Yeongdeungpo bakery café after work: ube latte, mango wakppu, BYWAY

Why my sister and I went to BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch after work

BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch (바이웨이 베이커스 영등포점) is a bakery café right next to Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station. I went on a weekday evening after work with my sister so we could each get our own things done. I used to live alone, but lately I live with my sister. And living together, it seems like we have a lot of evenings where we do nothing at all, so I make a point of going out to a café now and then so we can each do our own thing.

I'd been here once before for a study group, and when I went back after a long time, the vibe of the place was completely different. Maybe they renovated? In case anyone knows this already: the building right next to Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station is the Hanuri Publishing building, and I understand the café is run by that publisher. Hanuri is famous for its reading-discussion and essay programs, so I'd recommend this as a space for chatting, studying and meetups.

BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch location, hours and parking

The café is a 2-minute walk from Exit 1 of Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station on Line 2. It's open 09:20 to 21:00 (last order 20:30). Groups, takeout and reservations are all possible, and for parking you can use the paid Dangsan Neighborhood Park lot at ₩1,800 per hour.

Will there still be bread on a weekday evening?

Breads come out at different times throughout the day here, so I think visiting when a batch comes out would be even tastier. I went on a weekday evening, and a lot of the breads were already gone, which was a little disappointing. They also had takeout boxes in various configurations.

Breads at BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch

Throughout the day they bake a wide range of meal breads and baked sweets: various salt breads (butter rolls with a salted crust), focaccia, jambon sandwiches, bagels, croissants, pineapple buns, butter tteok (chewy rice-cake bread), egg tarts, financiers and madeleines. They had lots of the plain breads, financiers and tarts I love, so the bakery looked so good to me.

The refrigerated case also had lots of cakes, sandwiches and trendy bakery items. The cakes are handmade and they all looked delicious, so it seems like a good place to come just for the bread, not only for working.

Drinks beyond coffee and the summer seasonal menu

There are lots of teas, so it looked easy for people who aren't into coffee these days. The seasonal menu has an ube latte, Korean melon (chamoe) matcha ade and watermelon juice, so you can enjoy a very summery drink.

All around the café there was green, summery décor and they sold merch too, and even the filtered water had whole celery stalks in it, which somehow made everything feel fresh, haha.

Seats and meeting room for working or meetups near Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station

The café is huge, with bar seats facing the windows, two-person tables and big group tables in lots of combinations. It looked good for studying or working alone or with one other person, and also good for meetups with different groups of people.

There's also a meeting room in a separate space at the back, free for 1 hour, which looked great for when you need to share your laptop screen for work.

What we ordered and the prices

• Wakppu salt bread ₩8,500
• Pineapple bun ₩4,500
• Salty financier ₩2,800
• Ube latte ₩6,000
• Americano ₩4,000

How is the Hong Kong-style pineapple bun?

The pineapple bun (₩4,500) was new to me. They warm it up, and it's a soft bread with a sweet crumble topping that you eat with savory butter and tangy pineapple jam, a signature bread of Hong Kong, I was told. The sweet crumble, a bit like melon bread, and the tangy pineapple jam were so good, and it went well with the rich butter too.

Is the salty financier good as a gift?

I picked the salty financier (₩2,800) because the person in front of me bought a whole bunch of them, and at a great-value price it was exactly my kind of financier. Crisp outside, moist and sweet inside, it's tasty enough that financiers alone would make a nice gift.

Mango-filled wakppu salt bread: how was it smashed?

I also bought the trendy wakppu salt bread (₩8,500). For some odd reason, a wakppu ball is something you can only enjoy once, right? Once you smash it, there's nothing you can do.. but it's a salt bread? And it's even packed with mango? How could I resist!!

I put on the plastic gloves they give you and smashed it. The white chocolate coating shattered nicely and crisply, and inside the giant salt bread it was packed with properly ripened, juicy mango.

The mango came tumbling out like an avalanche, and I thought, this is the trend. Mangoes have been so good lately. And BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch really is a fruit hotspot as well as having great bread!! The pineapple jam that came with the pineapple bun was so good I wanted to buy it separately, and the mango in the wakppu salt bread was so sweet too.

Is BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch worth recommending?

How do they make such a variety of breads with such delicious fruit!! If you're looking for a big café near Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station with great bread, good for chatting and working, I recommend BYWAY BAKERS Yeongdeungpo Branch without hesitation~ Just know that if you want a wide selection of breads, it's better to go when the breads come out than on a weekday evening.