Ikseon-dong bakery halved at home: onion bagel vs garlic bread, Munhwa

Today I want to introduce Munhwa Bakery, where I picked up some delicious bread while out exploring Ikseon-dong 😊 Wandering around Ikseon-dong, you'll find so many pretty hanok-style cafés and restaurants! This time, I got pulled in by an irresistible savory bread smell and stopped by Munhwa Bakery haha.

I picked out two of my favorites from the signature menu — the onion bagel and the garlic bread — and since they're totally different styles, it was fun eating them back and forth! haha Especially the garlic bread, one bite in and I was like "oh, I'm going to keep thinking about this one" lol. So let's take a look at what kind of place this is~? 😆

Munhwa Bakery location and opening hours

Munhwa Bakery is located at 65 Donhwamun-ro, 1st floor, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and it's open daily from 11:00 to 20:00, closed on Chuseok holiday itself. It's about 200m from Jongno 3-ga Station Exit 7, so it was easy to get to by subway. It's also a pretty convenient stop if you're already out sightseeing around Ikseon-dong or Changdeokgung haha.

Amenities and services

• Takeout packaging
• Wheelchair-accessible entrance

The tile-roof storefront in the Ikseon-dong alley

First up, the exterior of Munhwa Bakery! With its tile roof and wooden hanok-style build, it really matched the vibe of the Ikseon-dong alley. Rather than looking like a flashy modern bakery, it had a warm, distinctive character that quietly caught my eye as I walked by haha.

When I arrived out front, there were already people there buying bread, so I figured this place must already be pretty well known among people doing bakery-hopping tours in Ikseon-dong haha.

Inside Munhwa Bakery: takeout only, two groups at a time

Once inside, the shop was smaller than I expected! It's not a café-style bakery with tables to sit and eat at — it's a takeout-only bakery. Since the space isn't big, they guide people in about two parties at a time~ On the plus side, the bread was all laid out in clear view, so it was fun browsing and deciding what to get haha. You just tell the staff which breads you want and they package it up for you!

What's on the menu at Munhwa Bakery

The menu was more varied than I expected. Along with the signature garlic bread, onion bagel, and coffee bread, there was also black sesame bread, milk cream bread, squid ink condensed milk bread, maple cream cheese bread, and more — really a wide range haha. I was tempted to try everything lol, but this time I went with my two favorites: the onion bagel and the garlic bread!

Ask Munhwa Bakery to slice the bread before bagging

The packaging was neat and easy to carry around. Since Munhwa Bakery is takeout-only, it was convenient to bring the bread home, and if you want, you can even ask them to slice the bread into easy-to-eat pieces before packaging haha. It also seemed like a great pick for a date snack in Ikseon-dong or something to bring along for later!

Opening the bag at home: onion bagel and garlic bread

Back home, I finally opened up the packaging! I laid out the onion bagel and garlic bread together for a full shot first. Both were pretty large in size, and honestly looked even more appetizing in person than in photos haha.

On one side, an onion bagel packed with cream; on the other, garlic bread soaked in moist garlic butter! The visuals were completely different styles, so I had a happy dilemma over what to eat first lol. Seeing bread like this really made the trip to this Jongno 3-ga bakery feel worth it 😆

How does the onion bagel taste? Mild bread plus onion cream

The onion bagel's look first! Rather than being simple like a typical bagel, this one was packed full inside~! There was so much onion cream stuffed between the bagel halves that splitting it open made for quite the visual haha. Onion bits peeking through the cream, plus sesame seeds on top for extra savoriness~! It was also pretty big in size, so one alone seemed like it would be filling haha.

On the first bite, the bagel was chewy but had a very plain, clean texture! Combined with the soft, generous onion cream, the plain bread and creamy filling paired really well together 😋 I could feel the texture of the onion bits mixed in and their subtle sweetness, which kept me reaching for more haha. The bagel alone might've been a bit plain, but the onion cream really nailed the flavor highlight! I thought it'd also be great as a brunch item with a cup of coffee!

Munhwa Bakery's signature garlic bread: crisp outside, moist inside

Garlic butter all the way through

Next up, Munhwa Bakery's signature garlic bread! Just from the look, the garlic butter seemed to be properly soaked into every layer of the bread. The outside looked golden brown while the inside looked moist — just looking at it made me hungry lol. It was also bigger than expected, so even a piece or two felt quite filling!

I took a bite right away... and this was honestly exactly my taste lol 😆 Crisp on the outside, moist and soft on the inside — that classic crisp-outside-moist-inside texture haha. The distinct garlic aroma combined with the sweet-and-salty garlic butter was pure bliss! The garlic flavor wasn't overly sharp — it blended naturally with the buttery richness, which kept me going back for more haha.

I think warming it up slightly would bring out the garlic butter aroma even more 🔥 If I had to pick one menu out of the two that I kept thinking about afterward, it would be the garlic bread! It's clearly the signature for a reason lol.

Onion bagel or garlic bread? Buy both and share

Eating the onion bagel and garlic bread side by side made the difference between the two really clear. The onion bagel, with its chewy bread and soft onion cream, has a clean, savory charm, while the garlic bread, with rich garlic butter spread through moist bread, had a bolder, more intense flavor~

One bite of onion bagel, one bite of garlic bread... and before I knew it, both were completely gone lol 😂 Rather than picking just one, buying both to share like this turned out to be a great idea!