Not Bad Coffee & Sandwich, Sinsa-dong: A Jambon Focaccia and a Seoul Bike Ride Along the Han

The morning belonged to my company's annual health check-up.

When I walked out afterwards, the weather was gorgeous. Suddenly all I wanted was the Han River park.

So I got a sandwich and a coffee to go, grabbed a public bike and rode to the river. After eating, I kept going along the water all the way to Nodeul Station.

A scowling face and a lime-green door

A white wall juts out from the ground-floor corner of a glass building. On it: a face with a furrowed brow, and below it, NOT BAD COFFEE & SANDWICH.

The windows carry the same name in big white hand-drawn letters, ringed with stars and sandwich doodles. The door is lime green, with an OPEN sign hanging on it.

Inside: a tall wooden table, stainless steel stools, round aluminum tables, and a round mirror with light spilling out from behind it.

A convex mirror in the shop carries the line "THIS SANDWICH WON'T SAVE THE WORLD!" A small card hanging by the menu goes further: WORK HARD. EAT SMART. LIVE HAPPY. BE NOT BAD!

The menu: nine focaccia sandwiches

A glass case at the counter holds focaccia sandwiches on two shelves. On the glass, in white: NOT BAD FOCACCIA 6.9, APRICOT JAMBON, BACON EGG MAYO, BBQ PULLED PORK 8.9. As on many Korean cafe menus, "6.9" means 6,900 won.

The menu next to the counter comes in three groups. Ingredients are as printed on it.

Group	Sandwich	Price	Ingredients listed
Fresh & Friendly	Not Bad Fresh Focaccia	5,900 won	Fresh mozzarella, tomato, arugula, lemon olive oil
Fresh & Friendly	Not Bad Focaccia (BEST)	6,900 won	House jambon ham, basil pesto, tomato, white cheddar, frill ice lettuce
Fresh & Friendly	Apple Peanut Butter Focaccia	6,900 won	Apple, white cheddar, peanut butter (vegan)
Jambon & Deli	Apple Ricotta Jambon	7,500 won	Apple, ricotta, honey, house ham, arugula
Jambon & Deli	Apricot Jambon Focaccia (BEST)	7,900 won	Jambon, butter spread, arugula, apricot jam
Jambon & Deli	Truffle Honey Butter Jambon Focaccia	7,900 won	Jambon, truffle honey butter, arugula
Meat & Impact	Jalapeño Mushroom Cream Chicken Focaccia	7,900 won	Chicken thigh, mushrooms, jalapeño, cream sauce, sun-dried tomato, white cheddar
Meat & Impact	Bacon Egg Mayo Focaccia (BEST)	8,900 won	Bacon, egg mayo, sun-dried tomato, frill ice lettuce, barbecue sauce
Meat & Impact	BBQ Pulled Pork Focaccia (BEST)	8,900 won	Pulled pork, white cheddar, pickled onion, nachos, chipotle mayo, barbecue sauce

Above the menu: order a drink with your sandwich and take 1,000 won off. The top line of the drinks screen, an Americano, is 3.5. I added a coffee to my sandwich.

A jambon sandwich, one tick on the sticker

My pick was a jambon sandwich: cured ham and butter, the classic French jambon-beurre pairing. On this menu it goes by Apricot Jambon Focaccia, with arugula and apricot jam added to the jambon and butter spread.

Takeout comes in a kraft box with a clear lid, inside a plastic bag. A pale green sticker on the box lists the nine sandwiches in English, each with a checkbox, and the tick is next to APRICOT JAMBON.

In the bag: a small cup of pickles, wet wipes, napkins and a green instruction card. The gist of the card:

• Not eating it right away? Wrap it, or put it in a zip bag or airtight container, and refrigerate
• Eat it within a day if you can
• 1–2 minutes in an air fryer at 200°C warms it up

Into the bike basket, off to the river

From the shop to the riverbank is a little over 900 m in a straight line. On a Ttareungyi (따릉이), Seoul's public bike, I was at the water less than twenty minutes after leaving the shop. On the front of the basket, a "SEOUL BIKE" plate; inside, my bag and the lidded iced coffee.

N Seoul Tower across the water

I stopped on the Jamwon Hangang Park side of the river, right next to the riverside bike path. Stand under the trees and N Seoul Tower sits straight ahead on the hill across the water. Blue sky, long streaky clouds: the very reason I had wanted to come.

A week later I ran up that hill at night; the run is in my Namsan log.

Inside the focaccia

The box holds a square focaccia cut into two overlapping pieces. The top of the bread is dimpled all over, and ham and green leaves poke out of the middle.

Lift a piece and the cross-section is thin ham, stacked in layers. A disposable plastic glove on my hand, the sandwich still in its paper. Where I had bitten in, an orange layer of apricot jam and green arugula show between the ham.

The coffee is iced, under a clear domed lid. The sleeve has that scowling face again, NOT BAD SUMMER, and a few lines of small English text. Set down on the bare ground, it was about half gone.

Two friends on a bench

On two green benches facing the river sat two older men, side by side. A cap each, both looking the same way. They looked like old friends.

Friendship really is a beautiful thing, I thought. To add a spoonful of the humanities, Aristotle is reported to have put it like this:

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." — Aristotle, as recorded by Diogenes Laërtius in Lives of Eminent Philosophers

The bank is lined with green benches like these, all facing the river, with picnic tables under the trees. Among the trees further back, a few already show red and yellow leaves. Late September.

And on to Nodeul Station

After eating, I got back on the bike. This time I headed west along the river, riding the Han River bike path all the way to Nodeul Station. A Monday morning that started with a health check-up stretched out a long way.

Visitor info

📍 NOT BAD COFFEE & SANDWICH, Apgujeong branch · around Nonhyeon-ro 163-gil, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

• 🚇 Nearest station: Apgujeong Station (Line 3), a little over 400 m in a straight line
• 💰 Prices: focaccia sandwiches 5,900–8,900 won; 1,000 won off when you add a drink
• 🥡 Takeout: kraft box, pickles, wet wipes and a storage card
• 🚲 To the river: Seoul Bike to the riverbank on the Jamwon Hangang Park side, a little over 900 m in a straight line
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

Another stop in the same neighborhood: Dallat, a Thai restaurant in Sinsa-dong.

Jayden's verdict

Check-up done and the sun is out? Grab a sandwich and head for the Han.

• Highlight: a jambon sandwich with N Seoul Tower across the water, and two old friends on a bench
• Route: the shop in Sinsa-dong → Seoul Bike → riverbank near Jamwon → along the Han bike path to Nodeul Station
• Tip: add a drink to your sandwich for 1,000 won off. If you are not eating it right away, the shop's card says to refrigerate it and eat it within a day.