Late-afternoon Seochon café: hot latte & cookie salt bread at Respire

A pretty Seochon café where you can enjoy rich, buttery salt bread with a view of the Gyeongbokgung stone wall: Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon

Today I'm introducing a fairytale-like café in Seochon. The interior is cute and full of charm, the kind of place that calms you down just by looking at it, and the big windows frame the sky and the stone wall like a painting. It's Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon (레스피레베이커리카페), a salt bread favorite in the neighborhood.

What are the opening hours of Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon?

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 18:00, and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00. Since it opens early in the morning, it's a Seochon café where you can also enjoy a relaxed brunch.

Where is Respire Bakery Cafe and what's the atmosphere like?

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon sits right below the old Cheongwadae (the former presidential Blue House). The area around Cheongwadae and Gyeongbokgung is quiet and refined, so it's lovely for a slow stroll too. It's great for tea with a friend or a date, but it also felt like a cozy spot to go on an ordinary weekday morning, early, and have a brunch all to yourself.

Inside, there are antique-feeling props and furniture and understated vintage decorations here and there. The wood-finished interior and the view outside the window make you feel warm and calm.

Is there any salt bread left if you go late in the afternoon?

The salt bread (a buttery roll with a salted base) is ready from around 9:30, but I went late in the afternoon after lunch and the plain salt bread was already sold out. Respire is known as a salt bread favorite in Seochon, and they say they make it with dough aged cold for over 12 hours and gourmet butter. It's supposed to be wonderfully nutty and flavorful, and I really wanted to taste that pure buttery aroma, so it was a real shame. Next time I'll go earlier and try it freshly baked.

Besides plain salt bread, there are salt breads with various toppings and sandwiches too. There's also Respire Toast and an omelet sandwich, perfect brunch menus, but I'd just had lunch, so I saved them for next time. I'll definitely come back whenever I need a tea break of my own.

This afternoon's tea time record: hot latte, hot lemon tea, cookie salt bread

Where is the best seat at Respire Bakery Cafe?

The atmosphere is nice anywhere on the 1st or 2nd floor, but I went up to the 2nd floor, which is quieter. In my opinion the 2nd-floor window seat is the best spot. Just looking at the stone wall right in front and the swaying trees makes you feel at ease.

Ordering drinks and the Americano refill at Respire Bakery Cafe

At Respire, if each person orders one drink, you get one Americano refill! I ordered a hot latte for the first time in a while, and you can switch the latte to oat milk. My husband, who needed some vitamins, ordered lemon tea. Having a latte and then finishing with a clean Americano — there's no happier tea time than that.

How does the cookie salt bread taste?

The cookie salt bread is a unique combination: a cookie sitting on top of a salt bread. I love salt bread so much that I basically order it every time I go to a bakery café, but this was the first time I'd had one topped with a cookie at a Seochon salt bread favorite. The plate it came on also suits the antique café mood perfectly.

The sweet, slightly chewy cookie goes really well with the butter-rich salt bread. The cookie part is quite big, so it felt almost like eating one huge cookie.

The hot latte: a classic done right

The latte was even better with the sweet cookie! It's a latte that sticks to the basics: strong espresso with nutty milk. For the past few days I'd only been drinking sweet specialty drinks whenever I went to a café, so having a clean latte with just nuttiness and aroma after so long felt comfortable and nice.

I dipped just the cookie part of the cookie salt bread into the latte's milk foam, and it turned out to go surprisingly well together. The sweet cookie melting into the hot latte in your mouth is so good.

The hot lemon tea my husband picked

The lemon tea my husband ordered, with its freshness and sweetness, wakes you right up from the afternoon drowsiness. It wasn't too hot or lukewarm, and the lemon flavor was steeped strongly, so he enjoyed it a lot.

If you want a quiet, relaxed tea time, I recommend Respire Bakery Cafe, the Seochon salt bread favorite. The ciabatta was sold out so I couldn't try it, but I hear it's popular for its chewy texture. I'll have to go back for a chewy ciabatta and another latte.

Where do you park at Respire Bakery Cafe?

For parking, use the Hyoja Public Parking Lot, a 5-minute walk from the café. The lot right in front of the shop is reserved for the Presidential Security Service, I hear. The surroundings make a lovely walking route, so it's nice to stroll over. How about a Seochon salt bread café for this weekend's outing?