Restaurant Review: Cafe Barie
By Gabriel Ward
Photos courtesy of Cafe Barie
Between January and February I enjoyed two meals with friends at Cafe Barie. It’s an Italian restaurant downtown; if you’re at the Ministop near German Bar facing the river, turn right and take your first left. It’s on the right at the end of this street.
My friends and I shared five pizzas between six of us the first time we went there. We had the Margherita, bacon spinach, gorgonzola, and funghi salsicia pizzas. On the whole the pizzas were pretty good but I’d be lying if I said they were as good as you’d expect a woodfired pizza to be back home. I particularly enjoyed the Margherita pizza, and Barie understands the way Italians think of pizza as each pizza had around three toppings on it. There was some miscommunication with the waiter when clarifying what the funghi salsicia pizza was, because we thought it had mushrooms on it but they were nowhere to be found when it was brought out to us. The pizzas are all around 15,000 won each and essentially one pizza serves one person.
While the pizza left me unconvinced, Barie has oodles of atmosphere, and feels very Western and modern. There are jars of pasta set up on a big shelf in one of the front windows, the furniture is all wooden and there is an art display downstairs. Thus, while the pizza could do with improvement, the vibe and aesthetics of Barie make it a great place to just sit and enjoy a meal with your friends.
The second time I went to Barie was in early February with two friends and we all got pasta. We were greeted by a waiter when we went in and shown to a table. The service at this point was a little lackluster as we had to wait quite a while for our orders to be taken, though not because the staff was very busy. However, once our orders were taken the service was great, and the waiting staff was very attentive to us, constantly refilling our glasses of water when they were empty and making sure we were happy customers.
My two friends got the cream seafood and carbonara pastas, which were 16,000 won and 13,000 won respectively. They were happy with the taste of their dishes but were left feeling as if they could’ve eaten a bit more. I got the chili tomato seafood pasta which was 16,000 won, and I was satisfied with it both in terms of taste and portion size. The thickness of the sauce was superb and it had a perfect amount of saltiness to it. There was also a bit of bite to the pasta.
On the whole I’d recommend going to Barie at least once, as it’s a great place to enjoy the company of your friends. I’d say what would be ideal would be to share a pizza between your group as a starter, and then have pasta as your main course. Barie is definitely one of Gwangju’s better options for Italian dining if that’s the kind of thing that you particularly enjoy back home (like me).
Afterward I’d recommend going to the Big Apple which is just back the way you came on your right. It’s a wine/lounge bar with a very capacious interior and great decor. They don’t serve food there, except for a couple of desserts, but you can get the likes of Beck’s and Hoegaarden there for 5,000 won. It is the perfect setting to enjoy a drink with your friends after dinner.
I almost forgot to mention that both Barie and the Big Apple have rooftops that will be fantastic for enjoying the evenings with a beer once the weather starts to warm up!