Mapo café’s Valrhona chocolate baguette: Boulangerie Copain

I most prefer buying bread straight from the shop, but when that is not possible, I often order everyday bread from Coupang or Kurly too! I especially love Boulangerie Copain’s baguettes. I had only bought them online until now, so while doing a Mangwon-dong bakery crawl, I finally visited the shop in person.

Visiting Boulangerie Copain in Mangwon-dong

I was so curious about what the shop would be like, and I finally made it here! For a bread lover, Mangwon-dong is simply heaven. It is far away for me now, so I have to really make up my mind to go, but I never regret it whenever I do!

Boulangerie Copain has become especially popular lately as a bakery with great chocolate baguettes, thanks to the chocolate-baguette trend, but it was already a well-regarded Mangwon-dong bakery before that. A bakery run by masters of baguettes and croissants? That is exactly my kind of place.

If you love baguettes, I recommend trying Boulangerie Copain’s at least once! Baguettes come out from 10:00, so keep in mind that they can be difficult to buy if you arrive too early. Even better, there is a time sale from 7:00 PM, when you can pick up delicious bread at a more reasonable price.

Parking and the bread selection

Seoul is such a difficult place to park, but Boulangerie Copain has public street parking right in front of the shop, making it much more convenient.

It was my first time seeing Boulangerie Copain’s breads in person. There were financiers that looked wonderfully crisp, along with plenty of sweet breads to enjoy.

There were also lots of sweet breads meant to be eaten chilled.

This place is also famous for croissants, so there were many varieties.

I was curious about the salt bread with milk cream inside, so I picked one up. I had wondered about cream-filled salt bread, and this was my first time trying it.

I had heard the brioche loaf here is incredibly good too, but it was edged out by other breads on my list, so next time... Boulangerie Copain seems especially good at these gently seasoned everyday breads.

Or so I thought....? It became famous for chocolate baguettes too! Since this is a place known for great baguettes, I felt I could trust this chocolate baguette as well, so I put one in my basket.

Perhaps because it is so well known for baguettes, the shop also sold several kinds of sandwiches. I had all the sandwich ingredients at home, so that day I only bought baguettes. But looking at the ingredient combinations, there is no way they could be anything but delicious.

I felt I should bring home one thing from the croissant and pastry selection, so I chose the tomato olive Danish, which suited my taste best.

What I bought and the prices

• Valrhona chocolate baguette ₩7,000
• Tomato olive Danish ₩5,000
• Milk-cream salt bread ₩3,500

Tomato olive Danish and milk-cream salt bread

I started with the relatively savory breads. Olives and sun-dried tomatoes are a combination that simply cannot be bad on their own, but the skill of this Mangwon-dong bakery-crawl favorite—keeping the pastry layers beautifully intact—added a crisp texture in the mouth and a buttery touch, making it even more delicious.

Even the crisp cheese nurungji, the browned rice-crust-like cheese bits I love... I could feel that the ingredients had been used generously, which I liked even more. I had it with coffee, but it also seemed like the kind of bread that would pair wonderfully with wine.

Rather than being very crisp outside, the salt bread was slightly crumbly and fluffy. It felt more clean-tasting than intensely buttery, so I think I could keep eating it without getting tired of it.

The milk cream inside was not a light cream piled on in a huge amount; it had a certain richness and weight, so even a small bite brought out its nutty flavor right away.

Valrhona chocolate baguette taste

The chocolate baguette I had been curious about! Perhaps because this is a place that does baguettes so well, the layers themselves were beautifully defined to start with.

The baguette itself is not sweet, so the sweetness comes through more when you bite into the Valrhona chocolate chips packed throughout. In other words, the overall balance was great!

It was not the kind of sweetness that makes your mouth ache; instead, I could taste the deep, intense flavor of cacao itself. Such a good chocolate baguette spot in Mangwon-dong. As expected, Boulangerie Copain really does baguettes well!

So once again, baguettes could not be left off my shopping list: a weekend-morning baguette sandwich loaded with fresh ingredients. You cannot go wrong making a sandwich with these baguettes... Honestly, the baguette itself is so good that spreading it with butter and sprinkling it with salt is already such a happy way to eat it! Boulangerie Copain does both everyday bread and dessert bread well. Recommended if you are looking for a great stop on a Mangwon-dong bakery crawl!