Ask them to slice the garlic bread at this Jongno bakery: Munhwa

Munhwa Bakery

A bakery you just can't pass by when you're in Jongno 3-ga (Ikseon-dong)! Jongno 3-ga's famous bakery, Munhwa Bakery! This includes photos from times I paid for it myself because I passed by and wanted to eat it!!

How close is it to Jongno 3-ga Station?

It's right near Jongno 3-ga Station! Come out of Exit 7 and it's just a 2–3 minute walk — really close!

Why it works even with such a limited lineup

What made this place feel even more like a real bakery destination is that there's nothing else — this is literally the whole lineup of bread!! And yet business is booming, which must mean it's delicious, right?! So usually I see people buying several of one kind, or buying one of every kind available.

The combo I always buy: garlic bread + onion bagel

I haven't tried everything myself, but the garlic bread is so famous, and the garlic bread and onion bagel are so good, that garlic bread + onion bagel is the combo I always buy. I also tried the mugwort rice cake bread, and it had this plain, clean mugwort flavor that's perfect for an old-lady palate like mine!

The cheese bread topped with cheese on the bagel looked chewy and salty, the squid ink condensed milk bread with its striking black look, and the black sesame bread and milk cream bread all looked impossible to be anything but delicious!

So what does the onion bagel taste like?

Seeing it in person, the onion bagel looks even more appetizing because it's so big! The outside is crispy and you can feel the nuts inside — the texture is really great, and it goes perfectly with the onion cream cheese inside! Even people who aren't big on cream cheese or aren't used to it could enjoy this bread!

They also have white bread and coffee bread

They also sell two kinds of white bread — a rice-chestnut loaf and a rice-cheese loaf — and I heard the coffee bread is really popular too!! I'll have to come back next time just to buy coffee bread! It's said to be almost the size of your forearm!! Jongno 3-ga's famous bakery Munhwa Bakery is a place where the sheer size of the bread is part of the charm!

The signature garlic bread — don't assume it's always in stock just because it's piled up

And now, Munhwa Bakery's signature menu!!! See the photo below of it being packaged? It's common for one person to buy 4–5 at once, so don't assume you're safe just because there's a pile of garlic bread sitting there!! Anyone who's tried it once will tell you Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread is the best in Jongno 3-ga — like me...

Ask for the big loaves to be sliced

For big, appetizing loaves like the garlic bread or onion bagel, if you ask them to slice it when you order, they'll cut it into easy-to-eat pieces — so make sure to ask!

There's other stuff I should try, but every time I go I just can't give up the garlic bread + onion bagel combo... Anyway, the garlic bread is softness itself! Inside there's what I'd call a garlic cream — the garlic flavor really comes through, but it's never too much and never greasy, genuinely delicious! That's the charm that makes me walk in and buy it every time I pass by!!

Mugwort rice cake bread

The mugwort rice cake bread had a nice crunch from the nuts, a chewy rice cake texture still alive inside the bread, and a plain, clean mugwort flavor — I loved it! This is a bread an old-lady palate simply can't resist!

The onion bagel's texture is wild

And the onion bagel's texture is honestly wild. The outside of the bagel is super crisp, the inside is chewy, and the onion cream cheese is delicious — plus there are sesame seeds and nuts baked into the bread, so you get a good chew and nuttiness too!!!

If you're ever passing through Jongno 3-ga or Ikseon-dong, you should definitely try some bread at Jongno 3-ga's famous bakery, Munhwa Bakery?! It's genuinely so good that I keep paying for it myself over and over!