Have you heard of "birthday cafes"? If you are a K-pop fan, you have probably heard of it before.

A birthday cafe is where a bunch of fans from the same fan group rent out a cafe and gather together to celebrate the birthday of a particular celebrity!

In today's blog, I'll share my experience visiting these cafes around Seoul.

I met up with some friends over the weekend who are HUGE EXO fans and they dragged me to his birthday cafe. I'm not complaining though 🤣

Xiumin's Birthday Cafe

Location: 337-10 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
서울 마포구 와우산로29가길 13 2층 톤앤매너

Hours: 12:00-21:00 

Over the weekend my friends and I made our way out of Hongik University station exit 6 and went to a cafe called Tone & Manner.

This cafe is located on a street not too far from the station! You can find it easily within walking distance from the exit.

You can see that they are having a birthday party from the outside. Just like a birthday celebration, they decorated it with some fun balloons.

Also on the way up to the cafe, they even had a giant banner of Xiumin. Anyone walking by can easily tell that it's his birthday. 🤣🤣

Here is a photo they took on the way in. They decided to snap a photo for the memories of visiting this cafe.

A photo of Xiumin welcomes you into the birthday cafe.

They were surprised by two things when they first walked in. First, the cafe only played EXO songs on loop and second, the hand sanitizer had a photo of Xiumin's face on it.

The sticker has a photo of him and a statement that reads "my precious Aeries, (Exo-L's fan base) don't forget to sanitize your hands!". I thought this was really clever and a nice addition! Safety is always first.

What really left an impression was the menu of this cafe. Aside from their regular cafe menu, they also offer a special 'Xiumin's cafe menu' for a limited time!

Every menu item has the letters "XIU" incorporated, so I thought that was really smart and cute!

Also, as you see in the photo, the macarons are all characters that Xiumin has been told he looks like- such as a hamster, cat and squirrel. How cute is that! Even I internally  screamed a bit when I saw the characters because they were so adorable!

Here, they ordered Xiu-mericano (Xiu + Americano), Xiuberry latte (Xiu + Strawberry Latte) and two cookies!! They wanted to order the macarons but they said that it was sold out.

If any of you reading this are planning on going to a birthday cafe we definitely recommend going early! That way, you can really enjoy the full experience before things start selling out. 

My friend commented that if you are an EXO fan you MUST take a photo like this with the hearts so they did snapped it again to get the perfect shot

Anyways, they also got the Xiumin cup holders!

The cup holder has a printed image of Xiumin with the message "I believe all your moments will shine", I asked my friend about it and she said that it's something that he tells his fans.

출처: instiz

Right behind the photo card, it reads the same message.

We're touched that he would say this beautiful thing to his fans and also find it amazing how they managed to make some goodies out of this as well for his fans to enjoy! 

It's such a beautiful message to tell his fans.

They also got some FREE goodies besides the cup holder! I wanted to keep some for myself because the illustrations are so cute but my friend who is an EXO fan claimed it all for herself.

The strawberry latte that my friend ordered came in this plastic bottle! There is an illustration of Xiumin on this bottle and her friend really liked it!

She said that after finishing her drink, she is planning to wash the bottle and use it as an interior prop for her room which is a really great idea.

Also, the drink was delicious as you could taste the fresh strawberries!

Aren't the cookies so adorable? It was too cute to eat, but they did do a taste test and it was amazing!

After drinking and eating the desserts, they had a look around the cafe. The cafe itself isn't too spacious but they made the most out of the space!

There were these massive photos hanged up!

There were small photos that filled the room as well!

My EXO-L friend really liked these photos 😊

They stacked up the cup holders for decoration, and there were a lot of balloons everywhere. It really felt like I was invited to his birthday party and she got excited!

There were a lot of mirrors placed around the room, which makes taking photos an essential! She even got one with Xiumin!

Isn't the doll of Xiumin on the left so cute? I think this is the best photo spot just because of how adorable the doll is!

We even got a video for those that may be curious, there were a lot of people so they couldn't get much in it but hopefully you get the overall vibe of the place!

That wraps up today's cafe tour with us! I hope you had just as much fun as we did!

I just followed my friends to the birthday cafe but I had such a fun time! She enjoys visiting cute cafes but it was even better when the whole place was decorated with handsome photos of idols and excited fans.

Source: Wikimedia

Next time you visit Korea, if there is an idol you are a huge fan of, definitely visit one of these birthday cafes if they have one!

Or, if there is a birthday cafe of an idol you are desperate to go, but can't, let us know and we'll visit it for you! We'll leave a great, detailed review for you so it feels like you're there with us😘

I'll be back next time with more fun and exciting content!