Bakery café in Tanbang-dong, Daejeon: jambon-beurre brunch at anc.

These days, if a place smells of baking bread, I open my map app and queue up for opening. Anyone whose meal stomach and dessert stomach are strictly separate will relate, right? Forget mediocre wholesale bread and factory-style cakes. Some days you desperately need a master's bakery, where the first bite wakes up your brain with deep butter flavor and a chewy dough texture!

Today I visited anc. Tanbang (앤크 탄방점), a dessert café in Daejeon that shows off the essence of classic French baking, a must-stop on any Daejeon bread pilgrimage and a real treasure in a Tanbang-dong alley.

Where is anc. Tanbang, and what are the hours and parking?

anc. Tanbang is next to Namseon Park in Tanbang-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, and it is open every day from 11:00 to 19:00. There is plenty of parking space in front of the shop, which made things easy.

• Location: next to Namseon Park
• Hours: daily 11:00–19:00
• Parking: plenty of space in front of the shop

Exterior and interior atmosphere of anc. Tanbang

anc. Tanbang sits on an alley corner, and when I arrived I was greeted by a white 'anc.' sign and a bright terrace deck. On one of the exterior windows, the master chef's impressive awards and profile are printed in large letters, and seeing them gave me a strong sense of trust: "This isn't a place imitating the real thing, it's baked by a genuine master."

The moment I opened the door, a nutty, sweet butter aroma wrapped around my nose. In the middle of the hall stands a spacious wooden table, great for sitting around with a group or working on a laptop, and along the back wall are neatly arranged round modular sofa seats in a stylish deep green.

Sunlight pours in softly by the windows, so you get an Instagram-worthy shot wherever you point the camera. It's a place famous for its light. The quiet, cozy mood makes it perfectly comfortable for chatting with a friend or going on a date.

What ingredients does anc. Tanbang use for its bread?

According to the notice in front of the counter, the bakery insists on only 'CRC-certified Label Rouge 100% French flour', 'A.O.P.-grade French butter' and 'Guérande salt'. Reading it, I understood why anc. is called a Daejeon cake hotspot and a bakery holy ground.

Label Rouge flour is made with eco-friendly farming methods strictly overseen by France's Ministry of Agriculture, and A.O.P. butter is a grade whose quality is guaranteed by the European Union, apparently! (I bet Korea's agriculture ministry has some K-something-or-other too, right?)

Opening-time visit to anc. Tanbang: breads and prices

anc. Tanbang opens at 11:00, so I walked in at 10:59. The shelves were about 90% full, and it seemed like the kitchen kept making more bread.

What I like about anc. is that every bread is labeled with its ingredients. The salt bread (₩2,500), for example, lists tangzhong dough, French Guérande salt, German pearl salt, French butter and so on.

There's a wide variety: salt bread, ciabatta, sandwiches and more!

And look how many kinds of madeleines there are! Lemon madeleine is ₩3,000, Earl Grey madeleine is ₩3,200, and more.

The desserts are full of interesting things too! Noix Blanc is ₩10,000, Gâteau Marron is ₩9,000, Moulin Rouge is ₩9,800, and more.

What I ordered at anc. Tanbang

At anc. Tanbang I ordered 2 Americanos, a layered salt bread, a fig sandwich, a jambon-beurre sandwich, a choco butter-red bean baguette (choco ang-butter) and a cheese olive ciabatta. Alongside the Americano, the eternal partner of dessert, I had the swirly layered salt bread, the fig sandwich with seasonal sweetness, the classic jambon-beurre, the bittersweet choco ang-butter and the mild, nutty cheese olive ciabatta. The full-course spread is set!

They even cut everything up for easy eating.

How does the jambon-beurre sandwich taste?

The first thing I went after at anc. Tanbang was the jambon-beurre sandwich. The moment I split it in half and saw the cross-section, my jaw dropped. Inside a French baguette that is crackly enough to scrape the roof of your mouth on the outside and chewy within, thick layers of salty, smoky jambon ham are stacked, topped with fragrant arugula and AOP premium butter.

After the crisp bite of the bread, the rich, nutty butter and the savory depth of the ham explode. The bitterness of the arugula wipes out any greasiness, so the balance was perfect and I never got tired of it until the last bite.

What does the fig sandwich taste like?

The anc. Tanbang fig sandwich is a sweet-and-salty sandwich with whole fresh figs, white cream cheese and ham. True to its showstopper looks, the sweet, ripe, juicy figs are topped with fluffy, soft cream cheese and salty ham in harmony.

The subtle, luxurious sweetness of the fig, the creamy cheese and the salty ham wrap around your tongue in a sweet-salty combo. I've had one at a certain bakery café in Jukdong too, and both places are delicious, haha.

What about the choco ang-butter?

The anc. Tanbang choco ang-butter (baguette with butter and sweet red bean paste) doesn't use a regular baguette but one baked from rich chocolate dough, so you get a bittersweet cacao flavor! It's the one I called in when I needed a sugar recharge, with thick slices of yellow premium butter and moderately sweet homemade red bean paste tucked inside.

Layered salt bread and cheese olive ciabatta to go

By this point I was full, so I took the meal-bread lineup, the cheese olive ciabatta and the layered salt bread, home with me. Haha.

The anc. layered salt bread I ate at home crumbled crisply on the outside like a croissant, with a salty kick from the Guérande salt, and the inside was chewy and full of butter aroma. I regretted not buying one more, ㅠㅠ

anc. Tanbang in one line

anc. Tanbang is a Daejeon dessert café where you can find proper French-style bakery items, baked goods and cakes. It's a Tanbang-dong bakery café that's great for a brunch of healthy, delicious sandwiches, and if you want foolproof sweetness for a special day, head to anc. Tanbang without hesitation! ☕

Maybe because it's newer, but I liked it better than the anc. in Wolpyeong~