Quiet Gangnam Station bakery café: cheese sand, Bakerist Brown

A quiet Gangnam Station bakery for a long chat: why Bakerist Brown?

Bakerist Brown is a bakery café on an alley in Yeoksam-dong, near Gangnam Station, and I picked it for catching up with a former coworker after ages. We used to pull deadline all-nighters together at our old company, and when we finally decided to meet, I worried a lot about where to go, since Gangnam is so crowded and busy that finding somewhere quiet to talk is hard. We both love bread and sweet desserts, so I scoured the area near our meeting spot. A bakery café that has been getting word of mouth among office workers for its calm atmosphere caught my eye: Bakerist Brown. Since I was meeting a fellow designer, I also checked the interior and how comfortable the space feels, and it turned out to be a total success, haha.

Even after so long apart, being with her felt like we had seen each other yesterday, and we shared lovely bread and had a great time. Among Gangnam Station bakeries, it's rare to find a place that has both charm and room to breathe, so I was really glad.

What are the interior and floor-by-floor seating like at Bakerist Brown?

Bakerist Brown has a vintage yet stylish red-brick interior, split into a 1st-floor ordering and waiting area, a 2nd-floor white hall and 3rd-floor group seating. The moment I opened the door, I felt a warm, calm air. Even from a designer's eye, I couldn't help thinking the red-brick mood was really well done.

The 1st floor has a compact ordering space and waiting seats where you can sit briefly, and up the stairs the 2nd floor opens into a bright, pleasant white-toned hall.

The 3rd floor has spacious tables suited to studying or small gatherings. Just finding a Gangnam Station bakery space where you can sink into conversation without the noise, right in the middle of a busy district, made me really happy, haha. You can feel the care in the tidy corners of the shop and even the softly playing background music.

A cozy, charming brick-interior retreat found in the middle of busy Gangnam.

What breads are in the Bakerist Brown showcase?

The 1st-floor showcase at Bakerist Brown holds a wide range: fruit queen-amann (a flaky, caramelized round pastry), savory pies, croissants and baked sweets. I gasped the moment I faced the showcase. The breads, which they say are baked fresh daily with plenty of French butter, were wonderfully varied and showy.

In the pastry line, the fruit queen-amann stood out most: big, crisp, layered pastry piled with fresh fruit. The one densely topped with tangy Shine Muscat grapes and the fig queen-amann with a whole sweet fig on top caught the eye right from the look.

For those who prefer savory, meal-style breads, there were neatly arranged pepperoni pie with golden-baked tomato and plenty of cheese, plain corn pie and sweet pumpkin pie. There were also moist, soft pain au chocolat and croissants, plus baked sweets perfect for gifts such as lemon madeleines and fig financiers. You can tell no effort or ingredients were spared on each bread, and I really felt why people call it a paradise for bread lovers.

How were the salt cream coffee and sand set?

At Bakerist Brown we ordered the signature salt cream coffee, a café latte and the sand set, which is also hugely popular as a gift. I loved the sweet-salty balance of the salt cream coffee and the not-too-sweet cream filling of the sand set.

As soon as the neatly served items hit the table, the aroma of nutty coffee beans and sweet butter spread softly.

In the salt cream coffee, a pinch of salt sits on thick, dense cream and blends with the deep bitterness of the coffee for an excellent sweet-salty harmony. The latte also had fine, soft milk foam and went down really easily.

Above all, the sand cookies, which they say are baked with French butter and fresh ingredients, have a cream filling between crisp biscuits that isn't overly sweet, so I kept reaching for more.

With a sip of bitter coffee and a piece of nutty sand alongside, our chatter with an old friend never stopped. Just from the dessert craft, it was easy to see why Bakerist Brown draws so many people as a Gangnam Station bakery.

The best of the sand set: cheese sand and matcha sand

The ones that won me over right away were the cheese sand and the matcha sand. The golden cheese sand spreads a rich, nutty cheese flavor heavily through your mouth with the first bite, leaving a strong salty-sweet savoriness.

Who would I recommend Bakerist Brown to?

I recommend Bakerist Brown to anyone looking for a quiet place to chat and anyone who needs handmade baked-sweets gifts. The spaces are well separated, and the ceiling height and seat spacing are roomy, so we could focus fully on our conversation. It goes beyond just mood, with solid fundamentals in taste too, so I could confidently introduce this Gangnam Station bakery to friends. If you want to soothe a tired mind from busy downtown Gangnam and enjoy a relaxed tea time with an old friend, be sure to note it down~~

Especially anyone like me who wants a quiet chat spot!! And anyone who needs handmade baked-sweets gifts, I highly recommend it.

• Address: 21 Gangnam-daero 102-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (B1 and floors 1–3)
• 1F: takeout and waiting seats
• 2F: sunlit white hall
• 3F: group seating