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Bar Cham

Seoul

Tucked away amongst the patchwork of intricately tiled rooftop dwellings in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Seoul, Bar Cham is set in a hanok [traditional Korean house]. Slide open the wooden door and you’ll be welcomed into a softly lit cocktail haven helmed by Byung-Jin ‘BJ’ Lim and his dynamic team. Cham was one of the first bars in the capital city to pioneer a Korean-culture-first ethos that truly puts a spotlight on traditional spirits and indigenous ingredients.

On the menu you can expect to find a plethora in native alcohols, with products sourced from all over the provinces of South Korea. The team uses a craft soju plus bitters made from local roots for its version of a subtly spiced negroni. Other cocktails, such as the Wonju, meld Korean drinks traditionalism with new-world vision, pairing mowolin – a distillate made using local organic rice – with mezcal, corn cream, corn silk, black pepper and egg yolk.

Even if you weren’t a fan of soju at the start of the night, by the end of it you’re sure to be an aficionado thanks to the small shots in traditional clay cups handed out by BJ and crew – these fiery sips are made to be drunk quickly to the jubilant shout of ‘geon bae!’

The space is small and seating limited so be sure to book in advance or, alternatively, add your name to the waitlist and venture a few streets over to Pomme, another of BJ’s ventures, to sip an apple-spirit-spiked cocktail while you wait for your perch at Cham.

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