Seongsu café for salted taiyaki and mango bingsu: Childish

While I was out in Seongsu, I stopped by Childish for the desserts that are so hot in Seongsu lately 🍧

Childish is famous for salted taiyaki, a combination of salt bread and bungeoppang (fish-shaped filled pastry). I’d been curious about it for ages, so I finally got to try it this time haha.

Childish Café in Seongsu

Childish is on the second floor at 114 Yeonmujang-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, and is open from 11:00 to 21:00. It is regularly closed on Mondays, and parking is not available. It is located on Yeonmujang-gil in Seongsu-dong.

Maybe because it is known for salt bread, there are little salt-bread details dotted around the interior haha. So cute.

There are plenty of seats and it feels comfortable, so it would be nice to pop in and take a breather when noisy Seongsu-dong gets tiring.

What’s on the menu at Childish?

Childish had way more menu options than I expected. Beyond salted taiyaki, there were salt breads, salt-bread sandwiches, bingsu, coffee, matcha lattes, and lots of things that are great for a quick dessert stop 💚

I ordered one salted taiyaki, two iced Americanos, and one mango bingsu 🍋🟩 They also have set menus, so a set could be a good choice if you are visiting with several people.

As you would expect from a Seongsu spot known for salt bread, Childish had various salt-bread options in addition to the basic one.

• Salt bread ₩2,500
• Mini plain salt bread ₩900
• Pea salt bread ₩3,300
• Jambon-beurre salt bread sandwich ₩7,500
• Egg mayo salt bread sandwich ₩5,500

Next time, I want to come for a meal and try a salt-bread sandwich too. One mini plain salt bread here is ₩900 haha. They are genuinely one-bite sized, so cute 😇 If you love salt bread, I think just browsing the menu would be fun too haha.

What does salted taiyaki taste like?

First, the salted taiyaki I was most excited for! It was tastier than I expected haha. Since it combines salt bread and taiyaki, I wondered what it would taste like at first, but the outside was crisp while the inside had that characteristic sweet taiyaki flavor. It also had the salty, nutty character of salt bread, so the sweet-and-salty combination worked really well 🩶🩶

I absolutely loved it 😋 It is such a famous menu item in Seongsu that I had been curious, and now I get why it is famous! I’m a total salt-bread fanatic, so I have been to lots of salt-bread meccas in Hapjeong, Seongsu, and beyond, and my standards are seriously high, you know? But the salt bread here was baked so well and they definitely did not skimp on the butter. Highly recommended.

It was even better while warm, so personally I recommend eating it right after ordering 🖤 The butter just pours out~~~~~ An iced Americano is essential!

Taiwanese mango bingsu in Seongsu-dong

And of course, I ordered mango bingsu too—something you cannot leave out at a Seongsu café in summer 🥭 The menu calls it Seongsu-dong’s one-and-only Taiwanese mango bingsu, ₩22,900.

It was piled high with mango, so it looked exactly like a proper summer dessert. The bingsu itself was quite generous too; with the salted taiyaki, it was perfect for the two of us to share. If you are looking for a café in Seongsu and want something more than bread, or a cool dessert as well, ordering the mango bingsu together would be a good choice 🥭

A great Seongsu stop for dessert

Overall, Childish was a great café to casually stop by for distinctive desserts while visiting Seongsu. Of everything I had this time, the salted taiyaki was my favorite! I kept thinking I want to bring my salt-bread-crazy husband here haha. Next time, I will definitely get the salted taiyaki again and try the salt-bread sandwich I missed this time too 🤍