Seodaemun bakery bagel and cream bread takeaway: Mandong Jegwa

I brought home bread from a Yeonnam-dong bakery famous among Hongdae food spots! I heard this is a must-stop on a bakery crawl!!? I visited Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch, absolutely packed with delicious bread!!

Mandong Jegwa location and hours

It is at 32 Yeonhui-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. It is open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, and is a five-minute walk from Exit 3 of Hongik University Station. It is on a main road, so it is easy to find!

A bread paradise, from samples to endless varieties

The second you walk in, it is genuinely bread paradise 👼 As a total bread lover, I was so happy,, I picked up a tray to properly browse, and they kept handing me sample breads.. ♥

I think I tried four or five kinds, and every single one was delicious and distinctive!! The names suited each bread’s flavor so perfectly. There were even breads I bought because the samples sold me on them, haha. True to its bread-paradise status, the selection is enormous.

• Butt Bread, red-bean cream bread, chestnut-red bean mugwort bread, sweet potato bread
• Garlic baguette, shrimp baguette, cucumber baguette
• Onion Bagel, Basil Tomato, Ssuk-tteok Ssuk-tteok

And so on—my bread-lover eyes were spinning,, haha. There is a reason it is famous as a Yeonnam-dong bakery and Hongdae food spot ♥

They pack everything in bags printed with the word “Bread.”

I picked four breads in total: the ones that won me over in the samples, plus ones that looked delicious. They were Butt Bread, Ssuk-tteok Ssuk-tteok, Onion Bagel, and Basil Tomato.

Four takeaway breads

I took home four kinds of bread, and since that was far too much to eat at once, I cut them up and tried a little of each.

Onion Bagel

This bagel was bigger than my palm and stuffed full of onion cream cheese. The onion aroma filled the air from the moment I opened the bag.

It was already sliced, so it was incredibly easy to eat. The outside was crisp and the inside pleasantly chewy, while the filling made the bread’s name make complete sense.

The fragrant onion and sweet cream cheese came together beautifully, with the cream mellowing the onion’s sharpness for such great balance. The leftover bread firmed up in the fridge, so I removed the cream, microwaved just the bread for 20 seconds, then put the cream back on!

Basil Tomato

Basil Tomato was also larger than my palm. The little bits on the outside were crispy and tasty.

The fragrant basil and tomato flavors are so charming. Gentle basil aroma, tangy tomato, and sweet cream cheese combined into a very distinctive cream. This one was seriously delicious!

The leftover bread firmed up in the fridge too, so I removed the cream, microwaved only the bread for 20 seconds, then added the cream back on!

Butt Bread

The name alone is intense. It was displayed first in the bread section, and I was instantly won over by both the name and the look, so onto my tray it went, haha.

It is palm-sized and feels substantial because it is filled with cream. Inside the white bread is a white sweetened-condensed-milk cream cheese filling.

I could tell from cutting it with scissors that its chewiness was on another level. Every bite had such a lovely texture. Chewy outside and inside, plus sweet condensed-milk cream cheese—it is a flavor everyone, young or old, will enjoy.

Ssuk-tteok Ssuk-tteok

This bread is as long as a forearm. The mugwort dough is topped with mugwort rice cake, soybean powder, and sliced almonds.

Honestly, I do not like mugwort that much, so I tend to avoid mugwort rice cake and foods made with mugwort. But I tried the sample bread, found it delicious, and immediately grabbed one ><

The chewy mugwort rice cake gives it great texture, and the aroma is gentle rather than overpowering. Nutty soybean powder and sweetness tame mugwort’s characteristic bitterness, so there was not even a trace of bitterness. Anyone with grandma-style tastes will love it!!

Individually wrapped breads and what I want next time

There were so many different breads, and best of all, each one was carefully and hygienically wrapped on its own, so I did not have to worry about dust or contamination. They also gave out lots of samples, which really helped with choosing!

I heard the signature here is the garlic baguette, so next time I am coming back for the garlic baguette and Basil Tomato together!!