Ambience: The entrance itself was actually a little hard to find. It's tucked away in the corner of an unassuming concrete black mortar brick building. I almost would have missed it if not for the huge Korean letters spelling 나무 on the bright yellow doors.
The interior however is the complete opposite and perhaps the highlight of the entire experience. The place is filled with cozy gold light from several lamps and hanging lights, aesthetic little wooden tables and black padded high stools, and plenty of plants that add a feeling of "woodiness". Even the distillery equipment was easy on the eyes, with lots of eye catching shiny brass and metal.
You could tell there was a lot of thoughtfulness put into the decor and layout.
And yes, there are some very nice single person bathrooms available as well.
Food/Drinks: Off the bat, the names of the drinks on the menu gave me a good chuckle. They're witty, especially if you know Korean, and also make you curious about the drink. It's evident that the founders of this place have some chemical engineering background. As for the actual drinks-
The plum cheong was my favorite of the three we tried. You can't go wrong with plum! It was delicately sweet, and the carbonation made it refreshing.
The Yakgwa daisy was STRONG (probably should've have noticed the soju alcohol content is 40% before downing it so quickly). There's a punchiness to it from the ginger that's then quickly soothed by the nutty aftertaste from the sesame. I was feeling pretty buzzed by the time I finished.
There are also two non-alcoholic drink options. We tried the Less Root, More Stem drink, which tasted somewhat like soda water. I don't have much else to say about it.
For food, we tried the tteobokki. Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it. The texture was completely off but I'm assuming it was just reheated prepackaged tteobokki considering there's probably no actual cooking equipment in this distillery. Would be nice to have some other savory options to snack on in between sips of drinks though!
All in all, I think this place has amazing potential. It's a unique concept and I'm always excited to support anything involving Korean culture. I know they just opened a few weeks ago, so I've been telling everyone about it in hopes that more people try this place. I myself will definitely be coming back to try more of their drinks! Looking forward to see how this place develops and grows. read more