Sanmotungi is a café built into the hillside of Buamdong — a neighbourhood at the base of Inwangsan mountain that has retained a residential character while developing a quiet cultural life of bookshops, galleries, and small cafés. The building is set at a level that gives it unobstructed views across the forested slope: the glass walls face the mountain directly, and the tables are arranged so that each seat has an uninterrupted relationship with the greenery outside. The effect is of being in a treehouse that happens to serve excellent coffee — the city is below and behind; the mountain is the only context that matters. The walk up from Buamdong proper takes twenty minutes along a path that improves the arrival. On weekdays the café is quiet; on autumn mornings, the light through the turning leaves requires no further argument.
Buamdong, Seoul, South Korea