Hyunjin Birthday Cafes, 2026

The second Stray Kids birthday in the calendar year belongs to our beloved artist and leader of Paboracha (iykyk), Hwang Hyunjin (황현진).

Seeing as this was the first weekend of birthday cafes for me since moving back to the Seoul region, I planned on visiting 4 or 5 of them. There were around 15 in total in Seoul, mostly in Hongdae, as usual.

Without further ado, here we go!

#1, Cloud Cafe

Hyunjin’s Skzoo (animal plushie) Jiniret, a white ferret, in front of the birthday cafe sign outside the cafe

First was a fluffy cloud-themed cafe at 갤러리카페 비이아스. After arranging a meet-up with a friend at a cafe that didn’t make the final cut of my list, I was thinking of skipping this one but ended up at it first when I headed into Hongdae.

The cafe was completely out of drinks, leaving only a cookie set left. Honestly, I wasn’t mad. One of the downsides to going to multiple birthday cafes in one day is that you get a ton of (usually poor quality) drinks, so having one less didn’t bother me at all. They still had the paper cup and stickers.

I participated in a lucky draw for 2k won ($1.33 USD). I paid cash and pulled out a ticket from a plastic box, which I then scratched off to reveal my prize. It was a fanmade keychain. I debated between a dumpling one and a lucky Korean fish (북어) before deciding on the fish, which is a design that I’ve wanted for a while. It also has a four-leaf clover which, while representing luck in many cultures, is also significant for Hyunjin and his career.

#2, Mandu Cafe

Jiniret sits in a paper cup next to a sweet iced coffee in a plastic pouch, and there is an envelope of various goodies on the table

The second cafe was the one I was looking forward to visiting the most. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a sign outside and the one in the window was not suitable to take photos with, so here’s Jiniret with the goodies I received at the cafe.

The theme was dumplings and the color scheme were great shades of red and blue. It was at 디어마이디어. Hyunjin is often represented as a dumpling emoji for several reasons, one being that his Skzoo character, a ferret, doesn’t have an emoji. He also likes to eat bread and is said to have a face like a dumpling.

I really liked that two pinback buttons were included with the goodies in addition to a postcard and stickers. I wish the interior design had been closer to the poster image, but it was a cute cafe nonetheless.

a wall for posting “recipes” of how to make a Hyunjin (you checked off what ingredients to include)

#3, Cafe “Sorry, Sold Out”

I met my friend at the third cafe, 미닝더갤러리, and to our surprise, they were out of everything. No drinks, no cookies, no paper cups, no goodies. We just walked around and looked at the photos before leaving. I forgot to save the information for this cafe and since I didn’t receive anything from the cafe, I have no way of recovering

For this reason, I only have a few photos of the cafe as we didn’t participate in the lucky draw event, which was still going on despite the fact that the cafe was completely sold out. I mean, it was the only thing you could do at said cafe.

Jiniret in front of the large poster in the window of the cafe

#4 Hyunjin, the Artist

This was the second cafe my friend wanted to go to, called 헤이, so we hoped we’d have better luck here. The theme was “more than art,” which holds significance because Hyunjin is also a very good artist who often shares his work on social media.

Out of all of the cafes, this was the most nicely designed and decorated. You can tell someone took a lot of time putting everything together. I loved the focus on Hyunjin’s art, and posting his artwork alongside Jiniret plushies was really cool.

(According to KakaoMaps, this cafe is only open on the weekends for birthday cafes.)

an adorable display of a mini Jiniret standing at a birthday celebration table

#5, Monthly Hyunjin

Jiniret in front of the cafe poster on the second floor

The final cafe, 카페라래, was literally across the street from the previous one. That’s how many people end up going to more cafes than they were planning on.

This cafe had a kiosk for ordering, which was the first I’ve seen at a birthday cafe. However, it was placed at the top of the staircase which caused a traffic jam. One girl bumped into me, said “sorry” in Korean and then proceeded to say “sorry sorry sorry” in English, all the while giggling. I told her “it’s okay” in Korean and she kept giggling.

This cafe was very busy so we didn’t enter very far into it. It felt like your typical birthday cafe, with portraits on the wall, magazine photoshoots open on tables, plushies, and a sort of random cutesy feel.

My friend and I called it a day after visiting this cafe, as there weren’t any more we were interested in, she needed food, and I needed the restroom as I had had way too many beverages in the last two hours.

the birthday cafe poster under string of fake sky-blue hanging flowers

⭐Bonus!🥟

While we were walking to a kpop store, we stumbled upon another aspect of a Korean idol’s birthday weekend–an advertisement. We had to wait a bit as the ads cycled through, but we got a shot of it before we continued on our way.

birthday ad on an LED screen at a bus stop

The next three birthday cafes I plan on visiting are SHINee’s Jonghyun (April), SHINee’s Taemin (July), and Stray Kids’ Changbin (August). See you there!