Late-night Sinnonhyeon café date: flat white & pie, Bakerist Brown

How do you get to Bakerist Brown from Sinnonhyeon Station?

Bakerist Brown is a large bakery café a 4-minute walk (about 308 m) from Sinnonhyeon Station Exit 6. It takes about 7 minutes on foot from Gangnam Station Exit 11 too, and if you head a little way up the alley behind the Gangnam Station CGV, the stylish red brick exterior catches your eye from far away.

To shake off a week's worth of tiredness, I met my husband at Gangnam Station on a Friday after work for a sweet dessert date. I was amazed even before going in that right in the middle of Gangnam there's a bakery café that uses an entire building, from B1 up to the 3rd floor. With the lively Friday-night mood and the warm smell of baking drifting out from the entrance, the week's stress was already melting away.

Is the inside of Bakerist Brown good for dates or meeting friends?

From the basement to the 3rd floor, each level has its own charm and plenty of space, and the seating is so varied that it works for couples and for big group get-togethers alike. Probably because it was a Friday night, the café was full of groups of friends chatting happily, and as you'd expect from a well-known spot, there were foreign tourists here and there too.

Each floor has its own restroom, so even at a busy hour getting around was easy and pleasant. The tables aren't crammed together either, so my husband and I picked a comfy seat where we could talk quietly without being disturbed.

What are Bakerist Brown's hours and prices?

Bakerist Brown is open every day from 11 AM to 10:30 PM, year-round, which makes it a great second stop after work for a relaxed dessert. Looking at the prices for signature drinks and desserts, I thought they were quite reasonable for a big bakery café in the Gangnam Station area.

Even this late in the evening, the showcase and menu board were neatly lined with a wide variety of baked goods. I'd come knowing it as a salt bread (a buttery roll with a salted base) hotspot near Gangnam Station and thought about getting one, but the tempting pies in the showcase caught my eye, so my husband and I agreed to try something different this time. Packaging is neat too, and besides people eating in, there was a steady stream of customers buying bread to take away.

How were the raspberry French pie, black sesame latte and flat white?

We ordered a flat white (₩6,800), a black sesame latte (₩7,800) and a raspberry French pie (₩3,700). The moment we saw them served in pretty cups, my husband and I both gasped, especially at the long streak of bright red raspberry jam down the middle of the French pie. It looked so good.

When I bit in, the flaky layers shattered crisply and blended with the sweet-tart raspberry jam, a very happy sugar boost.

Black sesame latte: cream first, then with the espresso

The black sesame latte my husband chose came with a generous heap of rich, nutty black sesame cream on top of strong espresso. He first scooped up just a bit of the cream to taste, then lifted the cup and sipped it together with the espresso underneath, and the way the nuttiness and bitterness mingled in the mouth was a wonderful match.

My warm, smooth flat white had great body too, and went perfectly with the sweet raspberry French pie.

Verdict on our Friday dessert date at Bakerist Brown, and will we return?

Bakerist Brown is a big bakery café that boasts an impressive scale from the basement to the 3rd floor in the middle of Gangnam while also nailing the quality of its desserts and coffee, so it made for a very successful Friday date. The sweetness wasn't artificial or cloying; the mellow coffee flavor and the pie's natural crispness really came through, so our after-meal dessert time was full of satisfaction. The space is so large and well kept that it was comfortable to talk the whole time.

Thanks to the cozy space and the great food, I'll happily come back whenever plans come up near Gangnam Station or Sinnonhyeon Station. Next time I definitely want to order the salt bread we skipped because we were full, and enjoy it with a warm americano for a different side of the café.