Namhansanseong drive café with rooftop and egg mayo sausage bread: Sum

Sum in Namhansanseong: a drive café to stop at on the way back from the valley

I stopped at Sum (숨) in Namhansanseong on my way back from a Yangpyeong valley trip! It sits in the forest of Namhansanseong and is apparently famous as a drive course. I went on a weekend and there were a huge number of cars. There's a valley nearby, so I think everyone was there for a summer getaway.

When you see this sign, turn left and just keep going up~

Is parking easy on weekends?

Sum is a big café, so the parking is plentiful~ There are even spaces right in front of the shop. Parking stress drains half your energy before you've had a single coffee, but there was none of that here.

The entrance is decorated all cute and tiny like a wrapped gift. After we parked, five cars came streaming in, so we hurried inside in case the seats ran out.

Choosing a seat at Sum: 1st-floor hall, 2nd-floor windows, bridge sofas

As soon as you walk in there's an open view and a high ceiling, so it feels airy. The tables are spaced far apart too, which was comfortable! If the weather had been nice we'd have sat on the outdoor terrace with a great mountain view, but it was way, way too hot, so we took a seat on the 2nd floor.

The 2nd floor also has floor-to-ceiling windows with a wide-open view! I thought it would be even prettier on a rainy or snowy day. Of course I went for the window seats first, but they're popular and people had already taken them... haha. The other seats were pretty too, though, so I don't think you can go wrong wherever you sit.

If you go out the door on the 2nd floor, there's a space connected by a bridge. It had lots of sofa seats and was relatively quiet. I found it right when we were about to leave, which was such a shame T_T

There are stairs on the connecting bridge, and going up leads to the rooftop.

360-degree nature from the rooftop

From the rooftop you can take in nature in 360 degrees~ I look at dreary office buildings every single day, so seeing all that green made me so happy.

How are the breads, cakes and drinks?

I came back down to the 1st floor to pick dessert and coffee, and there were so many kinds of bread that choosing took forever!!! I'm a total bread lover, so it was a very happy dilemma..

There are 6 kinds of cake too! I really, really wanted cake as well, but I'd already picked two breads, so I passed this time~~~~

I read the drink menu carefully!!! There are lots of coffees, plus ade, tea and non-coffee drinks, so even people who can't drink coffee have nothing to worry about. Another thing that caught my eye was the homemade daechucha (jujube tea). It felt like something a mom would make with lots of care, so I thought older people would love it! Coffee lovers are great, but I think it would be nice to bring parents or elders who like traditional tea~~

Iced Americano + two breads, a sweet-and-salty combo

We both love coffee, so we got iced Americanos and one bread each, to our own tastes. The iced Americano was just how I like it: nutty, not strongly acidic. Together with the bread, it was a perfect match.

For breads we chose the millefeuille fresh cream bread and the egg mayo sausage vegetable bread. A sweet-and-salty pairing, and we chose very well.

Millefeuille fresh cream bread

The millefeuille fresh cream bread is exactly my style! The bread is moist and packed with fresh cream, yet not greasy at all. It isn't too sweet either, so with the Americano I just kept eating and eating. Fresh cream plus iced Americano, I can't resist!!!!!

Egg mayo sausage vegetable bread

The egg mayo sausage vegetable bread was good too. It's generously filled with egg mayo so it's moist, and the sausage inside gives a nice snappy crunch. It feels less like a bread and more like a simple meal? I think it would be fine for breakfast or brunch~ Both were delicious, but if I had to pick just one, my vote goes to the egg mayo! I kept thinking I should have bought one more to take home, haha. Next time I'll try the other breads one by one!!