Yeonnam-dong bakery café by Gyeongui Line Forest Trail: ₩4,000 latte

I went to Noknok, a bakery café in Yeonnam-dong. It's near the end of Yeonnam-dong along Gyeongui Line Forest Trail, and with the weather cooling down lately, it was a nice walk over, half stroll, half errand.

Noknok's ground floor or second floor: where should you sit?

Noknok runs across two floors. From reviews I'd seen, the 2nd floor is white-toned and feels a bit warmer. The 1st floor, as you can see, leans black and green with an overall calm mood — which I actually liked more. The café is quite spacious, so you can just pick whichever fits your taste.

There's also a cozy sofa near the entrance.

Bread loaves sold out by evening, but Noknok's baked sweets and cheesecake were plentiful

Noknok is unusual in that it has a huge variety of bread loaves — blueberry, fig, and more. Unfortunately, since I visited in the evening, every bread menu item was already sold out. The bread seems really popular, so if you're curious, go early. Besides bread, there also seemed to be several kinds of salt bread.

There was also a wide variety of baked pastries like financiers. For the bakery items, you just look at what's displayed and grab it yourself; for cake and other dessert menus, you check the kiosk and order directly. Noknok's Basque cheesecake came in several kinds, from plain to chocolate to Oreo, so cheesecake lovers would probably enjoy it.

An outlet at every seat: Noknok's ground floor for laptop work

Noknok's 1st floor was a great spot to work quietly. The long table in the very back and the tables along the wall each had an outlet at every seat, and most customers were talking quietly, so the atmosphere was very calm and pleasant. When I visited, there were several people working or studying too. Thanks to that, I pulled out my laptop and got things done comfortably.

There's also a long sofa seat in the middle of the store. Watching other customers sitting there, it looked really comfortable.

What Noknok's ₩4,000 café latte tastes like

After a bit of a wait, my order came out. I picked a café latte and, from the dessert menu, the fig mugwort chiffon sando. Drinks and desserts are picked up when the staff calls your name.

First, the café latte. At ₩4,000, it's pretty affordable. The milk flavor was rich and nutty, and since I was drinking it in the evening, I actually liked that the coffee taste wasn't too strong. Noknok is more famous for its bakery, but the coffee is good too.

Noknok uses green as an accent color in its interior, and I thought it was a nice touch that the cups and dishes are all unified in a similar shade. Every dish also has the 'Noknok' logo printed on it.

Noknok's fig mugwort chiffon sando, ₩9,000

And then the fig mugwort chiffon sando (a sandwich-style dessert made from chiffon cake). Priced at ₩9,000. As the name suggests, it was a sando-style dessert — chiffon cake split in half and filled generously with whipped cream. The visual, with whipped cream and figs on top, was so pretty that I was satisfied the moment the tray arrived.

Good things deserve a closer look. Seeing it again in this photo, the fig flesh looks really red and delicious. I've heard figs taste best in September, so I'd recommend trying this before autumn passes.

This autumn's figs were sweet and delicious even eaten plain as fruit, but having them piled onto a dessert like this was great too. Since it's a mugwort chiffon cake, it wasn't overly sweet, and the mugwort flavor came through nicely, pairing really well with the whipped cream. The honey drizzled on top added to the appeal as well.

Is Noknok good for solo visits and for groups?

The coffee and dessert were both really tasty, and thanks to the calm atmosphere, I was able to wrap up my work well too. This time I visited alone and only used the 1st floor, but next time it might be nice to head up to the 2nd floor with a group. If you're looking for a good bakery café in Yeonnam-dong, I'd recommend Noknok.