Gonjiam café two days before birth: strawberry kouign-amann, La Cuesta

A family outing to La Cuesta Gwangju two days before giving birth

La Cuesta Gwangju is a big bakery café on Gyeongchung-daero in Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju, Gyeonggi, and we drove there as a family, me, my husband and our child, right before the baby arrives. This coming Monday is the day Ppogi (our baby's nickname) is born, and I wanted to go somewhere a bit farther today, so we ended up in Gonjiam.

We went to La Cuesta with my parents last winter. I liked it then, and it was just as pretty this time. It's a great big café in Gonjiam, Gwangju, in winter or summer.

La Cuesta Gwangju opening hours and parking

La Cuesta Gwangju is open 10:00–22:00 (last order 21:30), and you can order brunch from 10:30 to 20:30. The address is 278 Gyeongchung-daero, Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

I'd heard the meju bread (soybean-block-shaped loaf) is the famous one, but I totally forgot and picked other breads because they looked so good. Next time I'll definitely try it.

The parking lot is big too. I heard it fits about 100 cars, and large buses can park, of course. For exactly where to park, you can call La Cuesta Gwangju and ask. Anyway, maybe because it's such a big place, it's busy every time we go.

Summer waterfall, water play area and garden picnic props

I heard that in summer La Cuesta has a cool waterfall and even a water play area, but I didn't see where it is. I meant to ask, but something chaotic happened while we were there and I forgot. Next time I'll check everything and enjoy it all.

Oh, and there's an outdoor garden, and I heard they have picnic props, like picnic baskets, mats and blankets. On a nice day, enjoying the garden sounds lovely.

What breads does La Cuesta sell, and what is the signature meju bread?

La Cuesta's signature is the meju bread, and can you believe I took photos of the breads and still didn't buy it? Looking at the pictures later, I said out loud, "Oh, right!"

Next time I'll definitely buy the signature meju bread. Honestly, there are so many other tasty breads that my eyes were spinning. I wanted to try them one by one, and since it's a big café in Gonjiam, the range of breads is enormous. So many tempting ones.

Last time I picked light things like palmier, galette and scones, but this time I chose breads that would really fill us up. We'd eaten a late breakfast and were wondering whether to have lunch at all. We decided to skip a separate lunch and fill up on bread at La Cuesta, so I went for filling breads instead of light ones.

Weekday brunch set discounts at La Cuesta

La Cuesta sells brunch as well as bread, and it says the single brunch and duo brunch sets are discounted on weekdays. If you happen to go on a weekday, it's worth keeping in mind.

We won't be able to go for a while, but if you have free time on a weekday, going then for a relaxed visit and the discount sounds good.

Self-packing leftover bread and cookie gift sets

At La Cuesta you can pack leftover bread yourself. Last time we had some left over and took it home, and this time too we couldn't finish it all, so we packed it up. We didn't go to the packing corner at first; we sat in the café with our drinks and stopped by on our way out.

They also sell cookie gift sets. Maybe because the bread and cookies are good, I saw people buying them as gifts.

How the bread tastes: La Cuesta's free samples

La Cuesta has lots of free tasting bread out, so I tried one again this time. Last winter I had a free sample and thought the bread was good, and sure enough it was. One of the samples was a bread I'd picked, so after tasting it I thought I'd chosen well.

What we ordered at La Cuesta and how much it cost

At La Cuesta Gwangju we ordered 3 breads and 3 drinks, and it all came to ₩33,500. Here's what we picked.

• Strawberry queen-amann (buttery layered pastry) ₩4,300
• Custard cream bread ₩4,300
• Mont Blanc ₩6,800
• La Cuesta latte ₩7,800
• Vanilla bean latte ₩7,300
• Pororo juice ₩3,000

I like pastry, so I was going to pick three pastries, but then thought we needed at least one cream bread, so I added one of those.

The La Cuesta latte, my first coffee in ages

I chose the bread well at La Cuesta, but I think I chose the drinks well too. I'd been drinking only caffeine-free coffee, but with just two days left before the birth, I went straight for the caffeinated La Cuesta latte.

Maybe because it was my first latte in so long, it was really delicious. I wondered how I'd put up with going without it. I also tried my husband's vanilla bean latte and it was good too, but personally the La Cuesta latte suited my taste more.

Weekend seating at La Cuesta: is there a wait?

La Cuesta Gwangju is crowded on both the 1st and 2nd floors on weekends, so be ready for a wait. The 1st floor was packed, so I couldn't openly take photos; the space in the pictures is the 2nd floor, which also had quite a lot of people.

This time there was a seat and we sat right away, but when we went in winter there were no seats and we even had to wait standing. So if you go on a weekend, expect that you may have to wait. Luckily this time we sat right down.

Gazing at the forest through La Cuesta's big windows

La Cuesta is full of green trees, and it's lovely to enjoy drinks and bread while looking at them through the big windows. It felt so healing that I found myself staring blankly out the window.

My husband asked if he could cut the bread, and that snapped me out of it, so I helped cut it too. It's a really good place for spacing out.

A large Gonjiam café that works well with kids

Our child ate La Cuesta's bread well, both the cream bread and the pastry. They'd had plenty of rice before we came, so I thought they'd only manage a little, but they ate more than us. I knew from last winter that they like La Cuesta's bread, but I didn't expect them to eat this much again.

I wonder when we'll be back for this. Once Ppogi is born in two days we won't be able to go out for a few months, and I felt sad that time was slipping by while we were at La Cuesta. Still, the atmosphere is nice in winter too, so next time we might come back with Ppogi and our first child. Four of us then, which feels strange and even better haha.

If you're looking for a big café in Gwangju, give La Cuesta a try. The atmosphere is nice, the bread is tasty and the prices are good. It's a great place to bring kids.