Gonjiam café with an artificial stream and palmier cookies: La Cuesta

With the autumn breeze rustling these days 🍂, I went on a Gonjiam drive with my baby. A fun time for me, a coffee lover, and my baby, who loves looking at new things — that's what La Cuesta, a Gonjiam café, was like! It sells brunch, coffee, and bread all in one, so here's my review of La Cuesta as a recommended drive-course stop.

La Cuesta Gwangju: a bakery café on the way to Hwadam Botanic Garden

La Cuesta Gwangju is a large bakery café at 278 Gyeongchung-daero, Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do. These days, with the autumn wind blowing so nicely, it feels like a waste to stay home with my baby, so we've been going out here and there. While checking reservations for Hwadam Botanic Garden in Gonjiam, I suddenly thought of just going for a Gonjiam drive instead. And a drive always calls for a café stop, so we swung by La Cuesta, a Gonjiam café >.< Even on a weekday afternoon, there were plenty of customers out on their own drives.

A drive course I love because the parking is so spacious 🚗 Being a large café that draws people driving in, there were quite a few cars even on a weekday afternoon. But thanks to the ample parking, we parked comfortably and walked right in.

Ahh~~~~~~~ isn't the weather amazing? Truly the season for high skies and driving. Even the weather was perfect that day.

The garden-like styling everywhere is La Cuesta's own charm, and with such good weather, it looked especially pretty that day. It really felt like we'd traveled far away! I thought it'd be lovely to stop by here after visiting Hwadam Botanic Garden too.

The artificial stream at the entrance that the baby loved most

La Cuesta's signature feature (?) is the artificial stream at the entrance haha. With the nice weather, the sound felt even clearer, and it was cool and pleasant. My baby got excited seeing the water and stared at it for a long while. A café with things to look at is even better for visiting with a baby.

La Cuesta menu and prices, plus the Chuseok songpyeon gift

Here's the menu at La Cuesta, the Gonjiam café 〰️ The iced Americano is ₩5,500, which is actually pretty cheap for a large café!! Maybe that's why it's not just baby-accompanied couples but plenty of older visitors too.

• ✔️ There's also a songpyeon (rice cake) giveaway event for Chuseok visitors 🍡

If a family visits together during Chuseok and gets songpyeon on top of it, that would make the perfect family outing course!!!

La Cuesta doesn't just have drinks — the bread selection is huge, so it was hard to choose. A lot of places charge outrageous prices for bread, but here it was reasonable. I browsed carefully while picking.

Cookie making for kids, bread tasting and Chuseok gift sets

While looking at the bread, I noticed this corner set up for kids. My baby is still too young for it, but on weekend outings it's honestly hard to find things for babies to do, so it'd be nice to bring them here and let them make something like this. It's meant for kids, but somehow I wanted to do it myself…!

They also had a suggestion box running and a tasty bread sampling going on. Other guests were trying a piece each too. It was nice being able to taste and then decide whether to buy.

La Cuesta was also selling Chuseok gift sets. I often give desserts as gifts when I need to give something to people around me >.< Looking at the gift compositions, they were nicely varied, and buying several got a discount, so I kept that in mind!

Why La Cuesta Gwangju is easy with a baby: baby chairs and things to see

Baby chairs are set up on both the 1st and 2nd floors, and there's even a drawing space for kids to play, so I thought I'd definitely want to bring my baby back here once they're older to play together. Mom sips coffee while the kids make cookies and draw — a whole weekend could fly by like that.

Second-floor photo zone and the outdoor fountain

Then we headed up to the 2nd floor! I was surprised there were still quite a few guests even on a weekday afternoon haha. Being an autumn drive spot, lots of couples and groups of friends were visiting too. There's a photo zone for kids and even a sticker photo booth(?), so there's plenty to see.

Before our drinks arrived, we checked out the outdoor space on the 2nd floor. It turned out to connect to the same artificial stream we'd seen on the 1st floor. I hadn't realized there was outdoor seating too — if it weren't for the baby, I'd have wanted to sit outside and feel the autumn breeze. There's also a small statue and fountain, so my baby got excited all over again haha. So cute,,,,

How the La Cuesta latte, iced Americano and palmier cookie tasted

And then our ordered drinks and bread arrived. We picked the signature La Cuesta latte, the iced Americano, and the cookie palmier.

This café's signature drink, the La Cuesta latte, was known for its rich foam on top. That foam really was incredibly dense. They also put a cookie on top for dipping, and the flavor felt like something anyone, young or old, would enjoy!!! I thought it'd be nice to bring my sweet-toothed parents here after visiting Hwadam Botanic Garden sometime.

The iced Americano was also strong and to my liking. With the weather and sunlight both perfect that day, our La Cuesta Gonjiam drive day made both me and my baby happy — next time I'd like to come with my parents too. They also serve brunch, so I'd recommend coming for a late-morning brunch with a baby to enjoy the autumn mood 🫶