Seogwipo café gluten-free cheesecake tasting: Monocle Jeju

A local friend in Jeju recommended a place that I absolutely had to visit when I came to Jeju, so I went! It was Monocle Jeju.

I usually love cheesecake, so I visited with high expectations—and it was truly impressive because it tasted distinctly different from any cheesecake I’d had before!!!

To give you the conclusion first, it was the dessert I remember most from this Jeju trip. This Seogwipo dessert café satisfied me so much that I wanted to visit once more during the trip 🫶🏻

Monocle Jeju exterior and atmosphere

The first thing I loved when I arrived at Monocle Jeju was the atmosphere. Soft sunlight filled the space, and the little garden was beautifully tended, so I could properly feel Jeju’s uniquely relaxed mood.

Unlike the bustling tourist-area cafés, it felt quiet and calm, making it a lovely place to take a short break over coffee and cake.

What especially caught my eye was that it has received a whopping eight Blue Ribbons. After tasting the cakes, I thought they hadn’t received them simply for being famous. The flavor was on another level.

Parking information

There was also space to park on the way into the café, so visitors traveling around Jeju by car can stop by comfortably.

A calm interior for a quiet break

If you want delicious desserts somewhere with a great atmosphere, I recommend Monocle Jeju, a Seogwipo dessert café.

Jeju has so many famous cafés and dessert shops, right? I was wondering where to go, and then my local friend told me I absolutely had to visit here.

My friend particularly recommended Monocle Jeju’s sweet pumpkin cheesecake as being really delicious, so I took this opportunity to visit~

There was a wide variety of cakes. You can also order whole cakes by reservation, and they had madeleines and scones too~

Ordering sweet pumpkin and Earl Grey cheesecakes

I ordered two items that day.

• Sweet pumpkin cheesecake ₩7,500
• Rich Earl Grey cheesecake ₩7,200

They were both cheesecakes, but their flavor directions were completely different, which made them fun to compare as I ate. And another feature of Monocle Jeju’s cakes: they’re gluten-free cakes made without flour!

How rich is the sweet pumpkin cheesecake?

First, I tried the sweet pumpkin cheesecake I had been looking forward to most. The first thing I noticed with one bite was how incredibly rich the sweet pumpkin’s natural flavor was.

With sweet pumpkin desserts, the sweetness is often strong, or you get only a subtle sweet-pumpkin aroma. But Monocle Jeju’s sweet pumpkin cheesecake really preserved the mild, nutty flavor of the pumpkin itself 🎃

That said, it wasn’t overly sweet. Instead, it was mild and soft overall, the kind of flavor that keeps you eating without getting tired of it.

The cheese flavor and the pumpkin’s natural sweetness came together comfortably without either one overpowering the other. It was moving. The cake itself was incredibly soft too, with a lovely texture that seemed to melt in my mouth.

Personally, it felt on a slightly different level from the cheesecakes I’d eaten before. It was the kind of menu item that made me think, “So this is why it received eight Blue Ribbons.”

The black-tea aroma of the rich Earl Grey cheesecake

The second was the rich Earl Grey cheesecake. Just as its name suggests, the Earl Grey aroma came through so strongly.

When I usually try Earl Grey cake, it often feels like cheesecake with just a touch of Earl Grey added. At Monocle Jeju, though, Earl Grey’s distinctive fragrant aroma was unmistakable.

Adding Earl Grey’s signature fragrance to the cheesecake’s soft, creamy flavor made it feel far more refined than I expected~ I think anyone who loves Earl Grey would be especially pleased.

If I had to pick just one of the two, I’d really struggle. I’d recommend the sweet pumpkin cheesecake if you like pumpkin’s mild flavor, and the Earl Grey cheesecake if you love a fragrant, rich black-tea aroma. Both had such clear personalities that they were easy to choose between based on your taste 🤎

A place I wanted to visit again during my Jeju trip

I only visited once because of my schedule, but honestly, if I’d had more room in the itinerary, I would have wanted to come back. The cakes were that delicious!!!!!

There are so many pretty cafés while traveling around Jeju, but sometimes the atmosphere is lovely while the desserts are ordinary, right? Monocle Jeju stayed with me because the space had a great atmosphere and the cakes were genuinely delicious too.

I had high expectations because a local Jeju friend recommended it, and after visiting myself, I wanted to recommend it to others too. It seems like a great place to take a break with a delicious dessert at either the start or end of a Jeju trip.