Paju bakery café with a sunset photo spot and breads: Barirus

Driving solo to a big café in Paju

On weekends, I’ve been driving to my parents’ house every week—not to the mountains or the river(?)—as driving practice! This beginner driver’s solo Paju challenge: vroom vroom vroom again today 🚗

That day’s driving route was Hwajeong ☞ Wondang ☞ Paju! After a late breakfast, I went looking for a large café nearby 🤭 I followed T Map’s recommended route, and although the travel time was about the same, there was a ₩2,200 toll lol. Let’s all be careful with T Map. ㅜ

Barirus is on the second floor, so head up the stairs.

Barirus’s sunset photo spot and spacious interior

As soon as you come upstairs, there’s Barirus’s photo spot! Enter the sunset photo zone 🥹 The sunset glow reflected in the water is so beautiful—calm and tranquil, and just gorgeous 🌇 This was why I’d wanted to visit for ages!

It felt so open because it was roomy with high ceilings! There was even a tree filled with bright flowers.

You can order at the wonderfully wide counter!

Barirus menu board

There were all sorts of drinks, including coffee, non-coffee drinks, ade, smoothies, and tea. As a brunch café, it offered everything from a quick bite to a proper meal, with soup, pizza, pasta, risotto, and more. It’s a large out-of-town café that even sells beer—say no more, right?

Eye-catching bakery treats and salt bread

Opposite the counter was a space full of Barirus’s own wide variety of baked goods ✨️ I’d just eaten a meal, but you know? It’s not that I’m crazy about bread! Isn’t it the bread that’s crazy about me? 🥲

The Basque cheesecake, fruit pandoro, and my beloved salt bread... ❤️ really caught my eye because there were so many flavors, including green onion bacon salt bread and egg mayo. Three plain salt breads were on sale for ₩9,900.

There were honestly so many kinds of bread that I couldn’t photograph them all. I only picked the ones that looked delicious, yet the photo feast kept going! The cheese fondue bread, cinnamon rolls, garlic naan, and cooked salami panini all looked so good 🥹

The outdoor terrace and a mother-daughter bread haul

Outside the café, there was an outdoor terrace with fresh-looking artificial grass and an Indian-style tent. The weather has gotten so much cooler lately, so it looked absolutely perfect for letting kids run around or sitting outside and soaking up some sun!

And then, this mother and daughter’s love of bread.......... 🙄 We stocked up on Basque cheesecake / fruit pandoro / plain salt bread / egg mayo salt bread / squid ink cheese ciabatta 👊

The bread was even tastier than expected! I chose beans with less acidity for my Americano, and it went so nicely with the sweet desserts.

Self-packing station and ample parking

Even the restroom at Barirus was pretty. Barirus doesn’t pack bakery items at the counter; it has a self-packing station instead. There were OPP plastic bags in different sizes for the bread, plus bags to carry all the packed bread away in!

The bread we were too full to finish was neatly packed into OPP plastic bags like this!

Before leaving, I had to take a photo of Mom from behind too 🤭 After spending about two hours there, the parking lot had gotten packed! Still, it was so spacious that there were parking spaces tucked away here and there. I recommend Barirus, the Paju café that even this beginner driver made it to safely 🚗