Seochon brunch café parking and stone-wall window seats: Respire

Having a free weekday to enjoy a leisurely brunch is honestly such a happy thing. I got a day off last Monday and went on a date to Seochon, and wow — I had no idea Seochon was such a peaceful, beautiful place ㅠㅠ

How to get to Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon: 5 minutes from Gyeongbokgung Station

I went to Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon, right near Gyeongbokgung Palace. It's about a 5-minute walk from Gyeongbokgung Station Exit 3, but I took a bus from in front of the KT building near Gwanghwamun Square. I hopped on bus 01, got off at the old Blue House stop, and walked about 2 more minutes.

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon / 40-7 Hyoja-ro 13-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Where do you park? The lot in front of Respire is off-limits

There's a parking lot right in front of Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon, but it's not the café's — it's used by staff who worked at the old Blue House, so you shouldn't park there. As noted in the café's announcement on Naver Maps,

you should use one of the nearby public parking lots instead. There's Hyoja public parking lot and Singyo public parking lot, both ₩3,000 an hour. There's also a resident-priority parking line in front of the shop that can technically be used, but only if you book it through the Modu Parking app — just a heads up.

Personally, if you're planning to visit Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon, I'd honestly recommend public transit no matter what. Parking aside, Seochon's alleys are full of little shops and galleries worth browsing, and the alleys themselves have a very Seochon-specific charm — it's such a great walking date spot.

2nd-floor window seats with a stone wall and tree view

The café has a 1st floor and a 2nd floor. I saw a foreign couple having brunch on the 1st floor and honestly the whole scene was so charming I just naturally drifted in — and the 2nd floor has an amazing view.

I'd really recommend the window seats! It genuinely felt like a proper weekday brunch moment. Yes, there's a parking lot right out front, but beyond it there's a stone wall with lush green trees, and it was so pretty ㅠㅠ. There were two of us and we sat by the window. Right after we left, another couple immediately claimed our window seat haha.

Salt bread is the signature at Respire, with plenty of toppings

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon has a really wide range of bakery items. The most famous is definitely the salt bread — savory and slightly salty, and it's what the place is known for. There's the basic version, and then several variations with different toppings.

The signature salt bread is loaded with French gourmet butter, giving it that crisp-outside, soft-inside texture. Even if you don't eat the salt bread in the café, the other breads are so good too — I'd recommend getting the salt bread to go as well.

The bakery and brunch menu are ready starting at 9am. I visited around 10am and ordered off the brunch menu haha.

The salt bread visuals are honestly insane. It looked like pistachio on top, but to me it looked like gold flakes were sprinkled on it, and I was drooling haha.

The 10,000 won happy hour salt bread omelette sandwich with americano

There's a huge variety of sandwiches. I went with the seasonal fig sandwich, and the person I was with chose the happy hour sandwich. At Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon, happy hour only runs weekdays from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

The happy hour set is just ₩10,000 for an omelette sandwich and an americano — such great value, and a really generous portion. Best of all, the bread used in the omelette sandwich is the salt bread, so you get to taste the salt bread too.

On the left is the happy hour salt bread sandwich — such a pretty visual, right ㅠㅠ. Between the salt bread there's a generous amount of cheese and egg omelette. A little salad comes as a bonus.

The seasonal fig sandwich at Respire

I really liked the fig sandwich. Figs themselves aren't that sweet, but there's a gentle sweetness, and with honey drizzled on top it was even more enjoyable.

Order in this sequence if there are two of you, plus the coffee refill

Since there were two of us, we each ordered a different item and then split the sandwiches in half. Personally, I'd recommend having the happy hour salt bread omelette sandwich first as breakfast, then the fig sandwich after as more of a dessert.

The sandwiches were plenty filling with coffee alongside! I added an iced americano, and it was stronger than I expected, so watch your caffeine.

Interestingly, if you order one drink per person, you get one coffee refill. We were already too full to use it though haha. Having brunch while looking at such a lush green view — Seochon was just so peaceful.

I also spotted people walking their dogs on a weekday morning outside — three times, right in front of me. So charming.

The fig sandwich had a slightly dessert-like feel, but the bread itself was really delicious. It's clear this place bakes its own bread — a real bakery worth the trip.

If I'm doing brunch in Seochon, I'll keep coming back to this spot a little off the main Seochon street — such a healing experience ㅠㅠ