Jongno 3-ga takeout bakery: garlic bread reheated at 180°C, Munhwa

What kind of bakery is Munhwa Bakery?

Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵) is a bakery in Ikseon-dong, near Jongno 3-ga, and it's said to be one of Seoul's top three bakeries. Let me taste it and see how good it really is.

Munhwa Bakery only sells bread made that day, and whatever doesn't sell goes to people in need: children who skip meals, elderly people living alone, free meal centers, homeless shelters, social welfare facilities and so on. Lots of places throw leftover bread away or sell it the next day, so this is just so, so wonderful 😭 They deserve all our business!!

Munhwa Bakery location and opening hours

From Jongno 3-ga Station, take Exit 6 or 7 and walk about 3-4 minutes. It's open daily from 11:00 to 20:00.

Hanok exterior, takeout only

The hanok (traditional Korean house) exterior of Munhwa Bakery is so pretty. You can't eat inside, takeout only!

How long is the wait?

The inside is tiny, so they only let in two groups at a time. Two groups were already inside, so I waited about 5 minutes.

A bakery that saves children, what a touching slogan 🥺 I hope no child ever goes hungry or unhappy.

What is the inside of Munhwa Bakery like?

This is exactly how big the shop is: the displayed bread, the counter, and a walkway for people to pass through, and that's it. Tell the staff which breads you want and they prepare them for you.

At the back there's a kitchen space where the bread is made.

Munhwa Bakery menu and prices

• Injeolmi bread ₩3,800
• Peanut bread ₩3,800
• Mugwort rice cake bread ₩5,700
• Cheese bread ₩5,400
• Black sesame bread ₩3,800
• Squid ink condensed milk bread ₩4,500
• Milk cream bread ₩3,500

• Onion bagel ₩6,000
• Sweet potato bread ₩3,800
• Rice chestnut loaf ₩5,800
• Rice cheese loaf ₩5,900
• White bean paste bread ₩3,800
• Walnut bread ₩3,500
• Maple cream cheese bread ₩4,900

The signature items at Munhwa Bakery are the coffee bread (₩5,800) and the garlic bread (₩6,800). When I went, there were 16 kinds of bread in the shop in total.

Garlic bread and coffee bread: will they slice them?

What I bought were Munhwa Bakery's signature garlic bread and coffee bread.

The staff asked whether I wanted them sliced, and to make it easier to eat I said yes. They sliced the garlic bread right there, and the coffee bread was already sliced, so they brought it out in its plastic bag as is.

I took a proof-of-purchase photo after buying. Looking at it again, the exterior of Munhwa Bakery is really so pretty 😭

Honest Munhwa Bakery review: still good after 3-4 hours on a hot day?

I was full from a meal and planned to eat them tomorrow, but the second I got home I couldn't resist and tried one piece each of the garlic bread and coffee bread. It's been really hot lately and the bread had been out with me for 3-4 hours, so a fair amount of time had passed, and I was shocked at how good it still was.

Honestly I wasn't expecting much, but... it's this good?! I get why people line up for it.

1. Munhwa Bakery coffee bread ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First, the coffee bread. It was already sliced inside the bag. I didn't count exactly, but it looked like three or four pieces.

Soft, fluffy bread generously spread with coffee cream, and this... is seriously good. Fluffy outside but chewy inside!! The smooth coffee cream and the bread go so well together... I also liked the coffee-flavored castella (sponge cake) crumbs coating the outside.

I had mine with an iced Americano, but with a hot, strong brewed coffee instead it would taste like heaven.

I pressed it lightly with my hand and it goes flat like that, haha. Honestly I figured coffee bread would just be coffee-flavored bread, like a soft mocha bun, right? ...and it is, but... go in expecting nothing at all, like I did!!

2. Munhwa Bakery garlic bread ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It's called garlic bread, but to be exact it's a garlic baguette. Well, a baguette is bread, so garlic bread is accurate too, haha.

My garlic bread came in 7 pieces.

Every piece is soaked in garlic cream and sprinkled with parsley.

Garlic bread in an air fryer: 180°C for 5 minutes

I ran the Munhwa Bakery garlic bread in the air fryer at 180°C for about 5 minutes, and it came out crispy outside and slightly chewy inside, and just like the coffee bread, it was moist from soaking up so much garlic cream.

I love garlic baguettes but every one I buy disappoints me, so when people called this a garlic bread hotspot I was doubtful: "how good could it possibly be?" After eating Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread, I understood the second I tasted it why it's called that.

The texture is somewhere between bread and rice cake!! Moist and a little chewy, so good. The garlic cream is sweet with a strong garlic smell, which I loved.

If you're visiting near Jongno 3-ga or Ikseon-dong and you want or love a sweet, garlicky, crispy-outside, moist-inside garlic baguette, I highly recommend Munhwa Bakery!

👋Wait! Why 4 stars if both were really that good?

I truly enjoyed both the coffee bread and the garlic bread from Munhwa Bakery, but both are sweet breads, so by the end I was getting a bit tired of them. Of course, eating both breads all by yourself will do that, haha.

Some people might find them too sweet, so I changed my rating from 5 stars to 4. There's also a lot of bread, so if you don't eat it all at once like I did and instead split it up and eat a little at a time, I think you'll enjoy it.

I'd happily revisit with my own money, and I want to try the other breads too.