Café-hopping from Seoul to Hog’s Head Phuket

Most of the time we set a goal and we work hard to make it come true, but sometimes, things happen out of the blue when you least expect them to, as if by magic.

Last year, my Korean-fever crash landed onto my Pottermania, which brought me to Hongdae in Seoul in search for King’s Cross café. This time, it brought me to Phuket island at the South of Thailand in search for Hog’s Head café. As an Honorary Reporter, I was given the honor to enter the cafe and was given a tour of the facilities well before its scheduled soft-opening date.

Phuket’s is well-known for its wonderful food that combines the island’s rich Thai-Chinese-Malay-Portuguese cultural heritage. It is the first Asian city to be awarded the title of “City oof Gastronomy” by UNESCO on 11th December 2015. No wonder the city is home to so many creative cafés and restaurants!

Hog’s Head Café is nested on Yaowarat Road, one of the main roads in Phuket Old Town. The quirky café was was born out of passion and dedication that took the owners of the café halfway across the globe to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in London for inspiration. This also included scouring social media platforms for reviews of Harry Potter themed cafés around the world, especially King’s Cross café in South Korea, which is also how I came across Hog’s Head.

The café’s right-slanted door makes it stand out from its neighboring shops so there’s no way you would miss this Harry Potter — inspired café. When you enter Hog’s Head, take a minute to adjust your eyes to the darkness. The dimmed café aims to recreate the mysterious ambience of the Wizarding World. With a full-scaled dragon frame hand-made by a Northeastern Thai artist hanging from the ceiling, Hog’s Head certainly looks the part!

The place comes to live as twilight dawns. With the setting sun throwing its orange-red hues across the sky, its exterior lights up and cast a magical glow into the café through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside the café, the auburn glow reflects on the pièce de résistance of the café — a literal hog’s head that took three Thai artists about a year to create. To get up close with the magnificent dragon, climb up to the mezzanine where you can also take in a bird’s eye view of Hog’s Head.

I found out from the owners of the café that the venue will be family-oriented during daytime and transforms into a beer pub at night. With this in mind, even though the menu has yet to be fully developed, Hog’s Head can be expected to serve an array of food and beverages like wine, beer, juices and milkshakes that would cater to all of its customers. Since the café aims to serve international alcohols, I wonder if soju and makgeolli are on the list. And of course, butter beer is on the menu!

But it doesn’t just stop there. While the first building of the cafe is almost ready to welcome dine-in customers, the owners of the cafe are expecting to open the second building sometime next year. Given the amount of effort put into perfecting every detail, it certainly will take time to collect all the props to set up the café. This also means that there might be something new at Hog’s Head every time you visit.

The second building has a much eerier vibe as it caters to those who fancy the Dark Arts. Even the building’s exterior and lights are tinted green to match Tom Riddle’s Hogwarts house color — Slytherin. Not to mention the rows of shrunken skulls hung across its windows, and a now empty spot for a full-sized skeleton. This sure makes for a spooky trip to the unknown realms of Hogwart’s forbidden craft, although speaking on behalf of my fellow Slytherin, not all of us are the Dark Lord’s minions!

It’s wondrous how one thing leads to another. Some say that it’s a small world and that you’d never know where destiny will take you. I’m all ready and eagerly waiting for my HR family to bring me on my next adventure. Also, follow Hog’s Head on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop and whizz yourself to the café the next time you visit Phuket!