Mugyo-ro coffee bakery café late in the day for egg tart: Lemangdoré

I stopped by Lemangdoré Gwanghwamun, a bakery worth the trip, sitting right between Seoul City Hall and Cheonggyecheon. Quiet vibe, and the coffee and desserts are good too! Sharing this café as a nice stop on a Cheonggyecheon date course.

Where Lemangdoré Gwanghwamun is and when it opens

Lemangdoré Gwanghwamun spans the 1st to 3rd floors at 17 Mugyo-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul. Open daily 08:00–21:00, with coffee last order at 20:30.

• 📍17 Mugyo-ro, 1st, 2nd, 3rd floor, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ⏰ Daily 08:00–21:00 (coffee last order 20:30)
• ✔️ Group seating, takeout, delivery, Wi-Fi, separate men's/women's restrooms, waiting area, mobile payment

It's a 3-minute walk from Cheonggyecheon and also 3 minutes from City Hall Station Exit 4, so accessibility is really good. You could stop by while strolling nearby, or grab a coffee to go and read by Cheonggyecheon.

Inside Lemangdoré: seating across three floors

As soon as I walked in, the vibe was so good. Seating goes up to the 3rd floor, and overall it's calm — usually a lot of people on the 3rd floor were studying or working on laptops. There were plush sofa seats too.

It's a place I'd recommend for a Cheonggyecheon café date, but it'd also work well as a meeting spot. The seats are spacious, and since it opens early in the morning, it's a perfect café for office workers near City Hall.

The menu board and how to order

You can order either at the kiosk yourself or at the counter.

It really felt like a place that specializes in coffee. You can pick your preferred beans, and there's also a coffee of the day, which is handy when you can't decide, haha.

Why the bakery shelves are empty late in the afternoon

The bakery lineup is diverse, but since I went late in the afternoon, most of it was already sold out 🥹 There are light baked goods like financiers, madeleines, and scones, plus brunch-style sandwiches. They also sell jam and unsalted butter to pair with the bread, which was nice.

There was Dubai chocolate croissant too, but it was all gone. Doesn't seem like they restock later, so if you want the good bread, go early, haha.

How the classic egg tart tastes

Still, I managed to grab the last classic egg tart, and it was delicious, haha. The pastry is crisp and the inside is super moist. The bottom has a chewy, almost rice-cake-like texture, nicely nutty and sweet — recommended.

The double vanilla madeleine

I'm not usually a fan of dry, plain baked goods like madeleines, but it seems like pretty much everything at this bakery is good. The sugar coating on the outside is thin and the inside is soft, pairing well with coffee.

Vanilla latte and americano with Noir beans

A vanilla latte with a clear line between milk and coffee! The cup is pretty and the portion is generous. The taste is nutty and pleasantly sweet without being too much.

And compared to other cafés nearby, Lemangdoré is affordable even for a large café, so you can go without much burden. The iced americano was, to my taste, too strong, but the default option, Noir beans, had no acidity, so it worked well.

What I'd order on a second visit to Lemangdoré

The café was quiet and it felt like I'd escaped the city center, which I liked. Even the basic desserts were tasty, so next time I'm going early to try more of the lineup, haha.

A great coffee-focused café for an Euljiro or Myeongdong course too! If you're looking for a quiet, calm spot, I recommend Lemangdoré. Ate well again today 🍀