Seochon café window seat upstairs: garlic shrimp sandwich at Respire

This weekend I visited a café with a lovely atmosphere in Seochon: Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon (레스피레베이커리카페 서촌)^^

Respire Seochon: location, hours and parking

Respire Bakery Cafe Seochon is at 40-7 Hyoja-ro 13-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul. It is open Mon–Fri 08:30–18:00 and Sat–Sun 09:00–19:00. For parking, use Hyoja Public Parking Lot.

A white, French-street-style exterior

This Seochon brunch café has an exterior that suits the quiet mood of Seochon! The whole building is white-toned and even the sign feels exotic, so it gave off a real European vibe~~ It looked like something you'd run into on some street in France! There are also terrace seats in front of the building, so it's a brunch café where you can soak up the sun and take photos.

You enter through the door on the right! Let's head in quickly~~

The big parking lot in front is off limits

There's a really huge parking lot in front of Respire, but it belongs to the Presidential Security Service, so café customers can't park there! Use Hyoja Public Parking Lot instead~~

What are the ground-floor and second-floor seats like?

Respire has two floors, and the warm lighting and wooden interior make it feel snug and cozy. The counter area was so pretty that I went "wow" the moment I walked in, haha

There are window seats too, and it's a perfect, relaxed spot for a cup of coffee.

On nice days like this the windows are open, so brunch on the terrace seats is great too~~ When I visited, the ground floor was full, so I ate upstairs!

Second-floor window seats with big panoramic windows and lots of light

Head up to the second floor and you'll find a space with a different charm. The window seats get great light through the big panoramic windows, so they're ideal for enjoying coffee and bread at leisure while looking at the fresh green scenery outside!

Isn't this a great mood for a date too~~??!! At Respire you can really feel the Seochon vibe. There are detailed little decorative props all around, and browsing them was fun.

Respire menu and prices

Brunch dishes at Respire Seochon are in the ₩10,000 range, and salt bread starts at ₩3,000. The menu and prices from the original post are below.

• Garlic shrimp sandwich ₩10,500
• Respire toast ₩15,500
• Ice cream French toast ₩15,500
• Omelet sandwich ₩8,500
• Americano ₩5,500
• Einspänner ₩6,500
• Salt Summer Latte ₩8,000
• Salt bread ₩3,000
• Chocolate cream ciabatta ₩7,000
• Condensed milk cream salt bread ₩4,300

We ordered an iced Americano, the garlic shrimp sandwich and the condensed milk cream salt bread!

Is the garlic shrimp sandwich enough for a meal?

Respire's garlic shrimp sandwich (₩10,500) goes beyond a simple sandwich: it's a hearty dish with a rich, almost cooked-meal flavor! I think you could eat it instead of a proper meal~~ Instead of regular sandwich bread, it uses Respire's signature salt bread (sogeumppang, a buttery salted roll). Plump shrimp sautéed in garlic sauce are tucked inside the salt bread, and eaten together with the egg, the textures and flavors went together so well and tasted great.

The sharp, nutty garlic aroma soaks right into the shrimp, so the flavor is really intense but not greasy. Garlic plus shrimp is a combo Koreans love, so it's a foolproof taste! With the bouncy shrimp, fresh arugula and the sauce, every bite had a different flavor.

The garlic oil base could easily get heavy, but the fresh vegetables keep it clean, so you don't get tired of it until the last bite! It works very well as a brunch meal and the portion is enough to fill you up~~ It isn't harsh yet has a great savory depth, so I think people of any age or gender would like it.

What does the condensed milk cream salt bread taste like?

Respire's condensed milk cream salt bread (₩4,300) is a devilishly good sweet finish after the sandwich. Just looking at it, you know it can't be bad!

The sweet condensed milk cream and the salty salt bread were a perfect sweet-and-salty combo. The salt bread base itself is thin and crisp outside, moist and chewy inside, the textbook crispy-outside, tender-inside bread. Generously filled and drizzled with rich condensed milk cream, it was a dopamine-hit of a dessert.

Respire, a Seochon brunch café with a lovely atmosphere and tasty salt bread: I recommend it!