Dosan Park bread café: Guinness butter cream latte, Option Black

Do you like bread? I actually prefer rice and rice cakes over bread, and when I do eat bread, I like it plain and not too sweet. So I love pastries, salt bread and baguettes. Today, though, I'm introducing a place where you can have warm, freshly baked sliced bread with a nutty, lightly sweet latte. Is it an Apgujeong bakery or a Dosan Park café? Either way, it's a special place with bread and coffee (and a special name too): Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black (압구정생식빵옵션블랙)!!

Where is Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black? Location, hours and parking

Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black is at 51 Apgujeong-ro 34-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Quantum Building, Unit 101, 1st floor), and it's open daily 07:00–18:00. There's no parking at the shop, so if you're driving, you'll need to use a nearby paid lot.

It's within walking distance of Apgujeong Station, and it isn't a long walk from Dosan Park either. Parking is never easy in Apgujeong, so I'd recommend combining it with your other plans and going by public transport. Since it opens at 7 a.m., it also seems perfect for a quick stop before work, bread and coffee to start your day.

Inside, there's a short bio of the baker who made the bread, and he used to be a hotel pastry chef... so I walked in full of anticipation.

It's not only about the bread here. You can choose between two kinds of coffee beans and there's a decaf option too, so they clearly take their coffee seriously.

Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black atmosphere: good for working solo?

There are lots of seats with some distance between them, so it felt relaxed and comfortable. Many seats have outlets, so it's good for getting a bit of work done alone, and it looked just as good for chatting with a group.

The big windows let you see outside, and working alone while watching the trees sway gently was lovely!

Watching people walk by, the swaying trees and the clouds drifting slowly across the sky was so healing.

Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black menu and prices

Besides bread, jam and butter, they also sell sandwiches and baked sweets separately, so it's easy to try a bit of everything. Here's what I ordered today.

• S bread ₩8,000
• D bread ₩8,000
• 2 slices of bread + 3 homemade jams ₩6,500
• Guinness butter cream latte ₩5,800

S bread and D bread are each also sold as a whole loaf, but for a first visit I recommend the 2 slices + 3 jams set, or, if you like things plain, the butter set with 2 kinds of butter!!

You can compare the two breads and taste three jams, which makes it easy to figure out which bread suits you. The jams are strawberry butter, blackberry and apple cinnamon.

Toasting your own bread at the table toaster

Every table has a toaster, so you can toast the bread as much as you like. A Dosan Park café where you get freshly baked bread... I love it. Plain bread and lightly toasted bread feel really different, so I first tried it plain and then toasted it.

S bread vs. D bread: what's the difference?

According to the description, S bread is made with a blend of sour cream and fresh cream, while D bread is made with 100% fresh cream. When I actually ate them, they weren't hugely different, but each had its own small character.

S bread was relatively plain and clean in flavor and went well with jam, while D bread felt nuttier and softer. Personally, I liked D bread a bit more eaten plain. It has its own nutty flavor, so I kept reaching for another piece without anything on it. I like this kind of mild bread.

S bread, on the other hand, tasted better with jam. Lightly toasted, it's crisp outside and soft inside, and the texture gets much better. I guess bread really does need a little toasting.

Which of the 3 homemade jams was the best?

Of the three homemade jams (strawberry butter, blackberry, apple cinnamon), apple cinnamon was my favorite. The sweetness of apple with a subtle hint of cinnamon went really well on warm toasted bread.

Strawberry butter was the most familiar and smooth, and blackberry was a bit tangier than the other two, so it felt fresher. The three taste clearly different, so it's fun to put a different jam on each slice. Personally, I liked spreading just enough that you can still taste the bread. Of course, as I ate, the amount of jam kept creeping up, haha. Moderation is really hard when it comes to bread.

What does the Guinness butter cream latte taste like?

The Guinness butter cream latte (Signature) at Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black is ₩5,800 and comes iced only. Think of it as a latte with the heavy, bittersweet flavor of Guinness stout plus sweet, nutty butter cream.

Bread alone can feel dry, and that's when you crave a nutty latte, right? From the name alone it's hard to imagine the taste, but it had a slight butterscotch feel. They say they actually simmer Guinness to make it.

When I drank it, it was much smoother than I expected. At first you get sweet, nutty cream, and toward the end a slightly bitter Guinness flavor lingers. It doesn't taste strongly of beer, so it wasn't overwhelming. I like slightly unusual drinks you can only get at one café, so I enjoyed it. A special item only at this Dosan Park café!!

It isn't just sweet like an ordinary vanilla latte or cream latte, which is why it stuck in my memory. Above all, it went well with the bread. The bread is mild and soft and the latte is rich, so neither flavor got lost when eaten together.

Pairing a visit with Dosan Park restaurants and a walk

That day I went Dosan Park restaurant → walk → Apgujeong Saengsikppang Option Black, and the route worked well. I usually search for Dosan Park cafés and look for ones with a nice mood, but I think it's also fine not to insist on just cafés and to look for places like this where you can have bread and coffee together.

Being able to toast the bread yourself made it fun in a way ordinary cafés aren't. Sipping coffee, toasting a little bread at a time and switching jams, I ended up spending a more relaxed time than I expected. And if you like it, you can take bread home too. I brought home one chestnut loaf.

What to order on your first visit

Of what I tried this time, D bread with apple cinnamon jam and the Guinness butter cream latte were my favorites. For a first visit, I'd recommend the 2 slices of bread + 3 homemade jams set. You can compare S bread and D bread, and with three jams it's easy to find the combination you like.

It's a Dosan Park café that opens early, so it's good for a quick bread and latte on the way to work, or for the afternoon when you want good bread with a cup of coffee! It seems like a plain bread-and-coffee combo, but each item tasted a little different, so it was a more fun visit than I expected.