Weekday afternoon bakery haul with family in Ikseon-dong: Munhwa

Ikseon-dong's famous bakery near Jongno 3-ga: Munhwa Bakery

Munhwa Bakery

A bakery that fits perfectly into an Ikseon-dong date course

Today I want to introduce a bakery I love near Ikseon-dong! The weather's warmed up so much lately — people are hitting the outdoor tables in Jongno 3-ga again and it's the perfect weather for an Ikseon-dong date, too. Munhwa Bakery is a Jongno 3-ga spot that's great to swing by as part of an Ikseon-dong date course. I've already revisited this bakery so many times! If you're ever around Ikseon-dong or Jongno 3-ga, it's such a good place to grab bread to take home.

Munhwa Bakery sits right on the main street of Ikseon-dong. I really like the hanok-style tiled roof look — it matches the Ikseon-dong vibe perfectly.

Takeout only, entry in groups of 2

Munhwa Bakery is takeout only, so to avoid crowding they let people in two groups at a time! Every time I've visited on a weekday afternoon there's never been a wait, but when I went around lunchtime there were quite a lot of people buying bread. I also saw a lot of older visitors picking up bread — with the atmosphere, the exterior, and the wide variety of bread, it's easy to see why it's so popular with an older crowd too. That's Munhwa Bakery for you.

Munhwa Bakery's bread lineup

So what kinds of bread does Munhwa Bakery have?

The coffee bread I'd had before — if you like soft cream buns, this one's a must. The coffee flavor and aroma are both really strong, with coffee grounds mixed in ~ a super popular bread! There's cream inside that's incredibly soft, and it melts away when you eat it with milk.

Onion bagel, sweet potato bread, white bean paste bread, walnut bread, rice chestnut loaf, rice cheese loaf, maple cream cheese loaf. Such a wide variety of bread! Black sesame bread, milk cream bread, squid ink cream bread and more — breads anyone would love, which explains why it's such a famous bakery in Ikseon-dong. There are lighter breads too, which is great, and I especially recommend the two rice loaves. Both are delicious, and they're among the ones I buy most often~

The cheese bread and mugwort rice cake bread are tasty too! They go great with coffee, but seeing breads like these makes me think of milk instead ,,, since I came on a weekday afternoon, nothing was sold out either, which was nice haha. The bread smell hits you the moment you walk in — very much a proper Jongno 3-ga bakery, Munhwa Bakery.

My favorite garlic bread — cut with scissors

What I love most is Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread! This garlic bread is packed with garlic sauce, which I love, and on top of that they cut it right there with scissors so you can eat it easily piece by piece. Whenever I come to Munhwa Bakery I always buy the garlic bread — rich and deeply flavored! If you like garlic baguette, I definitely recommend trying Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread! The outside is shiny and you can just tell it's packed with sauce, right?

Since they cut it for you, it's easy to eat too ~ ~ it's so glossy just looking at it that you won't be able to resist buying this garlic bread once you see it haha.

Packed up neatly to take home!

Rice cheese bread Garlic bread

How does the rice cheese bread taste?

At Munhwa Bakery, one of my all-time favorite bakeries, I bought two breads I love! Rice cheese bread and garlic bread. My family loves these two so much that I often buy them whenever I come out for an Ikseon-dong date or outing~

Can you see the texture in the halved rice cheese bread,,,? The bread is really moist, and being a rice bread, the chewiness is noticeably different! There are two kinds of cheese inside, in just the right amount, adding a savory, salty flavor that makes it so appealing and delicious haha. If you like cheese, I highly recommend this one! It's a savory, salty, yet clean-tasting rice loaf that kids would probably love too — the texture unique to rice bread is especially charming in this loaf.

You can see the cheese inside! Just the right amount is the best.. the texture is soft yet chewy, and it seems like it'd be light and easy to eat as a breakfast substitute with milk or soy milk. Of course, breads like this are best torn apart by hand.

The garlic bread the family finished in seconds

No need to even say it about the moist garlic bread ~ my family loved Munhwa Bakery's garlic bread so much we polished off a whole loaf on the spot! Next time I'll buy two haha. The weather's getting cooler and it's just about the perfect season for the Jongno outdoor tables and Ikseon-dong dates — if you're looking for a great bakery in Ikseon-dong, I recommend packing up some delicious bread at Munhwa Bakery ~ whatever you get, you won't regret it!