K-pop fans are probably one of the busiest people in the world. These days, a simple greeting or congratulatory message online is not enough to celebrate their idols’ milestones; these deserve to be celebrated in-person with fellow members of their fandom.
With this, fans organize different gatherings, such as cupsleeve events, to celebrate their idols’ birthdays, anniversaries, or album releases. These events are usually held in cafes, but it might be more exciting if it’s in cafes dedicated to the idols and their fandom.
Here are some K-pop-themed cafes in Luzon that you might want to include in your cafe hopping:
Caratreats Cafe
Just by reading the cafe’s name, you would probably have a clue about whose group and fandom it is dedicated to.
Caratreats is the first-ever cafe in the country that is inspired by the 13-member boy group SEVENTEEN.
It was established by a certified CARAT (SEVENTEEN’S fandom) named Samantha Garcia in 2020 and houses dozens of SEVENTEEN’s albums, photo cards, and other merchandise.
Adding to this collection are the cafe’s interior color schemes that are aligned with the group’s official colors: Rose Quartz and Serenity.
Caratreats offers a wide selection of comfort food to its customers, from pasta, pizzas, pastries, rice meals, and milk tea.
In an Instagram post in 2022, Garcia shared Caratreats with her two ultimate biases, Vernon and DK, who praised her for her business success during a fan call.
Location: MJV Old Building, Pala-pala Road, Dasmarinas, Cavite
Cafe 408
Filipino fans of boy group EXO finally have their own place to gather and celebrate their idols.
Named after EXO’s debut anniversary, Cafe 408 opened its doors to the public in March 2023. This first-ever EXO-themed cafe in the metro welcomes visitors with its industrial, black-and-white minimalist interior design that’s perfect for Instagram-worthy posts.
But what would make fans fall in love more with the cafe are the displays of magazine covers that the nine-member group graced, their albums, merchandise, and their songs played on loop. There is even a corner inside the cafe that has a wall-mounted CD player where you can listen to EXO’s playlists.
To immerse their customers more into this EXO world, Cafe 408 serves a variety of food and beverages. For beverages, visitors can choose from its coffee and non-coffee drinks, ice blended drinks, tea, and fizz drinks.
On its food menu, it has all-day brunch, pasta, rice meals, sandwiches, and baked goods.
Location: 2/F The Rock Lifestyle Hub, Holy Spirit Drive, Quezon City
Purple 7 Cafe
It may not be the first cafe inspired by boy group BTS, but Purple 7 Cafe surely has a lot to offer that both ARMYs and non-ARMYs would love.
As its name states, the cafe is filled with anything purple, which is BTS’ official color. Purple 7 has four floors: Hopebox PH on the first floor, a mezzanine on the second floor, main dining on the third floor, and a lounge area on the fourth floor.
Customers haven’t reached the main dining floor yet, but they might already spend money upon entering the first floor, a.k.a. the merchandise zone. Hopebox PH offers BTS-themed shirts, plushies, accessories, lightsticks, and albums.
More treats await them upstairs with Purple 7’s wide menu selection. It has espresso-based, milk-based, frappe, yogurt, fruit tea, and soda for drinks. It also has pasta, Korean garlic buns, croffles, cookies, cupcakes, and cakes.
The cafe has a lot of Instagrammable areas, including its lounge area, which displays murals inspired by BTS’ “We Are Bulletproof: Eternal.”
Location: 37 Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City
Chingu Dachi Cafe+
Are you a K-pop multistan and a K-drama fan? Chingu Dachi Cafe+ will bring you both into the worlds of K-pop and K-drama.
This cafe does not have a particular K-pop group or K-drama inspiration, but its interior is absolutely aesthetically pleasing.
Inside the cafe, you would find designs related to K-pop groups BLACKPINK, TWICE, NCT, and Aespa, among others. There is also a K-pop store located at its corner, where fans can buy their albums, lightsticks, photocards, and other merchandise.
For a better cafe experience, Chingu Dachi Cafe+ has plenty of drink and food choices. It serves coffee and non-coffee drinks, ice blended drinks, smoothies, soda pops, milk tea, and fruit tea.
It also has salad, pasta, sandwiches, rice meals, and pastries on its food menu.
One of the best things about the cafe is that it is situated in the University Belt (near University of Santo Tomas).
Location: 2/F 1655 Piy Margal cor. Don Quijote st., Sampaloc, Manila
Magic Sip Cafe
Another K-pop-inspired cafe in Ubelt is Magic Sip Cafe, which is dedicated to fans of HYBE artists.
This cafe also has an Instagrammable ambiance filled with half-body standees of boy groups BTS, TXT, and ENHYPEN, placed on the tables, as if customers are having a date with their idols.
Customers can enjoy the store’s ramyeon, nachos, fries, and corndogs, but the most popular are the unli-chicken wings.
Of course, meals won’t be complete without beverages that include milk tea, lattes, and other cold drinks. Its best seller drinks are choco vanilla ice cream, brown sugar milk tea, and cold milk lychee coco.
Aside from this, Magic Sip Cafe also sells both official and unofficial merchandise to its visitors.
Location: 1080 P. Campa St., Sampaloc, Manila
