Yeonnam-dong bakery: last chestnut-red bean-mugwort loaf, Mandong

Walking through Hongdae and into Yeonnam-dong, I stopped by a bakery everyone raves about — Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch.

Where is Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch, and what does the entrance look like?

Mandong Jegwa, which I visited while out in Yeonnam-dong, has a sign to the left of the entrance with the word 'bread' in big letters. There was no mistaking it for anything but a bakery.

It sits right on the main street with no dedicated parking lot, so you'd need to use a nearby paid public parking lot. It's the kind of specialty bakery you spot after a short walk from Hongik Univ. Station.

• Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch
• Address: 32 Yeonhui-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00
• 10-minute walk from Hongik Univ. Station Exit 3
• Groups, takeout, and reservations available
• No parking

Customers kept streaming in and out — plenty of foreign visitors too, and the flow never let up. The entrance is built in an antique-feeling wood, giving Mandong Jegwa a mix of coziness and warmth.

Only 3 people inside at a time, and a shelf that empties while you choose

Because the interior at Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch is small, entry is limited to groups of 3 or fewer. It's a real hotspot with long waits near Hongik Univ. Station and around Yeonnam-dong. While I was still picking out bread, two more customers suddenly walked in saying they wanted to eat a lot, and the shelf kept emptying out as they grabbed this and that.

This Yeonnam-dong bakery, a Hongdae favorite, is packed with delicious bread. Beyond the shop's most famous garlic baguette, there's the popular mugwort rice-cake campagne, tortilla walnut bread, pretzels, and more — a bakery brimming with variety and flavor.

The staff moved with quick, systematic hands, each person handling their own task smoothly. Even with a steady stream of customers, they seemed to handle it all with ease.

The store that first found popularity as Mandong Jegwa in Gangneung has now extended all the way to Yeonnam-dong, where it's earning plenty of love.

This is Yeonnam-dong's Mandong Jegwa, a leading name among Hongdae bakeries. The friendly staff explained the breads for sale in detail whenever I had questions. I grabbed the last remaining chestnut-red bean-mugwort bread.

The fig campagne, a healthy bread I usually like anyway, also looked delicious. With generously packed ingredients you can sample and take home at good value, it's a great stop for a Yeonnam-dong bakery crawl.

Packaging at Mandong Jegwa: paper bag free, shopping bag 100 won

At this Yeonnam-dong bakery in Hongdae, breads come wrapped in a paper bag by default, and a paper shopping bag is ₩100 if you need one. I don't usually bother packaging bread separately, but since I had no bags or luggage on me, I paid the ₩100 and got a shopping bag too.

• Chestnut-red bean-mugwort bread ₩7,200
• Salty soboro ₩3,600
• Sweet potato bread ₩3,500
• Fig campagne ₩5,800

Sweet potato bread, 3,500 won

First up is the sweet potato bread. It's a walnut-dough bread filled with sweet potato paste and chestnut dice — sweet, with the sweet potato and walnut working nicely together.

Salty soboro, 3,600 won

Second is the salty soboro. It's a mochi dough with butter mixed in, giving it a crisp-outside, soft-inside feel like a classic soboro bread. The combination of mochi dough and butter makes it feel much more special than an ordinary bread.

Chestnut-red bean-mugwort bread, 7,200 won — the last one on the shelf

I quickly picked up the last chestnut-red bean-mugwort bread. Sure, more would be baked for the afternoon batch, but there's a sense that if you don't grab it now, you might miss it — a real lesson in scarcity value. I hurried it onto my tray, and it turned out to be the priciest item at ₩7,200... but no regrets. It tasted great, crisp on the outside, tasty inside, and above all, it had healthy mugwort in it, which made it all the more appealing.

The chestnuts and red beans blended beautifully, with a filling packed full of ingredients.

The outside is full of crispness, plus a delicious dusting of soybean flour on top — a premium-feeling bread. I kept reaching for more as a snack.

Fig campagne, 5,800 won

Last up, the fig campagne. Sweet figs inside make the flavor a real thumbs-up.

The harmony of moist figs and campagne bread lingers throughout the eating — the nutty, sweet flavor and texture keep resonating in your mouth long after.

It's healthy yet has a subtle sweetness and lovely aroma, so I recommend it. Since it's made the same day, the crust was nicely crisp too — good good..

It's a bread you can't help but savor slowly, bringing a distinct kind of healthiness different from ordinary bread — the fig campagne I'd want to eat again.

Is Mandong Jegwa worth a second Yeonnam-dong bakery run?

Mandong Jegwa, a Yeonnam-dong favorite, has all sorts of products, all baked and sold the same day, and it's hugely popular in Hongdae — so make sure to stop by this Yeonnam-dong bakery, this Hongdae favorite, for some delicious bread.

This Yeonnam-dong bakery in Hongdae, Mandong Jegwa, is the kind of place that makes you want to come back — and today's bakery crawl at Mandong Jegwa Yeonnam Branch was, once again, delicious.