Namhansanseong café with briquette bread and a breezy terrace: Sum

There's always room for dessert, even after a full meal - I filled up on baeksuk (whole chicken soup) near Namhansanseong and then headed to Sum for a cool cup of coffee. I'd seen photos of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows and had to check it out, and honestly the café was way bigger and more gorgeous in person than in any photo. If you're looking for a pretty, healing kind of café in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, I recommend Sum ★★★★★

Sum's hours and parking at Namhansanseong

Sum is located at 108-11 Ojeon-gil, Namhansanseong-myeon, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, and it's open 10am–8:30pm (last order 8pm), with weekend hours of 10am–9:30pm (last order 9pm). I doubt many people head out to a café near Namhansanseong late at night anyway, but apparently the closing time shifts seasonally, so definitely check the hours before you go ☆

The parking lot out front is huge - when I arrived right after the 11am opening it was empty, but by the time I finished my coffee it was completely full +ㅇ+ Even the café entrance looks like a beautifully wrapped gift :)

Inside Sum: bigger than the photos, with a second floor and an annex

The moment I walked through the door - wow, it's way bigger than I expected??! It's even more stunning than the photos!!! Usually cafés let you down when they look better in pictures, but Sum was so much more impressive in person. Pat myself on the back for picking a good one instead of just going anywhere haha!

The view from the 2nd floor - the stairs are nice because they're not too narrow or steep, and I loved how open everything felt.

The building next door has a completely different interior - so atmospheric~~~ The café is so big that it took a while just to walk through it - (I meant to go check out the top floor but got sidetracked drinking coffee;;) There's a photo zone too, so I snagged a picture! This place would be great for a date too~~

The outdoor terrace seats had plenty of room too. Once the leaves start turning a bit more, it'll probably be amazing to watch the fall colors from the terrace ?!! Might turn out to be a great spot for maple leaves +ㅇ+ I'll have to come back once autumn really hits~ Fingers crossed for those bright red-and-yellow leaves ^^

The breezy second-floor outdoor seats at Sum

After walking all around Sum, I decided I wasn't in the mood for AC anymore - I wanted a cool breeze while I drank my coffee, so I grabbed a 2nd-floor seat by the outdoor opening where the wind comes right in :) Once it hit past noon, warm sunlight started pouring in too - sipping coffee with real fresh air felt amazing~~ At first it was just us up there, but later people kept showing up, filling up both the 1st and 2nd floors!! Guess I was the only one who didn't already know about Sum!!

What bread and drinks cost at Sum

Time to order!! I clearly still had baeksuk in my stomach but somehow my feet naturally wandered toward the bread haha. There was salt bread, Mont Blanc, mammoth bread, the visually unique yeontan-bread (briquette-shaped bread), baguette and more, all kinds of delicious-looking bread~~~ Everything looked so good >_< I'm terrible at making decisions so I just went along with what the others picked haha. So what bread did we end up with~~?

We picked out 2 breads and got drinks too - an iced americano and, I think, a green tangerine omija ade... mine was the americano so I'm not totally sure ㅠㅠ

The americano is ₩6,500. Sum's best-selling menu items are apparently the mocha cream latte at ₩8,500 and the vanilla bean latte at ₩8,000. I'll have to try the vanilla bean latte next time~!!

Besides coffee, there's ade, smoothies, house-made strawberry latte, and chocolate latte, so it's great to bring kids along too, and there's ginger tea, yuzu tea, apple cinnamon tea, plus the signature mother's jujube tea made by hand with carefully selected jujubes, so it's also a great Namhansanseong café to bring your parents or grandparents to < Sum >

How does Sum's yeontan-bread taste with an americano?

For my sweet pick at Sum, I went with the yeontan-bread (briquette-shaped bread) - it genuinely looks like a real coal briquette haha but the taste was great!! Even with all that cream, it wasn't greasy - just the right amount of sweet and delicious~ It went perfectly with the americano ♥ The americano itself had no sourness, nutty and smooth. Exactly my style ^ㅡ^b

A spacious, gorgeous Namhansanseong café with floor-to-ceiling window views - Sum in Gwangju, Gyeonggi. If you're tired of just going to the franchise café near your house and want to drink coffee somewhere with a great view, feeling like you're on a little outing - this is the place. If you're looking for a Namhansanseong café with a great view and good coffee and bakery, I recommend < Sum >!!