Ikseon-dong bakery with palace looks: garlic & rice chestnut, Munhwa

Where is Munhwa Bakery, and is it easy to find?

Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵) is an Ikseon-dong bakery about a 6-minute walk from Jongno 3-ga Station. It sits right on the street, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it :)

Even from far away, Munhwa Bakery really stands out! It has an old-style look like a cultural heritage building, and I bet foreigners walking past see it as Gyeongbokgung rather than a bakery, haha

Munhwa Bakery's signature breads and menu

Munhwa Bakery focuses on garlic bread and coffee bread as its signature items :) There are plenty of other cheap, good-value breads too, so have a look around, haha

There are lots of cute little breads, like injeolmi (roasted soybean-powder rice cake) bread, mugwort rice cake bread, milk cream bread and black sesame bread, so plenty for grandma-style tastes, haha. The coffee bread is long and narrow, filled with cream, and dusted with espresso powder on the outside!

How much is the bread at Munhwa Bakery?

Many of the breads at Munhwa Bakery cost around ₩3,000, and the most expensive was about ₩6,500, haha. Lots of bakeries in Jongno these days charge much more, but Munhwa Bakery is good value^^

Can you eat in at Munhwa Bakery?

Munhwa Bakery is a takeout shop, so you can't eat inside. It's packaging only, haha. If it's crowded inside, wait a little and go in afterwards, and it should be comfortable :)

What did the garlic bread at Munhwa Bakery taste like?

This time I picked Munhwa Bakery's two most representative breads, the garlic bread and the rice chestnut loaf, haha. I've had the injeolmi bread before too, and I recommend it: soft texture and a nutty flavor anyone would enjoy!

Once you pick the garlic bread, the staff cut it up for you, and it's packed with sauce inside, haha. I could smell the garlic all the way over to me, and the texture was super soft^^

Being able to eat such a variety of breads at low prices is what defines Munhwa Bakery :) If you're looking for a bakery near Jongno 3-ga, give it a visit, haha

The garlic bread is fairly big and already cut into pieces, so it's easy to tear off and eat, haha. It's soaked through with garlic sauce, so it was lovely and soft :)

It's easy to hold and tear by hand, and it's soft with a garlic sauce that's not off-putting, a flavor anyone would like, haha. I think everyone should try Munhwa Bakery's signature garlic bread at least once :)

Munhwa Bakery rice chestnut loaf: price and taste

The rice chestnut loaf (쌀밤식빵) at Munhwa Bakery is ₩5,500 and comes as a half loaf :) It has rice in it, so it feels healthy, and there's a sweet crumble-like topping too, haha

The loaf is soft enough to tear off and eat easily, haha. It has chestnuts scattered through it, so you get a sweet, soft texture! It's good on its own, but even better with coffee, haha

Verdict: is Munhwa Bakery worth going back to?

Munhwa Bakery is about a 5-minute walk from Jongno 3-ga :) It's well known as a Jongno 3-ga bakery, already popular with tourists and locals, and sometimes there's even a line!

The signature bread is the garlic bread, filled with garlic sauce and soft in texture, haha. It's soft enough for anyone to enjoy, loaded with garlic sauce, and only ₩6,500, which is cheap><

There were plenty of other good-value breads too! Of those, I recommend the injeolmi bread and the rice chestnut loaf, haha. The rice chestnut loaf is full of chestnuts, and probably because of the rice, it was chewy :) The garlic bread isn't tough at all, and it's the kind of garlic bread any Korean would love, so I think you should definitely try it, haha

• Taste: ★★★★
• Would revisit: ★★★★