Ikseon-dong bakery bread picked by taste: onion bagel, mugwort, Munhwa

I went out to Ikseon-dong and swung by Munhwa Bakery to pick up some bread to take home.

Ikseon-dong always has so many good restaurants and cafés that there's fun in discovering somewhere new every time I visit. This time, instead of a meal or a café, I was looking for an Ikseon-dong bakery I could grab bread from to take home, and that's how I ended up at Munhwa Bakery 🥐

Even from outside, it had more of a warm, old-school neighborhood bakery feel than the trendy bakeries you see these days, which made me curious.

And once I went in, there were way more kinds of bread than I expected. I told myself I'd just buy a couple, but the longer I looked, the more curious I got about this one and that one... haha

What kinds of bread does Munhwa Bakery have?

Munhwa Bakery had everything from the kinds of bread you see everywhere these days — garlic bread, white bean paste bread, salt bread, coffee bread — to breads with more of an old-school bakery feel. Just from what I saw on my visit, there were really a lot of types.

💬 Garlic bread, white bean paste bread, salt bread, coffee bread, and more — really a lot

Seriously so many kinds 🙋‍♀️

What especially caught my eye were the breads with nutty, savory ingredients — injeolmi (sweet rice cake) bread, mugwort rice cake bread, black sesame bread. Most bakeries these days are full of similar croissants and salt breads, so it was fun to browse a place with these more unusual breads. If you like mugwort or black sesame, you'll probably stop right here like I did... haha

There were also loaf breads like rice chestnut loaf and rice cheese loaf,

and the options were pretty varied — sweet ones like milk cream bread and squid ink milk cream bread, and savory ones like the onion bagel and garlic bread.

My picks at Munhwa Bakery: onion bagel and mugwort rice cake bread

After a lot of deliberation, I went with the onion bread and the mugwort rice cake bread.

Honestly I was eating in a hurry so I didn't get photos 🥲 But both were way more delicious than I expected, so I really wanted to leave a review.

What the onion bagel tastes like

The onion bagel's onion flavor wasn't too strong — more of a mild sweetness mixed with a savory saltiness that kept me reaching for more! The bagel's signature chewiness was great too, and the umami of the onion built up the more I chewed, so it was never boring even eaten plain.

I personally love this savory style of bread, so it was totally my type... 🤍 I think it'd pair well with coffee too, and it'd work fine as a quick light meal.

Mugwort rice cake bread: mugwort scent, chewy rice cake

And the one I was most curious about — mugwort rice cake bread 🌿 This is a must-try if you're a mugwort fan! As soon as you take a bite, that fragrant, nutty mugwort aroma spreads gently, and with the rice cake mixed in, the texture is properly chewy too.

The fluffiness of the bread and the chewiness of the rice cake together made the texture fun, and it wasn't too sweet, so the nutty flavor of the mugwort really came through and never got tiring. Since I love the mugwort + rice cake combo so much, this bread was genuinely delicious!! I'm kind of sad I didn't get a photo since I ate it in such a hurry... 🥹

Next time I'll definitely get the mugwort rice cake bread again, and try the squid ink milk cream bread and black sesame bread I missed this time.

A bakery where you can choose bread to suit your taste

Munhwa Bakery is a great bakery for picking bread by taste. If you like sweet bread, go for the milk cream bread, squid ink milk cream bread, or coffee bread.

• If you like sweet bread: milk cream bread, squid ink milk cream bread, coffee bread
• If you like nutty flavors: injeolmi bread, mugwort rice cake bread, black sesame bread
• If you like something a bit savory: onion bagel, cheese bread, garlic bread

If you're like me and not sure what you'll like, grabbing a mix of a few kinds to gift someone works too. There are a lot of breads with ingredients like mugwort, injeolmi, and white bean paste, so they'd also make a nice snack to bring your parents.

Write a review at Munhwa Bakery and get a salt bread

Munhwa Bakery is running a review event — leave a review and you get a salt bread. Anyone planning to visit should definitely check it out!

Salt bread is always the one I want to try one of whenever I go to a bakery these days, so it's worth grabbing since you can get it just by leaving a review. I'm the type to always join these little events when they're around... haha

A bakery worth a stop while exploring Ikseon-dong

Personally, Munhwa Bakery felt less like a place you visit for one famous bread and more like a place where the fun is in browsing all the different kinds and picking by your own taste.

In Ikseon-dong, people often eat a meal, go to a café, then wander the alleys. So I'd recommend Munhwa Bakery as a good last stop to pack some bread and head home after a date or outing in Ikseon-dong~