Gimpo café with prosciutto pizza and a no-kids garden: The Nillai

I visited The Nillai, a large bakery café on the basement floor at 80 Yangchonyeok-gil in Yangchon-eup, Gimpo. It was a brunch spot with floor-to-ceiling natural views and a resort-like feel.

• A relaxed exterior with plenty of parking
• Blue sky and green views through the huge windows
• A little resort inside the café, like being on vacation
• A small exhibition space I found inside the café — media art
• Even picking out bread was a fun part of this bakery café
• Run by a chef from the 63 Building, so expectations were high
• Today's brunch: prosciutto & rocket pizza
• Even the coffee felt special at The Nillai

The Nillai / Location: 80 Yangchonyeok-gil, Yangchon-eup, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, G floor / Hours Mon–Fri 10:00–20:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–21:00 (weekday brunch menu break 15:30–16:30) / Group seating available, separate men's/women's restrooms, baby chairs, Wi-Fi / Free parking

Parking, exterior and how big is The Nillai?

I went to The Nillai, a large Gimpo café, to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and enjoy a leisurely brunch together.

The first thing I noticed on arrival was the scale of the place!! It felt less like a small, cozy independent café and more like a whole complex!!

The building itself is sizeable, and there's a wide parking lot right in front, so it was convenient to come by car. Easy parking matters most when you're meeting friends or gathering in a group, and on that front The Nillai, a large Gimpo café, was great for a get-together.

Green views through floor-to-ceiling windows on the basement level, and the seating

The Nillai is on the basement floor of the building, so we took the elevator down. The moment we stepped inside, the first thing that caught my eye was the green scenery spreading out beyond the huge windows!!

It didn't feel like a basement space at all — the natural light was excellent, and thanks to the green view through the windows, you could feel nature close by even indoors. Maybe because of the time of day the sunlight was streaming in, the whole space felt even warmer and more comfortable.

The sofa seats set up in front of the big windows looked cozy and comfortable. Sitting on a soft sofa with a cup of coffee, looking out the window — it felt like being on a trip far away!!

Seating wasn't limited to one style either — comfortable sofa seats spread out with plenty of room, seats facing the big windows, and spaces filled with bright natural light, divided into several types. It looked good for chatting with a friend, good for facing a date across the table, and good for spending time with family too.

Nillai Garden, the no-kids zone that feels like a pool villa

Another impressive space at The Nillai was Nillai Garden, set apart on one side. It's a no-kids zone, so you can't use it if you're with children, but the quiet, relaxed atmosphere made it a great place to focus fully on unwinding — perfect for a calm chat with friends or a date.

Stepping into Nillai Garden, you're greeted by large planters and lush plants everywhere, plus a pool-like feature woven in among the greenery, giving the space a different mood from a typical café. With water added among the green plants, it felt like stepping into a small garden in the middle of the city.

Personally, looking around this space gave me the feeling of being at a pool villa or a resort. Each area had a slightly different concept, so just walking around the café felt like a little trip in itself.

The Nillai's media art space, goods and self-serve bar

Something not to be missed at The Nillai is the media art space. Usually when you think of a café, you think of pretty interiors, bakery items and coffee — but here, video content was added on top, creating a different kind of thing to look at.

The footage on screen kept changing, and the mood of the space seemed to shift along with it, so it never felt boring even sitting in one spot.

Sipping coffee quietly while looking at the media art space felt a bit like viewing a small exhibition.

They also sell goods featuring The Nillai's character, which seemed like a nice thing to pick up as a souvenir!

And there's a self-serve bar off to one side. Plates, forks, knives, napkins — whatever you need, you grab here. There were also containers ready for packing up leftover food or bread, so it was nice to be able to neatly take home whatever we didn't finish.

What bakery items The Nillai has, and the breads we picked

As a bakery café, The Nillai had a wide variety of breads.

From garlic baguette to sangtu pastry, meringue cookies, levain cookies, chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate chip cookies, Lotus s'more cookies, bite-sized brownies and madeleines — quite a variety.

There was also fresh loaf bread with strawberry jam, sobolo chestnut bread, plain scones with strawberry jam, croissants, chocolate croissants and carrot cake — simple bakery items good to pair with coffee. We picked the sobolo chestnut bread and the sangtu pastry.

Run by a chef from the 63 Building: what we ordered

One thing that can't be left out when talking about The Nillai is that it's run by a chef who came from the 63 Building!! A genuine large Gimpo café brunch spot!!

The Nillai also has proper meal menus like pizza and pasta, so it was good for a real sit-down meal too.

Being able to enjoy a brunch menu on top of the café items made this large Gimpo café brunch spot even better.

We ordered the prosciutto & rocket pizza, an iced Americano, an iced latte, an iced ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea and a hot ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea! Plus the sobolo chestnut bread and sangtu pastry we picked from the bakery!

The chestnut bread, with the sobolo's nutty sweetness layered with a subtle chestnut flavor, was delicious, and the sangtu pastry was plain and sweet, good alongside coffee too.

How was the prosciutto & rocket pizza?

Our drinks and the prosciutto & rocket pizza arrived. Just right for a brunch menu! The prosciutto & rocket pizza we fell for!!

Everyone took one bite and started calling it a real pizza place, saying we should come back just for pizza next time! Honestly, I didn't expect much at first since it was pizza at a café, but the presentation alone was pretty appetizing!

Prosciutto and rocket piled generously on the dough, blending with the cheese — it really looked delicious.

With the pizza and drinks laid out together on the table, the whole scene looked so pretty that everyone snapped plenty of photos.

Cutting into a slice, the texture of the dough went well with the toppings, and the salty savoriness of the prosciutto paired with the fresh scent of rocket was so good with an iced Americano!! Knowing the café was run by a chef from the 63 Building, I had high expectations for the food going in, and the prosciutto & rocket pizza we had that day exceeded them!!

Ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea and coffee: drinks review

The Nillai had a good variety of drinks too, so it was nice that everyone in our group could pick something to their own taste. We ordered an iced Americano, an iced latte, an iced ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea and a hot ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea.

The iced Americano was clean and easy to drink, and the iced latte had a nice, smooth flavor.

The ruby grapefruit-cheonggyul tea had a bright, fruity taste that paired well with the food too. It was also good served hot.

The gentle bitterness of grapefruit blended with the tartness of cheonggyul (green tangerine) to leave the palate feeling clean, and drinking it hot made the fragrant fruit notes feel even softer.

A great time spent with friends in a place with a good atmosphere — The Nillai, a large Gimpo café with resort-like brunch vibes. If you're looking for a large, atmospheric café in Gimpo where you can enjoy window views, bakery and brunch all at once, I recommend The Nillai!!