Jongno 3-ga bakery, pre-meal bite: garlic bread & onion bagel, Munhwa

What kind of bakery is Munhwa Bakery in Jongno 3-ga?

Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵) is a takeout-only bakery on Donhwamun-ro near Jongno 3-ga Station. There aren't really any famous bakeries in Jongno 3-ga, so for someone like me who goes neighborhood to neighborhood buying bread, it always felt oddly disappointing... Otherwise you have to go all the way to an Ikseon-dong café and eat dessert there, and since this is on the way, I finally just managed to find a Jongno 3-ga bakery.

Honestly, I'd walked past Munhwa Bakery a few times before, and every time the shop was tiny with a line out the door, so I was curious. They sell only a fixed set of items, and the famous ones are obvious, so there's no need to agonize.

• Hours: 11:00-19:00
• Breads left over after each day's sales are donated separately, apparently to low-income families?

How big is the bread at Munhwa Bakery, and how much does it cost?

Prices aren't much different from a regular bakery, but the breads are bigger than you'd expect, so you could buy one and split it between two people. Don't they look rustic, big and sturdy? They look just like their names, so if you pick by name, you get exactly that flavor.

It's a combo that feels like old-fashioned bread but also somehow not. Famous bakeries usually have trays piled high with all kinds of bread, but Munhwa Bakery seems to make only the items it's confident in, every time.

What are Munhwa Bakery's top 3 breads?

The top 3 are the coffee bun, garlic bread and onion bagel. They sound like menu names you could find anywhere, but the look of them is insanely good.

I couldn't tell if these were fresh out of the oven... or had come out a while ago, but they were all already packed up. There's no seating, it's takeout only, and if you ask, they'll cut the big, long breads into bite-size pieces for you.

Garlic bread and onion bagel for a salty craving before a meal

This time I bought the onion bagel and the garlic bread, both the savory versions. I agonized hugely, but since it was before a meal I was craving something salty... I was torn on the coffee bun to the very end, too, because the coffee powder coating it smelled amazing and it was a massive amount, like a sponge cake.

How is Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread different from Korean six-clove garlic bread?

Garlic bread ₩6,500 / onion bagel ₩5,500. The garlic bread was right between yukjjok (six-clove) garlic bread and a baguette in size and flavor. Yukjjok garlic bread is totally soaked in garlic sauce, but Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread is a baguette, so the outside is chewy and crisp at the same time.

Since these breads are soaked in cream and sauce, they pack them quite carefully in 3 layers: wrapped once in a plastic bag, put into an outer bag, then into a paper bag at the end, haha.

Is Munhwa Bakery's onion bagel a chewy bagel?

The onion bagel tastes completely different from a regular bagel. It is absolutely not a chewy, moist bagel. It's like a mini baguette: one bite and crumbs go crunching everywhere, with a crisp baguette texture and onion flavor inside.

That said, it's not heavy and clumpy, either; there's a soft, fluffy texture like ricotta cheese mixed in. Neither the garlic bread nor the onion bagel matched its name in texture, but they weren't sweet or salty, so I polished one off in no time.

What does Munhwa Bakery's fresh garlic baguette taste like?

I also tried the garlic baguette fresh, before freezing it, and it was awesome. The reason I rarely buy garlic bread is that the garlic sauce often isn't spread properly between the slices and it's just sweet, so I don't like it. But Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread isn't overly garlicky, and the seasoning is just right.

It tastes like the garlic sauce on top of garlic jokbal (pig's trotters) with a bit more sweetness added, eaten with bread. You get garlic flavor and sweetness, and it's spread carefully in between, so whichever side you bite, it tastes right. Delicious.

Can you eat Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread cold?

Even a bit cold, Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread has its garlic flavor mellow out and tastes like a snack cracker. I ate it as is, in a damp, slightly chewy(?) state, and it was better than expected. If you freeze it, though, reheating it in an air fryer or microwave would likely make it warm, with more garlic aroma and moister insides.

If you're looking for a bakery worth visiting around Jongno 3-ga and Ikseon-dong, definitely try Munhwa Bakery, an old-school bread spot honest to its menu names!