8.14 Korean Cafe in La Union
For tourist attractions and trendy food spots, the San Juan surf town might be the first to come to mind when people bring up La Union. However, La Union’s capital city, San Fernando, also has its own attractions and food places that add to its unique charm.
If you’re looking for a cafe to visit in San Fernando, check out the recently opened 8.14 Korean Cafe. It offers classic and trendy Korean food and is inspired by a popular K-pop group.
Instagrammable sandwiches
Korean egg drop sandwiches.
Image credit: Ianna Michelle Galvez
8.14 Korean Cafe serves trendy Korean egg drop sandwiches (starting at P150, ~USD2.84). These come in 4 variants. Two are breakfast flavors – spam nori and ham and bacon – while the other 2 are Korean flavors – samgyeopsal and bulgogi.
They also offer folded gimbap (seaweed rice roll) (starting at P110, ~USD2.08) that resemble burgers. Each is filled with kimchi cheese, spam, spicy tuna, or tuna and crab.
Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).
Image credit: 8.14 Korean Cafe
Besides these, the cafe also serves classic Korean snacks, noodle dishes, and dosirak or Korean lunch box meals.
Coffee and Korean-style flavored milk
Korean-style flavored milk.
Image credit: 8.14 Korean Cafe
Sticking to the Korean theme, the coffee shop offers the Korean cafe drink staple Americano. There’s also cappuccino, macchiato, and several flavors of latte and mocha which you can enjoy either hot or iced. For non-espresso-based drinks, they have several frappe offerings.
If you want to try the popular Korean drink flavored milk, they also have these at the cafe starting at P150 (~USD2.84). These come in 3 fruit flavors – blueberry, strawberry, and mango.
Minimalist interior
Minimalist interior.
Image credit: 8.14 Korean Cafe
The coffee shop also adapts popular Korean cafe interior design, with white walls and minimalist white, gold, and gray furniture.
The first floor seats several diners but there’s also a loft area. Here, you can find their K-pop corner, as the cafe is actually inspired by a popular K-pop group.
The cafe is also pet-friendly, so you can bring your fur baby along on your cafe date.
Subtle EXO theme
K-pop corner.
Image credit: 8.14 Korean Cafe/@hyuneedolls
If you haven’t connected the dots between the coffee shop’s name and Instagram photos just yet, 8.14 Korean Cafe is inspired by the K-pop boy group EXO. 8.14 or 14th August is the group’s fans’ anniversary date.
At the cafe’s K-pop corner, you’ll see albums of EXO and fanmade dolls of the members. You can donate your EXO merchandise for other EXO-Ls to enjoy at the cafe or trade your merch with the ones on display.
The cafe’s menu also includes hot blended teas (P200, ~USD3.78/pot) named after EXO songs, including The Eve, Oasis, and Love Shot.
EXO-inspired cafe in San Fernando, La Union
The capital city of La Union may often be overshadowed by its neighboring bustling surf town, San Juan, but there are also several spots to check out in San Fernando.
The latest addition to these is 8.14 Korean Cafe which serves a wide array of Korean food and is a safe haven for K-pop fans in the north.
Address: Stall No 1, IGP Building DMMMSU-MLUC, Catbangen, San Fernando, La Union
Opening hours: 10am-7pm, Daily
8.14 Korean Cafe’s Facebook | Instagram
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Cover image adapted from: 8.14 Korean Cafe and Ianna Michelle GalvezÂ