Caffeine addicts checking out Seoul's Insadong neighbourhood might want to be at Round Off (or be square!); the cold brew latte is a lovely antidote to the city's scorching summer afternoons.
Hollys Coffee, South Korea's pioneering brand for espresso-based coffee, boasts scores of outposts, but one of its most evocative is in Incheon's lush Songdo Central Park.
On a sultry August afternoon in Seoul, Milk Farm's organic milk ice cream and Voila's sea salt ice cream might be the best cool-me-down, pick-me-up pleasures for battling South Korea's soaring summer temperatures.
A steaming-hot bowl of bulgogi stew, sweet and tender, makes for one of Seoul's most soulful, soothing lunches, perhaps best savoured in a nondescript alley away from the madding crowds.