You don’t have to travel all the way to South Korea to experience a taste of Korean culture. A lot of Korean-inspired cafes are already popping up in Metro Manila, providing a familiar and comfortable ambiance especially for coffee enthusiasts and K-pop fans.

One trendy, Korean-inspired café that’s making a buzz these days is Café-408, the first EXO-themed café located on the second floor of The Rock Lifestyle Hub in Quezon City.

Opened last 8 April, same day as K-pop group EXO’s 11th anniversary, Café-408 serves comfort food and a wide variety of quality coffee and
non-coffee beverages. The cafe also incorporates EXO’s aesthetics and concepts.

Among its menu are Truffle Fries, pasta, Birthday Cake Cookie, American Breakfast, croissant, muffins, s’mores and Chanyeol’s tteokbokki. Drinks include cold brew, Spanish Latte, Strawberry Mocha Latte, Blue Lemon Fizz and Mango Strawberry Fizz.

On 30 June, when EXO’s “Hear Me Out” came out, fans gathered at the café for a free viewing of the pre-release track’s much-awaited music video.

Similarly, a cupsleeve event was held by PHIXOs (Filipino EXO fans) as a way to celebrate the track’s release. Cupsleeve events are celebrations done by coffee shops or organized by fandoms to celebrate a K-pop artist’s birthday or comeback.

Café-408 also unveiled its list of events for July on their social media accounts, including a whole-day open event dedicated to EXO’s comeback on 10 July and a celebration of its subunit EXO-SC’s debut anniversary on 21 July.