Seochon brunch café with 20-a-day fig French toast: Respire

Where is Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon, and where do you park?

The lot right in front of the café turns out to be reserved for presidential security staff, so you can't park there — you'll need to use a nearby public lot!

• Hyoja public parking: ₩3,000/hour
• Singyo public parking: ₩3,000/hour

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon is a Seochon brunch café sitting below the Blue House, reached by walking along the Gyeongbokgung palace walking path. The bakery and brunch menu are all ready from 9am, so keep that in mind if you're going for bread or brunch!

Inside Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon

It was pretty even before I stepped in, and the inside was cozy and quiet too, which I loved! The interior was exactly the kind that photographs beautifully.

I visited on a nice-weather day, and the sunlight and greenery of the trees through the window were so pretty and put me in a good mood! It looked even better in person than in photos — I want to go back again on a sunny day.

First floor or second floor: where to sit at Respire

The 1st floor has about 6 tables, and it seemed like mostly friends or couples spending time together there.

There's also a 2nd floor, which felt a bit like a cozy attic. It has a table for 6, so if you're in a bigger group, head upstairs.

I saw a lot of people who'd come alone to read. The windows are bigger on the 1st floor, so that's the better spot for the view.

Only three kinds of salt bread left at 2pm

Respire started out in Mangwon-dong and is a café that's really serious about salt bread! As someone who loves salt bread, this was exactly the kind of place I couldn't help but love.

I visited around 2pm and a lot had already sold out — by the time I was leaving, only 3 kinds of bread were left. That told me the bread here must really be good, so I bought a salt bread to eat before heading out!

Around 5pm they do sell off remaining bread at a 10%-ish closing discount, but you might not find the kind you want. So if you want to try a variety of breads, I'd recommend a morning visit!

Apparently the good salt bread is the one that's deep brown and crisp!

They had all sorts of salt bread flavors ready, like chocolate salt bread and garlic cheese salt bread — I honestly wanted to eat all of them...

Fig French toast limited to 20 a day, plus basil ham ciabatta

Salt bread aside, I'd heard the brunch was delicious, which is why I came! I especially wanted the French toast, but I was nervous because they only sell 20 a day. Luckily, I was still able to order it!

Along with the French toast, I picked a ciabatta sandwich.

The French toast comes with fig and a scoop of ice cream on the side!

There were 2 kinds of ciabatta, and I went with the basil ham one. Since this place is known for its salt bread, they clearly know how to make bread well, so the ciabatta was delicious too.

How did the fig French toast taste?

This French toast! Now I get why it's supposed to be so good. It wasn't too sweet, and the bread was nice and fluffy — and I think the fig that came with it was the real kicker.

The vanilla ice cream itself was so good that I kept scooping more and more of it.

Between the fluffiness and softness of the bread and the sauce (honey, maybe?) coating it, the bread itself was already delicious, but

the fresh taste of the fig balanced out the sweetness, so the combination worked really well.

The ciabatta sandwich comes as 2 pieces with potato chips on the side. Apparently the bread here is proofed at low temperature for 12 hours before baking, giving it that chewy texture — no wonder everything was so good! It's quiet around here too, and being able to enjoy a delicious brunch while taking in the beauty of Gyeongbokgung and the mood of Seochon made this such a satisfying café visit!