If we had set out early in the morning and kept moving, we might have finished the Jungmun part of the itinerary before noon, but one thing after another came up along the way and it got quite late. We scrapped the plan to tour the beaches on the west side of Jeju Island and decided to head straight for the airport. Going by the original schedule there would have been no time to stop at Baram Cafe, but the cafe happened to sit on the road to the airport, so we luckily found the time.
Sancheondan
You have to come in through a narrow entrance off an alley to reach the parking lot, and the navigation doesn’t show how wide the road is, so I nearly drove past it. Once I made it in safely, it turned out to be another world.
The view
A wide clearing ringed by tall trees. A very Jeju kind of scene.
The trees
My lens isn’t a wide-angle, so I can’t fit it all into one shot..
Baram Cafe
This is the cafe run by Yidam (@yidams), a nationally known name in foodie circles. I had only ever seen Baram Cafe in photos, and the feel of it was quite different from what I had pictured. From this one shot it looks like it’s deep in the mountains, but it isn’t – it’s surprisingly easy to get to..
Yidam had even sent me a tweet warning that the coffee at Mint is not good. (Too late by then, sadly.) Yidam knows Jeju Island inside out, so I leaned on that a lot when planning this trip.
Coffee and a brownie
The coffee of the day was brewed with real care. Brownies aren’t on the menu, but when I asked for a dessert one came out alongside. The place isn’t even in town, yet customers kept arriving without a break. I was impressed at how well the business is doing.
Lemonade
A little on the sour side. It would be good in summer.
The entrance, shot again
Nice and tidy. There are seats inside too, but drinking outside looks good as well.
The cat
The mascot of Baram Cafe. For some reason it looks away from me.
The cat lying down
It seems worn out from playing with the little kids.
The cat yawning with its whole body
There was a big dog too, but I didn’t get a shot of it.
If this had not been a short two-night, three-day trip, this is the place I would have rushed to first; as it was, a little time opened up before heading home and I got to drop in. Next trip it goes at the very top of the schedule.