Car-free date café in Yangju: sangtu gwaja and white roll at Doasis

On a weekday-afternoon drive with my boyfriend, I heard that Doasis, a bakery café in Yangju, is huge and has great bread, so we stopped by for a café date for the first time in a while.

Where is Doasis, and what about hours and parking?

Doasis is on the 2nd and 3rd floors of a building on Hwahap-ro 1402beon-gil in Yangju, Gyeonggi, and it is open daily from 10:00 to 23:00 (last order 22:00). After 21:00, only the 2nd floor with the drink pickup counter is open, and pets are not allowed on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

• Location: 2nd and 3rd floors, Hwahap-ro 1402beon-gil, Yangju
• Hours: daily 10:00-23:00 (last order 22:00)
• After 21:00, only the 2nd floor with the drink pickup counter is open
• Parking: the café's parking lots 1 and 2 are available
• No pets on the 2nd and 3rd floors

There are two lots, parking lot 1 and parking lot 2. The grounds are so big that parking stress is zero!! 🚗

Can you get there on foot from Deokjeong Station?

Doasis is a quick trip from Exit 1 of Deokjeong Station, so you can visit without a car. We came by car, but it's not easy to reach a café this big by public transport, so great accessibility!! 👍

Doasis is so big, and the menu runs from bakery items to meals like pizza and pasta, so it's becoming a go-to spot for group meetups in Yangju.

Once you walk in, you'll see an elevator on the right. Doasis is on the 2nd and 3rd floors, and the 4th floor is said to be a dog playground.

Doasis menu and prices

Drink menu

Pizza

Pizzas at Doasis range from ₩22,000 to ₩27,000.

• Quattro Formaggi pizza: ₩22,000
• Gorgonzola pizza: ₩22,000
• Sweet potato pizza: ₩25,000
• Arugula pizza: ₩24,000
• Pepperoni pizza: ₩24,000
• Porcini pizza: ₩25,000
• Combination pizza: ₩27,000
• Mexican jalapeño pizza: ₩27,000
• Garlic steak pizza: ₩27,000
• Shrimp Hawaiian pizza: ₩27,000

Pasta

• Bacon cream pasta: ₩16,500
• Rigatoni mushroom pasta: ₩16,000
• Spicy pork belly oil pasta: ₩19,000
• Tomato seafood pasta: ₩19,500

Mains & salads

• BBQ pork ribs (800g): ₩54,000
• BBQ pork ribs (800g) + mushroom soup: ₩60,000
• Chicken salad: ₩14,500
• Burrata salad: ₩18,000
• Pork cutlet salad: ₩18,000
• Ciabatta sandwich: ₩12,000
• Hot chicken ciabatta sandwich: ₩12,500
• Carbonara tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes): ₩14,500
• Mushroom soup: ₩8,500

Bakery

What does the converted bathhouse look like inside?

Inside Doasis, the 2nd and 3rd floors are connected by a central staircase, and there were even seats that looked good for studying.

You can also get up to the 3rd floor by the staircase in the middle.

The view looking down from the 3rd floor!! The inside feels much bigger and grander than the building looks from outside. I heard it used to be a bathhouse, and hearing that history was really interesting, haha. It's so spacious that just looking around was fun.

They say there are more than 300 palm trees brought over from Jeju Island, and big palms are scattered everywhere, so the vibe is definitely different from an ordinary large café. A botanical garden feel, even though it's a café?

I came at an awkward time on a weekday, so the 3rd floor had plenty of room 👍 It probably gets pretty crowded on weekends, haha.

There are big-table seats like this too, so it seems perfect for meetups with a lot of people!!

The restrooms and nursing room are clean and roomy, so visiting with a baby seems fine too.

Six breads we picked for our date: how did they taste?

The breads we picked at Doasis that day were pandoro, squid ink crunch, sangtu gwaja (a traditional topknot-shaped pastry), sausage bread, six-clove garlic bread and a white roll, plus two iced Americanos. We picked up our big haul of bread and drinks and sat down in the wide seating area, where the palm trees, Doasis's signature, were lush and green.

We picked a lot of bread, and a clean iced Americano seemed best with it, so we both ordered iced Americanos, haha.

Pandoro

The pandoro I picked, since I love cream!! It's dusted generously with powdered sugar, so it looks great too 👍

Squid ink crunch

This is the squid ink crunch. The cream is chewy, almost like rice cake, and it's said to be a favorite with older folks, but it was perfect for my grandma-style taste too!!

Sangtu gwaja

Sangtu gwaja, which I used to eat now and then as a kid!! I was so happy to see it after so long that I grabbed it, haha. A taste of nostalgia!! If you come with an older relative, you've got to get this one!!

Sausage bread

I always pick the sausage bread even at neighborhood franchise bakeries, and the sausage in Doasis's sausage bread was really snappy and delicious!!

Six-clove garlic bread

My boyfriend's favorite, the six-clove garlic bread!! The subtle garlic aroma and buttery flavor balanced beautifully, so good 🤤

White roll

The soft white roll has been my favorite bread since I was little, and I highly recommend the white roll at Doasis 👍 It's generously filled with cream, and the powder sprinkled on top was fluffy and so good 🤤

Can you take leftover bread to go? Self-packing counter and oven

Doasis has a self-packing counter where you can pack up leftover bread yourself, stocked with plastic bags, napkins, hygiene gloves and more.

With so much tasty bread, you might pick this and that and not be able to finish it all, but thanks to the self-packing counter there's nothing to worry about. Plastic bags, napkins, hygiene gloves and the rest are all provided.

Also, some breads taste best warmed up, and there's an oven you can use freely.

Next to the self-packing counter there's a separate food pickup area, and a water purifier where you can get water.

Verdict: Doasis, the oasis of Yangju

Doasis is like an oasis in Yangju! The space is a remodeled former bathhouse, so the atmosphere is unique, and with more than 300 palm trees all over the café it felt like being in a botanical garden. 🌴

They offer everything from bakery items to coffee and meals, and I was especially happy that every single bread was delicious. There are lots of big tables too, so it seems good for gatherings with friends or family, and I highly recommend it as a meetup spot.

We came for a date, and the space is so wide that it was comfortable to stay a long time, haha. The parking lot is big so there's no parking stress, and it's close to Deokjeong Station, so access is excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a large café without a car.