Magoknaru, Seoul café with buttery aged French toast: Pict Roastery

A Magoknaru spot for coffee and dessert together

I was looking for a Magoknaru café and ended up at Pict Roastery Magoknaru Branch (픽트로스터리 마곡나루점). ☕️ It's a place where you can enjoy coffee and dessert together. It's close to Magoknaru Station, so it's easy to drop by after a meal, and it's near Seoul Botanic Park too, so it works fine as a Seoul Botanic Park café as well. Best of all, there's a separate roasting area inside the shop, so if you love coffee, this place is bound to catch your eye.

Opening info I checked before visiting

• Hours: Wed–Sun 11:00–20:00
• Closed every Monday and Tuesday
• Reservations, takeout and delivery available
• Mobile payment accepted / free Wi-Fi
• Takeout discount / free parking available
• Bean roastery café

Check points

• A good place to enjoy coffee and dessert together
• In-store roasting area and a variety of beans
• Aged French toast recommended
• Dessert menu including pistachio tiramisu
• ₩2,000 off coffee drinks on weekdays 11:00–14:00

A Magoknaru roastery café on the 2nd floor of Castle Park

Pict Roastery Magoknaru Branch is on the 2nd floor of the Castle Park building. You can see the Pict Roastery banner from outside the building, so it was easy to find. They also run a ₩2,000 discount on coffee drinks on weekdays from 11:00 to 14:00. I thought it would be a nice stop for office workers nearby at lunchtime. ☕️

Go up to the 2nd floor and there's one more banner in front of the shop, plus a PIKT sign above, so it wasn't hard to find. The entrance is full glass, so you can see right inside. I could get a feel for the atmosphere before even going in, and the roasting machine set up toward the back caught my eye right away.

A look at the coffee menu and beans before going in

There's a menu board in front of the door before you go in, so I could check what was on offer beforehand. Coffee ranged from Americano to café latte, vanilla bean latte, cappuccino and café mocha. A few more unusual items stood out too, like the black latte and coconut affogato. ☕️

For dessert there was aged French toast, Kyoto matcha Basque cheesecake and pistachio tiramisu. Beyond that there were teas like Wedding Imperial, Marco Polo and Charming Blue, and beverages like basil yuzu ade and Kyoto matcha latte. Right next to the entrance there was also a display selling drip bags and coffee beans. If you're into coffee, it's a nice spot to browse the beans along with the menu.

Through the entrance, the ordering area is right there. Toward the back there's a POS and a pickup counter, and a small menu board was sitting in front of the POS too, with the same content as the board outside. To the side there was a write-up about the beans. They ranged from nutty beans to ones with some acidity and even decaf, with Colombian, Ethiopian and Brazilian beans listed separately. It would be nice to pick a bean that suits your taste and give it a try. ☕️

I paid on the payment pad and waited for the drinks and desserts.

There was a shop poster on the wall too, and it mentioned that you can get one coffee refill when dining in. The refill is only available when each person orders one drink, though.

Next to the POS and pickup counter was a self-serve bar. Water, napkins, syrups and so on were laid out, and on one side I could see a bean grinder and a coffee machine. Overall it really felt like a place that brews and roasts its own coffee.

A cozy interior for one or two

The interior was smaller than I expected but had a clean, tidy feel. There were about 5 two-seater tables and 3 seats facing outward. On one side there was also a table for 5, so it looked fine for a small group too. Overall, it's a space that suits drinking coffee alone or coming as a pair to relax over dessert.

Americano, pistachio tiramisu and aged French toast

What we ordered

• Americano ₩4,900
• Pistachio tiramisu ₩8,000
• Aged French toast ₩11,900

I picked these because I wanted coffee and dessert together, and personally I was pretty excited about the French toast. 🧈🍞

Tiramisu with unmistakable pistachio flavor

First up were the pistachio tiramisu and the Americano. ☕️ The pistachio tiramisu looked unmistakably pistachio from the start, with crushed pistachios sprinkled over the top. Tasting it, it reminded me of Baskin-Robbins' pistachio flavor. The cream was sweet and smooth, so I enjoyed it.

Inside, the ladyfingers were soaked in coffee shots. They weren't the fully drenched kind, so the cookie texture was still there to some degree. My partner likes that kind of texture and enjoyed it, but I prefer a moist tiramisu, so it was a little bit of a letdown for me. Still, the nutty, sweet pistachio flavor was satisfying.

Aged French toast with a great butter aroma and moist texture

And then the aged French toast I'd been waiting for! The moment it came out on the plate, a rich butter aroma rose up, so I was excited before even taking a bite. 😋 Syrup was drizzled around the toast, and the outside of the bread was coated in sugar, giving it a slightly crisp texture like dalgona (Korean honeycomb candy). Sweet on the outside, moist and fluffy inside! Personally, I really loved the texture. With the butter aroma and the sweet syrup on top, it went really well with coffee too.

I took a cross-section shot partway through. I'd already eaten quite a bit by then, so there's only a little left. 😂 At the end I speared the last of the French toast with my fork for one more bite! Cleared the plate completely in the end. 😂

If you're after a sweet dessert and coffee in Magoknaru

Pict Roastery Magoknaru Branch was a Magoknaru café that's great for coffee and dessert together. You can see the roasting machine inside the shop and there's a wide range of beans, so it would suit anyone looking for a Magok specialty coffee café or a Magok roasting café too. Of the menu items we tried, the aged French toast was the most memorable. Great butter aroma, sweet on the outside and moist and fluffy inside, and it paired well with the Americano.

The pistachio tiramisu has a pronounced pistachio flavor, so I'd recommend it if you like pistachio desserts. And with the ₩2,000 discount on coffee drinks on weekdays from 11:00 to 14:00, it looked like a good lunchtime visit too. If you're looking for a café near Seoul Botanic Park or in Magoknaru for coffee and dessert together, stop by sometime. ☕️