Living Room Seoul

With a population density of more than 17,000 people per square kilometer, space of every kind is in short supply in the city. Houses are small—or cosy, let’s say—so living rooms, and the sort of socializing you can do in them are scarce. People hang out in public, and that’s fine if you like restaurants, clubs, bars, concert venues, cafés or those little places that sell specialized dog apparel. If you’re looking for a place with a more “sitting on a warmly-lit couch half-watching a flick and shooting the breeze with a friend of a friend” vibe, pickings have historically been slimmer. Adam Koons and Jackie Park saw room for The Living Room in Haebangchon. The music isn’t too loud to hear your friends over, and the place isn’t sloppy like a dive bar or sweaty like a club. It’s another kind of space. The music, Koons’s passion, leans towards classic hip-hop, soul, funk, and R&B: it’s music to recline to and couches are provided for the reclining. Nobody does any fist pumping, there are no lasers or beer pong tables… It’s just home. Also there are soju slushies, just like a real living room. (Or that living room in that dream you had.) - Joe Yachimec