[Scone Exploration] Shopping and Dining at Once! Visit to Cookat Market COEX Branch

A Place Where Delicious Things Are Next to Delicious Things

Editor's NoteWords like ‘special·hot place·limited-time popup store’ instantly make your heart race. It’s because you’re curious about what exactly makes these places so special and different that so many people flock to them. You might not want to revisit places you’ve already been, but you don’t want to miss out on the HOT spots others are going to. If you want to visit somewhere truly special, you’ve come to the right place. DrinKit editors explore each store and share their experiences. Introducing Scon Exploration (Special Concept Store Exploration)! Were the editors able to truly catch a ‘special scent’ at the places they visited?

There is a place where you can buy and taste foods you’ve probably seen at least once on YouTube, such as strawberry chapssaltteok (glutinous rice cake), transparent dumplings, cream dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken), and gamjatang (pork bone soup) fried rice?all offline. This place is Cookat Market, located on B1 floor of COEX Mall. Not only is it a convenient food shopping spot, but it also has a dining area, so it’s also called Cookat COEX Dining Lab! After renovation, it opened in early August, and a DrinKit editor visited.

Walking through the maze-like COEX Mall, you’ll spot an orange signboard featuring a cute cat. This is Cookat Market, greeted by a white cat holding Cookat’s signature product, strawberry chapssaltteok. The interior is designed with a hip vibe, resembling a convenience store or grocery store. The spacious store is divided into a food sales section, an alcoholic beverage section, and a dining lab. Between each section, goods printed with Cookat characters are also sold.

In the food sales zone, where product showcases are lined up, you can find almost all the products sold on the website in one place. Prices are the same as on the Cookat website. The showcases display ready-to-eat convenience foods or desserts that can be heated in a microwave or air fryer, while the shelves hold low-calorie snacks like protein bars and nuts for dieters. The steady seller chapssaltteok series has a separate freezer so you can see all the products at a glance. On one side of the store, a microwave and tables are prepared so you can quickly enjoy a meal with the products you purchased.

In the alcoholic beverage corner, you can find makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and beers made with honey, apple, tangerine, omija (five-flavor berry), and more. Traditional liquors with pretty packaging that fit Cookat Market’s youthful vibe dominate, such as Jeju Saem Nimome, Hangang Brewery Naru Saeng Makgeolli, and Yangchon Brewery Ureongi Rice. Products range from under 10,000 won to around 40,000 won, offering a wide selection, and brief descriptions on each product make it easy to choose a drink that suits your taste.

The newly opened dining lab, themed ‘Crazy Cat Obsessed with Food Research,’ is Cookat’s ‘taste laboratory.’ It develops new menus every six months and sells the developed dishes. In other words, it’s a restaurant where the menu changes every six months. This time, the research theme is gimbap (Korean rice rolls). You can try various gimbap such as whole pork belly gimbap, salad keto roll, gungchae jangajji gimbap (pickled gungchae), and kkosiraegi kkosun gimbap (seaweed and seaweed salad). Ramen and dumplings that go well with gimbap are also sold. After ordering via kiosk and entering the dining lab, the calm and sophisticated atmosphere, unlike the shopping area, caught the eye.

We ordered the salad keto roll, chadolbagi (beef brisket) scallion tower ramen, and juicy dumpling set. It took about 10 minutes for the food to arrive. The first thing that caught the eye was the overwhelming size of the salad keto roll. The amount of egg sheet used instead of rice was considerable. The lightly seasoned tofu noodles and fresh salad ingredients like carrots and bell peppers were also generously included, making it very filling. It was a taste we’d highly recommend to those seeking a mild and healthy flavor rather than something spicy. The chadolbagi scallion tower ramen was spicy enough to tingle the lips, with smoky fire flavor and the aroma of scallion oil making it impossible to stop eating. The side dish of pan-fried dumplings tasted like ordinary meat dumplings. The salad keto roll was 9,500 won, and the ramen and dumpling set was 11,500 won. Overall, the taste was excellent, but considering it’s in the COEX food court, the price was somewhat on the high side.

Cookat Market COEX branch, where you can shop and dine at once, is a place full of interesting and delicious products that delight both the eyes and the palate. When you see the cat holding strawberry chapssaltteok while walking through COEX Mall, why not take a stroll around the store? The shopping area opens at 10:30 AM, and the dining lab opens at 11:30 AM, so please keep this in mind when visiting.

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Photo by Kim Bomi