Mangwon café for iced americano after market bread crawl: PICT

Have you been to Mangwon Market? I went on my own little welcome-to-fall bakery crawl through Mangwon hahaha. I ate and wandered around so much I was completely stuffed. While exploring Mangwon-dong, I found a great-vibe café close to the market.

How far is it from Mangwon Station?

• Address: 45 World Cup-ro 23-gil, 1F, Mapo-gu
• Hours: 11:00–19:00 (closed every Tuesday)
• Less than a 5-minute walk from Mangwon Station Exit 2!

The weather did all the work! Real fall weather is finally starting. On days like this you crave fragrant coffee even more, and delicious desserts even more, and honestly just everything. If you spot this alley, you've spotted the café — it's under 3 minutes on foot from Mangwon Market. You'll wonder where a café could possibly be hiding here!

And then this cute, atmospheric brick house with floor-to-ceiling windows appears, just like that!

The Mangwon-dong alley view from the window seats

This is the feel from inside! Sitting by the window is great for people-watching, and the view feels wide open and pleasant. There were a surprising number of couples on dates — everyone seemed to have found their way here for the good vibes and good coffee in Mangwon. Their happy faces put me in a good mood too.

There were wooden tables, though not that many of them. Everyone really did seem to be on a Mangwon date. Confirmed: this is a must-stop on the Mangwon Market route. Once you're here, you have to find good coffee to drink.

The tables clustered together were so cute hahaha. Since it seems newly opened, everything was super clean and pleasant.

House-roasted specialty beans

The menu! PICT Roastery's flagship location is in Magongnaru, and it's a specialty roastery café. From roasting the green beans to extraction — all done in-house!!! (A place that roasts its own beans really is on another level.) Because of that it's become famous as a coffee destination, and I heard people go all the way to Magongnaru just for the beans, so running into it in Mangwon too was such a nice surprise haha.

They said the beans are roasted in-house every week. They pick beans carefully with both espresso and brewing methods in mind, using only good ones. I liked that you can choose between acidic or nutty depending on your taste. The beans are genuinely great.

Dessert, next time

Oh, and I didn't have time to order dessert! But the desserts here are also famous as a Mangwon dessert spot. I heard the toast is the most popular — it's aged French toast, so it goes perfectly with coffee!!!! Eating something sweet and fluffy like that with an iced americano just puts you in a good mood. I'm also super curious about the pistachio tiramisu...

Iced americano and mint lemonade

Ta-da. Isn't the PICT Roastery character so cute? I feel like they could sell it as merch. I ordered an iced americano and a mint lemonade. After walking around Mangwon Market I was a little warm hahaha (maybe from eating so much too...).

The iced americano is a genuine must-try. This is a real coffee spot in Mangwon. The cup was so cute, and the coffee itself was nutty and delicious. I already expected it to be good from the coffee smell when walking in, but it was even better than expected. Really well-balanced, the kind of fragrant iced americano everyone would like. It's been a while since I said 'this is delicious' out loud after a sip of coffee.

And the mint lemonade! Because it's made with real lemon, it was so refreshing. Not too sweet, with a strong lemon flavor and mint that paired well together — a great drink for resetting your mood! It didn't taste like the usual lemonade, which made it even better.

Who should visit

If you're looking for a good-vibe café with genuinely tasty coffee in Mangwon-dong, or if you want to step away from the crowded Mangwon Market and just quietly focus on your coffee!!!! Couples, highly recommended too. If you came to Mangwon-dong for bread, fried peppers, and dakgangjeong (Korean fried chicken), this is the café to end it with!!! hahaha.