Review: Lounge aA
Downtown near the river, there are now quite a few western style restaurants and independent cafes. One of them, which opened up a few months ago, is Lounge aA. It caught my eye because of its large open plan design, which you can see from the street as you pass by.
The first time I went there was for a coffee late in the morning one Saturday. I was the only one there as they had just opened. I ordered an Americano and sat in the main dining area, which was very spacious thanks to the high ceiling. There were two waiters and one of them promptly brought me my coffee while the other put on some jazz, which I was happy with. I got lost in the book I was reading and was given another Americano as service. Getting free stuff is always fun, and it must have worked on me somewhere in my subconscious because I found myself back at Lounge aA for dinner with a friend a week later.
It was a Friday night and there were already a few other people dining there. The restaurant has a partition in the middle of it, with the entrance leading into the counter and lounge area, while on the other side of the partition is the dining area. We were greeted and then shown through to the dining area. The waiter handed us menus and we looked them over, not taking long to decide what we would get. There was pizza on the menu, but we both opted for pasta. The waiter came back after a couple of minutes and I ordered spaghetti carbonara while my friend got spaghetti bolognaise. We also got a caprese salad to share between the two of us. Our salad was brought out shortly after ordering. I was rather impressed that it actually had real mozzarella, though sadly it didn’t have any basil in it. Still, it was a really good salad. Shortly after this our meals arrived, and at the same time which was great. We both really enjoyed our food and I was happy with the portion sizes and the sauce to pasta ratio. It was as good as any pasta I’ve eaten in restaurants downtown.
I would recommend trying Lounge aA if you’ve never been there and are looking for somewhere new to dine with friends. Its open plan gives it a laid back feel which is a nice point of difference with many of the other pasta/pizza places in downtown Gwangju, which go for a bit more of an intimate ambience.
My meal cost 13,000 won, and my friend’s cost 14,000 won. The caprese salad cost 13,000 won.
To find Lounge aA, start at the intersection downtown at the Ministop on the same street as Speakeasy, with Superdry clothes store on your left. Walk towards the river and you will see Loung aA on your right.
Take a look at some photographs of Lounge aA below.