Gwangalli 9am terrace café with mushroom cream pasta: Working Holiday

Working Holiday Minrak, famous as a Gwangalli brunch café

I went back again to Working Holiday Minrak, the Gwangalli brunch café known for opening early in the morning (I've been back so many times I honestly lost count — not telling haha)

Working Holiday Minrak hours, parking and baby chairs

• 📍Hours: 9am – 10pm
• 🚗Parking: Yes (basement parking at Bada Maru building, 1 hour per ₩10,000 spent, up to 4 hours)
• 👼Baby chair: Yes

Why Minrak-dong locals book Working Holiday Minrak for group meetups

As someone who actually lives in Minrak-dong, I've been back to Working Holiday, this Gwangalli brunch café, quite often lately. It's the ocean-view brunch café I always recommend when meeting friends in Gwangalli — plus there's parking, which makes it perfect for group get-togethers

It's on the 7th floor of the Bada Maru building, and the ocean view greets you the moment you step off the elevator. You order at the kiosk

Every time I come here I think the same thing — Gwangan Bridge sits right at eye level, and the Gwangalli ocean view with the sunlight shimmering on the water is just so pretty

Terrace seats you can reach with a stroller

I felt like I could just zone out and stare at the sea all day. Next time I'll come alone with a book and a coffee and do just that... Today the weather was so nice, and since we'd brought the stroller anyway, we decided to sit outside on the terrace with Dami

Last time the terrace door was closed, but today it was open, so a cool breeze came in even for people seated inside. But with the weather this good, sitting on the terrace and taking in the view was even better. There were lots of customers with babies too, and the terrace was great for stepping out to calm a fussy baby

Why the 9am opening makes this Gwangalli brunch café worth it

The reason I recommend Working Holiday as a Gwangalli brunch café is, first of all, that it opens early. Opening at 9am is great for us as parents — we're often up early wondering what to do with the morning, so coming here for brunch first thing puts me in a good mood

Today we ordered the Margherita pizza (22,000 won) and the mushroom cream pasta (18,000 won) — look how good they look

I come here fairly often since it's close by, but it's also popular with tourists — the table next to us on the terrace was Japanese visitors, and Western tourists kept coming in too. Almost half the customers seem to be foreign visitors every time I come, so it's clearly a popular spot with tourists. It's nice that such a well-known place happens to be close to home, so I get to come often — hehe

Margherita pizza, ₩22,000

This was my first time trying the Margherita pizza, and the dough was as good as ever. I'm not usually a huge fan of tomato-based pizza, so last time I only ordered the cream-based one, but this tomato sauce pizza turned out really delicious too. It comes out freshly baked with chewy dough and plenty of cheese, and the basil you bite into here and there cuts through the richness nicely

New menu: mushroom cream pasta, ₩18,000

The mushroom cream pasta is a brand-new menu item, so this was my first time trying it too, and there were more mushrooms in it than I expected. The noodles were a really wide flat noodle — what's it called again... — and they held onto plenty of sauce, which I loved

Twirling it up and taking a bite, I thought whoever made this really knew what they were doing. The mushroom flavor came through fully, the cream was thick and rich, and it paired really well with the noodles. I'd only ever ordered pizza here before and this was my first time trying the pasta — turns out Working Holiday is a pasta place too

Both were so good I couldn't pick a favorite — a real Gwangalli brunch gem!! If you come with a group, it'd be perfect to order one pizza and one pasta to share

Our little one had a blast too, wandering from table to table holding onto a pizza crust end, munching away and charming everyone she passed, soaking up all the attention