Balsan Station bakery for vanilla bean egg tarts: Byway Bakers

I was looking for some good bread or dessert near Balsan Station, and ended up visiting Byway Bakers Balsan Station. They had more bread and desserts than I expected, from salt bread to financiers and egg tarts. 🥐 With so much to choose from, I looked through everything and chose quite carefully. 😆

Byway Bakers Balsan Station: Key Points

It is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday through Sunday from 09:00 to 20:00, and closes regularly every Wednesday. Reservations, takeaway, delivery, and group visits are available, as are simple payments and Zero Pay. There is a takeaway discount and terrace seating, but pets and parking are not allowed.

• A varied selection including salt bread, financiers, and egg tarts
• An on-site baking and pastry-making area
• Terrace seating that is nice on a pleasant day
• A variety of bread and dessert set options
• Gift packaging for financiers and salt bread

Terrace and Entrance Menu Guide

Byway Bakers had a clean look from the outside. A September promotion notice was posted in front of the shop. Its “September mornings are for corn-cheese salt bread” morning set was available from 09:00 to 12:00, too. It paired corn-cheese salt bread with an Americano or latte at a discounted price. ☕️

There were also about two four-person terrace tables in front of the entrance. It looked like a nice place to pause with a cup of coffee on a good-weather day. Notices by the door also introduced various offerings, including the National Snack Project set menu, peach-yogurt Wappu salt bread, and real watermelon juice.

There was a kiosk beside the entrance, plus a fan and a high chair on one side. Further inside, the pickup counter connected to the drink-preparation area, with a large drink menu board hanging from the ceiling.

Below the menu board was a refrigerated display case, and a little farther in was the POS terminal for ordering and payment.

The shop was not large, but it felt like the space was used really efficiently.

Display Case and Packaging Guide

There was a refrigerated display case near the ordering counter. On top of it were all kinds of party supplies, including number candles, birthday headbands, and sunglasses. 🎂 Shop-use information was posted below the POS terminal.

The takeaway drink discount does not apply when using the terrace; in that case, you need to order for dine-in. The bakery also gives a free dedicated three-piece gift box with the purchase of three egg tarts or cinnamon tarts. Bank transfers and point accrual were available, too. You can request an insulated bag for Wappu salt bread, and it costs ₩500. Since the bakery recommends using one when storing it for over an hour, it seems worth picking up if needed.

Dubai chewy cookies, Dubai salt bread, cakes, and Wappu salt bread were displayed separately in the refrigerated case. On the room-temperature shelves next to it, breads and baked treats were arranged neatly by type. Starting at the chilled case and looking through each item, I kept spotting things I wanted to try. 😂

Behind the room-temperature display shelves, I could see the actual baking and pastry area, so I could watch bread being made up close.

Choosing Salt Bread and Financiers

The bread-selection area had trays, tongs, and parchment paper, so you could pick out the breads you wanted yourself. Now, time for some serious bread browsing! 🥐

The first thing that caught my eye was, of course, the salt bread. 🥐 There were lots of varieties, from double-chocolate baguettes to ham-and-cheese salt bread, egg salt bread, mocha salt bread, and plain salt bread. Plain salt bread was also sold at a discount in four-piece packs, which looked like a good option if you were buying several.

A little farther over, I spotted baguettes, too: traditional baguettes, jambon-beurre baguettes, and corn-mayo salt bread. There was also quite a range of the financiers I like. Yellow cheese, Oreo, vanilla, pistachio, pecan pie, fig, and almond chocolate! If you like financiers, it seemed easy to pick one according to your taste.

On the other side were butter bread, apple-cinnamon egg tarts, and egg tarts. A free dedicated three-piece box comes with the purchase of three egg tarts. I also saw salty financiers and Shanghai butter rice cakes, and they even sold sweetened condensed milk separately to have with the butter rice cakes. Looking over every item, more time passed than I expected! 😂

Examples of shopping bags and boxes for packaging were displayed above the room-temperature shelves. There was also information on financier and salt-bread packages, which looked useful when choosing gift packaging.

For financiers, the bakery recommends eating them within 2–3 days at room temperature, 7 days refrigerated, or 14 days frozen from the purchase date. Store them away from direct sunlight in a well-ventilated place.

Further inside were about two four-person tables and four two-person tables. It was a compact shop, but it had enough seats to pick bread and have a simple bite before leaving. There was also a door next to the room-temperature display leading to the back entrance.

The Bread and Desserts I Ordered

• Salty financier ₩2,900
• Yellow cheese financier ₩3,200
• Almond chocolate financier ₩3,200
• Golden Egg Tart ₩3,800
• Salt bread ₩2,900

As I looked over the displayed breads one by one, the number of things I wanted kept growing, so I deliberated for a while. In the end, my tray was quite generously filled. 😂 The financiers I like especially caught my eye: salty financier, almond chocolate financier, and yellow cheese financier. They even showed popularity rankings: No. 1 Salty, No. 2 Almond Chocolate, and No. 3 Yellow Cheese. Since all three were popular, I put them all on the tray to try one of each this time. 😂

Once I had paid, everything was packaged neatly. There was also an event notice saying that you could receive one complimentary financier for writing a review.

Golden Egg Tart and Financier Tasting

When I cut the Golden Egg Tart in half, little vanilla-bean specks were visible inside. The filling was jiggly and soft like pudding, while the outside was crisp pastry, so I really enjoyed it. Personally, it was the item I remembered most from that day!

The financiers generally had a crisp exterior and a chewy interior! The salty financier was gently savory, while the almond chocolate financier was an easy, reliable chocolate-and-almond combination. The yellow cheese financier had a yellow-cheese chocolate coating and cracker topping, giving it a 느낌 similar to Ppotto cheese crackers.

Byway Bakers Balsan Station had a wide range of items, from breads such as salt bread, financiers, and egg tarts to baked treats and tarts. Of what I tried that day, the egg tart with its soft filling and crisp pastry, and the yellow cheese financier with its crunchy, sweet edges, were especially memorable. It was fun filling the tray with different choices, so it seemed like a good place to stop by when you want to take home dessert or enjoy it with coffee near Balsan Station. Before we knew it, our tray was pretty well filled from choosing things one by one. 😂