Gongdo, Anseong brunch café with Grandma: custard toast, Chat Baker

I've been going back and forth to my grandmother's house in Pyeongtaek for 29 years and have never once visited a café nearby. So when the chance came, I went to Chat Baker in Gongdo, Anseong with Grandma. It's only 5 minutes by car from Anseong Toll Gate, so the location is great too.

Where is Chat Baker and what are its hours?

Chat Baker (Chat Baker Brunch & Bakery Café) is at 4391 Seodong-daero, Unit 101, Building 3, Gongdo-eup, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi, South Korea. It's open daily 09:00-23:00.

A 500-pyeong café hidden inside an outlet complex

Chat Baker is a 500-pyeong café tucked inside an outlet-style complex. It's really too small to call an outlet, but there's a brand clothing store on the main road, and if you go in past that store, you'll find another building.

The parking lot is big, so parking wasn't hard. Chat Baker is a large café, but it's also an LP café. Calm, lovely songs were playing and the atmosphere was wonderful.

The 1st and 2nd floors

This is the 1st floor of Chat Baker. White tones and a modern feel, almost like an exhibition hall.

This is the 2nd floor. It had more variety to look at than the 1st floor, and the space was much bigger.

What to drink at Chat Baker? Pineapple lemon juice

• Jeju carrot lemon juice ₩7,500
• Pineapple lemon juice ₩7,500

The drinks we ordered at Chat Baker were the Jeju carrot lemon juice and the pineapple lemon juice, both ₩7,500. There were plenty of other drinks and coffees, but I wanted something a little special, not the coffee I drink every weekday. Looking at the menu, there were Jeju carrot juice and pineapple juice, right? They said these are made in-house from fresh vegetables and fruit sourced that same day, so I ordered them. Of the two, definitely order the pineapple lemon juice!

For brunch, the ham cheese croissant is a must

Brunch pasta looks tasty too, but the ham cheese croissant is a must-order!

Honestly, Grandma's house is deep inside, so it feels totally rural and I never thought of going to a café. But after trying the bread at Chat Baker, I could see myself cycling over sometimes and sitting here alone for a while.

First of all, the bread at Chat Baker was delicious and came in lots of varieties, so it's great for trying a bit of everything. It felt like tasting a whole new world, kind of?

Where is the oven for warming bread?

At Chat Baker you can warm your bread in an oven after ordering. On the 1st floor the oven is next to the tray return, and on the 2nd floor it's right at the top of the stairs.

The waterfall window that surprised Grandma

It had been a while since I went out for a drive with Grandma and my parents, and we ordered a nice variety of bread at Chat Baker. Grandma has a bad back and doesn't get around much, so it was her first café visit in a very long time, and the atmosphere took her by surprise.

Water streams down the huge glass window like a waterfall, as if it were raining, and she said it was so pretty.

Breads we ordered at Chat Baker, with prices

Here are the breads we ordered at Chat Baker.

• Custard cream butter toast ₩5,900
• Ham cheese croissant ₩5,800
• Walnut red bean bun ₩3,800
• Gongju chestnut bread ₩6,800

When I go to cafés with my friend Yesin, we usually order just 1-2 breads, so I never got to eat all the ones I wanted. Today there were a lot of us, so I loaded up on every bread I wanted, haha

The tastiest breads: custard cream butter toast and ham cheese croissant

The tastiest for me were the custard cream butter toast and the ham cheese croissant. Those two were head and shoulders above the rest. Sweet and salty at once, such a treat for the mouth. The breads are big too, so if you come for brunch, I think you'd be full even without ordering pasta.

Gongju chestnut bread

The Gongju chestnut bread (Gongju is a city famous for chestnuts) also had several big chestnuts inside. Sweet and nutty, I think it would go well with coffee.

Hate carrots? Jeju carrot lemon juice taste

Chat Baker's Jeju carrot lemon juice, made with carrots sourced that day, has lemon added to cut down the carrot smell a lot. I'm not a carrot fan either, but it was tasty! Even people who dislike carrots should be able to drink it without resistance.

Tangy without sugary sweetness: pineapple lemon juice

Next, Chat Baker's pineapple lemon juice. When I go to cafés I usually look for a refreshing, tangy drink, but it was always sour yet incredibly sweet, you know? This was the tangy drink I'd been looking for! I finally found what I wanted! The lemon's sourness meets the pineapple's natural sweet-sour, and it's really refreshing in the mouth. It's not even comparable to drinks that get their sweetness from sugar.

A good café stop after shopping at Starfield Anseong

Chat Baker is also 10 minutes by car from Starfield Anseong, so after finishing your shopping you could head over to Chat Baker and spend some quiet time. The cafés inside Starfield were all crowded and hectic.