Gonjiam café: apple cinnamon stick and apple mango smoothie, La Cuesta

What kind of Hwadam Forest café is La Cuesta?

La Cuesta Gwangju is a big Gonjiam bakery café that is open daily 10:00-22:00 and has parking. I visited La Cuesta, the bakery café in Gwangju, Gyeonggi that's famous as a café near Hwadam Forest.

Every time I go, I'm struck again by how crowded it is, haha. It's 10 minutes from Hwadam Forest, and whether it's the forest view or the bakery, there are always so many people that it's honestly amazing.

Is parking easy at La Cuesta?

La Cuesta is a large bakery café, and the big parking lot is one of its big strengths. The café sits on a hill, with wide parking areas below and in front of the building.

On weekends there are so many customers that parking attendants are on duty, so parking isn't hard, but it's so famous that lots of cars come in, and we barely got the very last spot, haha.

Atmosphere and seating

La Cuesta is a fairly huge café, and its blue exterior goes so well with the sky and the green forest. Maybe that's why it's famous. Once we went inside it was packed with customers, and finding an empty seat was almost impossible.

The bakery display is right at the front, and next to it are the kitchen and the drink ordering counter.

You can also watch the bakers through a glass window. Bread times are posted as until 1 pm, and sure enough, we could see them busily making bread inside.

On one side there's a drawing space called the "Drawing Contest", which looked like a fun event to enjoy if you visit the café with kids.

Second floor and outdoor terrace

Go up the stairs to the second floor and you get a somewhat bigger space. It has large windows on all sides, so it feels more open, and the trees outside were so pretty. Maybe because of the heat, everyone seemed to be indoors rather than on the outdoor terrace, so I couldn't see an empty seat on the second floor either.

Outside on the terrace, there are stairs leading further up toward the mountain. Up there is a wide space where you can feel like you're resting in the forest, but it's hot right now, so it's not easy to use.

What breads and cakes does La Cuesta have?

La Cuesta's signature bread is the meju bread (shaped like a fermented soybean block), and there are breads baked the same day, like red bean bread, queen amann and ciabatta, plus cakes such as mango tart and mousse cake. I looked around the bakery inside, and the oddly shaped signature meju bread looked so cute. It's clearly a popular bread, as lots of people were buying it.

There were also lots of other breads baked in the oven that day, such as red bean bread, queen amann and ciabatta, and I saw empty trays, probably for popular items that were already sold out.

The refrigerated showcase had cakes too, with a good variety like mango tart and mousse cake, so you can order to your taste.

Drink menu and the ₩500 Americano refill event

La Cuesta has lots of drinks, from honey grapefruit tea, plain yogurt smoothies and grapefruit ade to plenty of coffees, so you can order whatever you like. On top of that, at the time of my visit there was a wild event where you actually get ₩500 back when you refill an Americano.

La Cuesta doesn't only sell bakery items; it also has brunch dishes such as mushroom cream pasta and oil pasta. I hear the brunch is good too, not just the bread.

What we ordered and prices

• Apple cinnamon stick ₩4,800
• Autumn chestnut bread ₩6,600
• La Cuesta latte ₩7,800
• Apple mango smoothie ₩7,800

We had eaten a meal beforehand, but I still wanted something sweet, so we ordered 3 breads.

Autumn chestnut bread

La Cuesta's autumn chestnut bread (₩6,600) is made with pastry dough, so it was nutty and sweet and so good.

It's packed with chestnuts inside, which gave a lovely sweetness, and the bread part isn't strongly sweet, so the two went together really well.

Egg tart

The egg tart tastes exactly the way you'd expect. The egg custard in the middle was moist and soft, perfect for one bite.

Apple cinnamon stick

La Cuesta's apple cinnamon stick (₩4,800) was sweet and crispy, so good to eat.

The apple cinnamon flavor plus the nutty pastry made it really delicious.

Apple mango smoothie

It was so hot and I wanted something cold, so I ordered the apple mango smoothie (₩7,800), and the mango flavor is super rich. Blended with ice, smoothies usually taste a little watery, but La Cuesta's apple mango smoothie had a strong, deep mango taste, which I loved.

La Cuesta latte

The signature La Cuesta latte (₩7,800) has soft whipped cream on top, and the sweetness was so good. Even just scooping up the cream with a spoon was delicious.

If you drink it without stirring at first, the cream and coffee fill your mouth together for a sweet-bitter taste. Then if you stir it all up, you get a different, smooth latte flavor that's amazing, haha.

What was the best combination at La Cuesta?

As befits the most famous and popular bakery café among the Hwadam Forest cafés, I enjoyed tasty bread and drinks at La Cuesta^^ The signature latte was good too, but for me the best match was the apple mango smoothie with the apple cinnamon stick. If you want a café near Hwadam Forest or some tasty bread, I recommend visiting La Cuesta!