Hongdae chimney bread café with Chimney Salt & beer: Chimney Mansion

I went to Chimney Mansion in Hongdae for some chimney bread (a spiral pastry baked around a cylinder). The look of it alone is something else. Seriously, it's so different from anything else. Chewy, with a nicely crispy outside… wow. It's everything I love about bread in one. There's no way not to love this chimney bread, haha. I'm starting my review of a place I was genuinely happy with, right now~~!

Where is Chimney Mansion?

Chimney Mansion, a big dessert café in Hongdae, sits between Hongik Univ. Station and Hapjeong Station, tucked inside an alley on Jandari-ro 6-gil in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Even though it's deep in the alley, it's already famous, so people kept streaming in. I've attached the location, so I hope it helps when you visit :)

Chimney Mansion's exterior and interior atmosphere

Chimney Mansion is in a brick-look building with a European-style sign, so the exterior alone is really pretty. It caught my eye even from far away. Kind of like a bakery café in a European alley?! Lots of people were taking photos, and the photo spot by the entrance was amazing. Total Hongdae vibe, haha.

Inside, it's wood tones plus brick, so it felt warm yet vintage, and the soft lighting made the mood really good. Plenty of couples on dates, plenty of friends hanging out, and I saw some people working alone too. The space is divided up, so each seating area felt a little different :)

A European-style café with a chimney sweep concept

What I found really neat is that the café's whole concept is a chimney sweep! There are chimneys and European-style props here and there, and they fit the mood so well. It gives you that feeling of being on a trip!! Even though it's right in the middle of Hongdae, the atmosphere was completely different.

What's on the menu at Chimney Mansion?

Chimney Mansion has a huge variety of chimney bread, plus drinks and meal items like sandwiches. And now, the dangerous part, the menu… I wanted to eat everything, lol.

The chimney breads come in so many kinds, the drinks are plentiful too, and with sandwich-style meals it looked good for brunch as well.

There really is a huge variety! Since it's chimney bread, the middle is hollow, so that part allows all sorts of variations.

• Sweet chimney bread for dessert
• Sandwich-style chimney bread that works as a meal
• And the plain classic chimney bread too!!!

How does the chimney bread at Chimney Mansion taste?

While waiting after ordering, the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air, so even the wait was happy, haha.

Chimney Salt: crispy outside, chewy inside, topped with sugar and salt

The first to arrive was the Chimney Salt!! Wow, the look of it is seriously something. It's a rolled-up chimney-shaped bread with sugar and salt on the surface, so it even sparkled, which was perfect.

The Chimney Salt is crispy on the outside and super chewy inside. The texture is so good. The moment I bit in, I understood why everyone talks about chimney bread, lol. Eating it fresh out of the oven while still warm made it even better.

Sausage chimney bread: where the bread is the star

The sausage chimney bread at Chimney Mansion was good too! It felt like the bread quality was on a whole other level,, honestly, I normally eat sausage breads for the sausage, you know? But chimney bread is different, haha.

Chimney Mansion has beer too

Chimney Mansion even has beer. Wow,, a sausage chimney bread with a glass of beer would be pure heaven, wouldn't it?!?

Why I liked Chimney Mansion, and desserts for gifts

What I liked about Chimney Mansion is that it's not just an Instagram-vibe café; the quality of the dessert itself is really good. Since the chimney bread is the main attraction, it felt like a place that competes on taste.

Also, lots of people were getting gift packaging. Chimney Mansion has a good range of butter sandwiches and cookies, so they looked good as thank-you gifts or presents.

I plan to go back to Chimney Mansion to try other chimney bread flavors, haha. It's a big Hongdae dessert café that I doubt anyone visits just once.