Anseong Gongdo brunch café with upstairs LP floor seats: Chat Baker

When I heard there was a café inside 512 Square in Anseong, I figured it was just an ordinary café tucked into a mall. Walking in completely changed my mind.

Hi, this is Haruitheul 😺 I didn't expect much just looking at the exterior, but the moment I stepped inside I thought, "wait, what is this place??"

What kind of café is Chat Baker?

Chat Baker is a 500-pyeong brunch and bakery café located in Gongdo, Anseong. It's near Anseong Farmland so it's an easy stop for an outing, and apparently the name is taken from the jazz legend Chet Baker. Maybe that's why they've got a jazz performance coming up soon! 🤩

Chat Baker location and opening hours

• Location: Inside 512 Square, Gongdo-eup, Anseong (near Lotte Mart, Farmland, Watchtower)
• Hours (bakery/drinks): Daily 09:00–23:00, last order 22:00, no closed days
• Hours (brunch/pasta): 11:00–20:00 (worth confirming — some reviews say it doesn't run on weekends)
• Note: local currency vouchers aren't accepted, and pets are only allowed on the outdoor terrace

Parking at 512 Square and how to find the entrance

There's plenty of free parking inside 512 Square, so don't worry about that. Come in through the entrance on Seodong-daero, walk straight past Ping, Master Bunny and Louis Castell, and you'll see the Chat Baker entrance right there. It's also about a 10-minute drive from Anseong-Pyeongtaek Starfield, so it was easy to fit into a nearby outing. 👍🏼

If you're coming by public transit from downtown Anseong, get off at the 512 Square bus stop and walk around the back — it's inside the 512 Square fashion outlet. Coming from the Gongdo side, get off at the STI bus stop and just cross the main road to reach the outlet. Driving in from Gongdo, the fastest route was turning right under the overpass, then U-turning in front of the 7-Eleven and turning left in.

The ground-floor bakery case at Chat Baker

Right as you walk in on the first floor, the bakery display case greets you!? So many kinds of bread are laid out that you'll have a hard time deciding what to get!!

Seeing the loaves on wooden trays glinting under the lights, I got why people say the bread here is good. Every single piece looked delicious, ugh. We decided to save the bread for our next visit and go for brunch this time!

A mall shop outside, a completely different café inside

Chat Baker sits inside the 512 Square building, so from the outside it feels like just another mall shop. But open the door and the vibe changes completely. On the first floor, the huge window immediately grabs your eye, and beyond that glass wall you can see the terrace — your gaze naturally drifts outside. Water was sprayed down the window too, so it felt like a rainy day!!

Going up to the second floor, the tone was completely different — under a white ceiling, green panels and white porcelain moon jars hung like wall decor, and along one wall stood a display case packed tight with LP records, complete with a "chat baker" logo and a reel-to-reel tape player, giving it the feel of a stylish old-school music café. There were several seating types too, so we settled in on the second floor.

Wide spacing between tables on the second floor

I liked that Chat Baker has such varied seating. There's a separate floor-seating area upstairs for sitting comfortably on the floor, and the tables overall were spaced generously, so we could sit without worrying about the next table. With 500 pyeong of space, the roomy layout really made that scale feel real.

Brunch order: panne and rosé risotto

We ordered panne and rosé risotto. The panne had sauce soaked in nicely inside the bread, the crust had a good moist texture, and the bread itself tasted really nutty! They did say all the bread here is baked in-house, and honestly the panne bread itself was quite good too.

The rosé risotto had cream and tomato balanced well together, not too sharp, an easy, comfortable flavor to eat through. We paired it with one iced americano and one hot americano — the coffee was strong but clean, perfect alongside brunch.

Bread baked daily and syrups made in house

Chat Baker's bakery apparently starts the dough from scratch every dawn, ferments it with natural sourdough with no artificial additives, and uses 100% milk butter only. Even the vanilla bean syrup, lemon preserve, and raw chocolate used in drinks are apparently boiled and made in-house — a place where you can feel the sincerity in both the bread and the drinks.

What to know before visiting Chat Baker

Q. Is Chat Baker good for laptop work or studying?

Chat Baker has outlets installed at most seats, so it's set up well for reading or working on a laptop.

Q. Can you bring a pet to Chat Baker?

Yes, pets are allowed on the outdoor terrace.

Final verdict on Chat Baker in Gongdo, Anseong

I went in with zero expectations and left won over by the interior. The first and second floors have completely different atmospheres, so there was fun in exploring each level, and for anyone wanting to fit a brunch café into an Anseong Farmland trip, Chat Baker seems like a solid pick.