Ikseon-dong bakery onion bagel that freezes well: Munhwa Bakery

Apparently it's one of Seoul's top 3 bakeries haha, so I went to Munhwa Bakery, a well-loved bakery near Jongno 3-ga! It was so good I couldn't not write a review...

I go to Jongno every weekend, so if you're someone who visits Jongno often, I really recommend stopping by Munhwa Bakery (because the bread is just that good).

Munhwa Bakery's location and hours

Munhwa Bakery sits between Anguk Station and Jongno 3-ga Station! It's a great spot to drop by while walking from Jongno 3-ga Station toward Ikseon-dong. Open daily from 11:00 to 20:00.

On the way to Munhwa Bakery, a Jongno 3-ga bakery — the sky was clear and lovely, but 33 degrees..... (when will this weather cool down?)

If you spot the bread-shaped sign, you've found the right place..

The hanok-style exterior really suits Ikseon-dong and made a strong impression — I saw a lot of foreign customers too! It feels like there are more foreign tourists than Korean visitors in Jongno and Ikseon-dong these days XD

Any wait at 3pm on a weekend?

I visited Munhwa Bakery around 3pm on a weekend, and there was no wait — I went straight in! If there is a line, just wait out front. The turnover seems really fast :)

Made fresh daily, leftovers donated

One more special thing about Munhwa Bakery — they only sell bread baked that same day, and whatever doesn't sell is given to people in need, like children who miss meals, elderly people living alone, people with disabilities living at home, and free meal centers! It's not just about selling bread — passing on the leftovers to people who need them felt really warm to me.

The bakery I used to work at back in the day did the same thing.. places like that always seem to do well.

Munhwa Bakery has no space to eat inside, so it's takeout only!

For the size of the interior, the variety of bread is really impressive, so it's fun just picking..

There are so many pretty cafés and dessert shops in Ikseon-dong these days, but personally I prefer a place where I can try lots of freshly baked bread over fancy desserts, so Munhwa Bakery made me happy. I worked at bakeries the entire four years of college.. I'm a pretty big bread lover...

Signature onion bagel, ₩6,000

Today's pick ✨ The onion bagel could be called Munhwa Bakery's signature! Inside the crispy bagel is a generous amount of onion cream cheese haha (tip on how to enjoy it best is at the very end!)

Breads on display

Injeolmi bread (sweet rice cake bread), mugwort rice cake bread, squid ink custard bread, cheese bread, walnut bread, sweet potato bread.. the prices are nice too, so it's basically ideal for bread lovers lol. The shop is on the small side, but the variety of bread was more than I expected, so even the breads I had in mind... I ended up agonizing more over what to choose.

Next time, garlic bread too... apparently it's the poster child for crispy-outside-soft-inside haha. The garlic aroma and buttery richness go so well together apparently.. a bread everyone, young and old, would love!

Coffee bread that became my lunch, ₩5,800

Coffee bread is also today's pick ✨ It's generous in size, and packed with coffee cream inside! Coffee bread and the onion bagel together were perfect as a lunch substitute for me! There was some left over so I ate it the next day too lol.

If you ask, they'll cut the bread into easy-to-eat pieces! It was brief, but the staff member was so kind — that made the visit even nicer ><

They packed it up like this and threw in plenty of wet wipes too, such a nice touch..

Today I only took home Munhwa Bakery's signature breads!

• Coffee bread ₩5,800
• Onion bagel ₩6,000

Generous portions at such nice prices, I loved it! 100000% would revisit.

Tip for enjoying the onion bagel

I ate one coffee bread the moment I got home.. even though it's a cream bread, it wasn't heavy at all, and it was so soft! The onion bagel was also really delicious even after storing it in the freezer and thawing it for 5-10 minutes!

If you're looking for a genuinely good bakery in Jongno or Ikseon-dong, please do visit Munhwa Bakery, highly recommend! Next time I'm in the Jongno area, I plan to try more of the breads I haven't tasted yet, one by one!