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www.groovekorea.com / April 2014 40 FOOD & DRInK edited by Josh Foreman (joshforeman@groovekorea.com) GettinG there Café Mamas Apgujeong is located in the Gourmet 494 food court/shopping center. to get there, go to Apgujeongrodeo Station. the station exits to Gourmet 494. ☎ (02) 712-1250 Neighborhood Apgujeong and 10 other locations across Seoul Sandwich style Pressed sandwiches Signature sandwiches Club, Tomato Mozzarella Panini If Casablanca is everyone’s secret, Café Mamas is the opposite. Google (or Naver) the café and you’ll find hundreds of customer reviews, countless blog posts in different languages and selfies of people eating in the posh sandwicherie. Café Mamas has blown up. Is all the buzz deserved? Yes. Café Mamas has managed to make itself appeal to both foreign and Korean clientele with a formula that’s clearly working. Their sandwiches are delicious, no doubt, even if they are a bit on the mild side. Whereas the other sandwich joints in this story wow you with bold, innovative flavors, Café Mamas has figured out how to make traditional sandwiches well. They’re full of oozy cheese, bacon, thick slices of tomato, turkey … They’re not only pleasing to the mouth but, like the restaurants themselves, to the eye as well. The gorgeously tall Club was the prettiest sandwich I tried for this story. It’s stacked nearly 3 inches tall, layer upon beautiful layer of goodness staring up at you as you prepare to eat it; Paris Baguette could learn a thing or two. In the center of the towering sandwich are three slices of tomato and a thin slice of white bread. Again, Café Mamas isn’t breaking any ground with their simple toasted sandwich bread, but it works in the Club. At the top of the sandwich is Romaine lettuce, perfectly cooked bacon — not fatty and floppy, like bacon in Ko- rea too often is — and two thick slices of American cheese. At the bottom are pieces of chicken breast and more Romaine, followed by pickle and onion. Café Mamas has mastered the art of adding sweet pickle to a sandwich without ruining the whole thing. The slices of pickle and onion are ultra-thin, creating a pseudo relish of sorts. The result is a hint of sour sweetness, without the mushy texture or overpowering taste and smell. The most dominant flavors of the sandwich are the smoky bacon, the pickle and the rich processed cheese. The tomato and Romaine, by contrast, give it some much appreci- ated freshness to even things out. The other sandwich I tried at Café Mamas was the Tomato Mozzarella Panini. If the Club is simple, then the Tomato Mozzarella is super simple. Do you like gooey mozzarel- la cheese? Crunchy bread? Hot, juicy tomatoes? Then you will like Mama’s panini. This one’s all about the minimalism; there’s a little balsamic added for good measure, but the sandwich is still pretty much just melted cheese and tomatoes, which isn’t a bad thing. Look closely and you’ll notice that they’ve added squid ink to the bread to give it a black hue. It doesn’t add much to the sandwich in the way of flavor, though they score points for making it a little more interesting visually. Café Mamas is a symbol of the hipification of Seoul, but there’s substance here along with the style. Whereas the other sandwich joints in this story wow you with bold, innovative favors, Café Mamas has fgured out how to make traditional sandwiches well. Café MaMas