Baby-friendly Jeongja café with stroller room: Butter & Shelter

A Jeongja-dong café for going with a baby: two-line summary of Butter & Shelter

• Butter & Shelter Bundang Jeongja has a spacious interior and even baby chairs, so it's a stylish café you can visit with a baby without any stress.
• The combination of Matilda cake, packed with rich, thick ganache, and an americano with a touch of acidity is fantastic.

On a weekday when I'd taken a day off, I had a nice lunch with my wife and our lovely baby for the first time in a while. My wife is on parental leave, and I felt bad seeing how hard she works on weekdays, so I thought, maybe going out together would cheer her up?

A green-signed café we found on a stroller walk along Jeongja café street

Butter & Shelter Bundang Jeongja (버터앤쉘터 분당정자점) is a café with a deep green sign on Jeongja café street. Our stomachs were full, so to help digestion we pushed the stroller out for a leisurely walk toward the café street. Walking along, we spotted a pretty café with a green sign. Deep green, my favorite color! It had such a stylish café feel that we said, let's go in.

Can you park at Butter & Shelter Bundang Jeongja?

I heard that if you park in the shopping complex building, you get 2 hours of free parking. Coming to Jeongja café street usually means a parking war and a headache, so I think any parent traveling by car with a baby will agree how big a perk 2 hours of parking is.

On a nice day, that's enough time to visit the café and still take a quick walk along Tancheon stream. Of course, the weather was nice that day and I walked from near home pushing the stroller, so I didn't need to pay for parking.

There's an outdoor terrace too

In front of the entrance, outdoor terrace tables were neatly set up on a deck. On a day with a cool breeze or clear skies, having a cup of coffee at an outdoor table would feel really good. Quite a few people were relaxing outside the day we visited, so I thought I'd sit outside next time.

A Jeongja-dong café where strollers fit and baby chairs are available

Moms who have taken a baby to cafés know this: if the shop is too small or the tables are packed close together, there's nowhere to put the stroller, and you feel self-conscious around other customers, so you end up leaving without really resting.

But the inside of Butter & Shelter was much bigger and more comfortable than I expected. The spacing between tables was generous, so parking the stroller beside us was no trouble at all. Best of all, what won me over was that they have baby chairs.

Having a baby chair really makes a difference. You can hand the baby a few rice puffs (tteokppeong) and enjoy some peaceful time. Inside there's group seating for larger parties, and a variety of plush sofa tables that are nice to lean back on. We picked a comfy spot and settled in.

Since it was weekday lunchtime, office workers from nearby companies were drifting in in small groups for coffee after lunch. Sitting in a café on a weekday afternoon with a day off, while everyone else is hard at work, made me really happy. Isn't this the true taste of taking a day off? Of course, I'm a regular office worker again the next day, too...

Butter sand types and prices at Butter & Shelter

True to the café's name, they sell a wide variety of butter sands (butter cream sandwich cookies) as their signature dessert.

The butter sands in the display case came in a real range, from original to glacé, crème brûlée, chocolate, raspberry cream cheese and more. I honestly wanted to try them all, but sadly my stomach wouldn't allow it. The price is in the mid-₩3,000s each, so ordering one per person is no burden.

They also sell them prettily packaged as gift sets, which looked great for giving to people around you. No wonder I kept seeing people buying gift sets. So that's what it was.

Beyond that, there are plenty of other desserts like Basque cheesecake, banana chocolate cream cake, low-sugar tiramisu, Victoria cake, scones and cookies, so you wouldn't get bored coming often. That day I was craving sweet, rich chocolate, so I chose the Matilda cake. No matter how full you are from a meal, coffee with a sweet cake has a magical pull you just can't quit.

Matilda cake and americano: how did they taste?

What we ordered at Butter & Shelter that day was 1 iced americano, 1 hot americano, and a Matilda cake.

First, the Matilda cake I was most looking forward to passed the test on looks alone.

Thick, rich ganache chocolate filled it layer upon layer, so I thought I'd ordered well before even taking a bite. I've been stressed from work lately, so I keep craving sweet chocolate. The sponge wasn't dry at all but very soft, melting in my mouth with barely any chewing. The heavy sweetness of the chocolate washed the fatigue right away.

I'd just had a healthy pot rice (solbap) lunch, so I felt no guilt at all eating such a sweet cake, which was great.

An americano with some acidity paired with Matilda cake

The Butter & Shelter americano had a pleasant, moderate acidity that came through gently, exactly the style I like.

I used to think coffee that's just bitter, dark and burnt-tasting was the good kind, but now that I'm slowly getting to know coffee, I much prefer beans with a clean, bright acidity in the finish. My wife says coffee pros like acidic coffee, so am I gradually becoming one too?

The clean, acidic americano cut through the heavy sweetness of the Matilda cake, so I could enjoy it down to the last bite without getting tired of it.