through Pangyo as the sun was going down and commuters were heading home. I’ll come back with Romana one day, a bit earlier and try out their menu; it would be a good date trip, though you’d need a car or take a taxi. to save some time.