Wondang bakery café while pregnant: Gongju red bean bun, Baedagol

These days my smallest but surest happiness is picking out a good piece of bread and drinking a warm cup of coffee. I liked going to cafés before, too, but lately I seem to go even more often. Eating good food is nice, but sitting in a quiet space with coffee, chatting about this and that with my husband, turns out to be a surprisingly big source of healing.

I'm a real bread lover, so at a bakery café the fun starts with browsing the bread, haha. The time spent agonizing over which one to pick is oddly enjoyable, and finding one I like just puts me in a good mood.

This time, too, I was wondering where to go on the weekend, and finally headed to Baedagol Bakery House (배다골베이커리하우스), a name that keeps showing up in Wondang café recommendations. It opened quite a while ago, yet people keep coming steadily. Having been there, I could see why it's loved for so long: good bread and coffee, plus a big space, an outdoor terrace and a garden.

Where do you park at Baedagol Bakery House?

Baedagol Bakery House offers free parking for 50+ cars in total: the lot in front of the café (about 10 cars) and a dedicated 2nd lot across the road (40+ cars). Even if the front lot is full, you can park in the 2nd lot and just cross the road to get in.

It was a weekday, but I expected crowds, and sure enough the lot in front of the café was full. No need to panic, though, because there's a separate dedicated 2nd lot across the road.

The front was packed for us too, so we parked in the 2nd lot, and the café is right across the road, so it was easy to get to. A café with plenty of parking is less stressful to visit, and I think families and anyone coming by car can use it comfortably.

What are the garden and outdoor terrace like at Baedagol Bakery House?

The biggest charm of Baedagol Bakery House is the garden and outdoor terrace full of green trees and plants. When I visited in summer, hydrangeas were in pretty bloom. It would be a shame to see only the indoor space and leave.

It was really hot that day, but I still wanted to walk around the garden. Looking at the space full of green trees and plants, I forgot the heat for a moment. It was my first time visiting in summer, and the lush atmosphere was really pretty. The hydrangeas were blooming nicely too, and I kept taking photos without realizing it, haha.

In spring and autumn, when the weather is nice, the outdoor terrace must be great for coffee and dessert. Except in midsummer and midwinter, you can spend relaxed time outside, so it suits people who like to stay long at cafés.

Bread selection and seasonal menu at Baedagol Bakery House

Baedagol Bakery House has a reasonably varied range of bread, from popular items to plain, simple loaves, and is also known for desserts and drinks made with seasonal fruit. At the time of my visit it was fresh mango season, so they were selling mango items.

Since we came to a bakery café, the bread is of course what I looked forward to most. The moment I stepped inside, the toasty smell of bread put me in a good mood.

The variety was just right, so choosing was fun. When there are too many, I get stuck on what to pick, but here there's everything from popular items to plain breads, which made it nice to browse slowly.

Baedagol Bakery House is known not only for bread but also for desserts and drinks using seasonal fruit.

It was fresh mango season, so mango menu items were on sale. At another table someone was eating mango bingsu (shaved ice dessert), and it looked so delicious that my eyes kept drifting over, haha. Next time I'm definitely trying the mango bingsu.

It's a bakery café, but is the coffee good too?

The coffee at Baedagol Bakery House satisfied me too. They say they use specialty beans, and the aroma was lovely, and the café latte I ordered was nutty and smooth.

Honestly, I don't expect much from the coffee at bakery cafés. Some places have great bread but slightly disappointing coffee. (I'm not the only one who thinks that, right? haha) But here the coffee was satisfying too.

3 breads I picked at Baedagol Bakery House

This time I ordered walnut chewy bread, Gongju red bean bun, fig campagne and a café latte. The one that stayed with me most was the walnut chewy bread.

Walnut chewy bread: first pick if you like plain bread

The walnut chewy bread is packed with nutty walnuts and is chewy inside, which fit my taste for plain breads perfectly. I usually prefer plain bread over sweet bread, and the chewy texture inside made it fun to eat. It wasn't very sweet, so I kept reaching for more without feeling it was too much.

Gongju red bean bun: the bun I picked because of pregnancy cravings

The Gongju red bean bun is really packed with red bean paste, and it wasn't just cloyingly sweet but a refined sweetness. I ordered it because I strangely want red beans these days. I don't normally eat red bean buns often, but since getting pregnant I've been thinking about one for days, haha. One bite, and it was full of red bean, so I was happy and enjoyed it.

Fig campagne: for people who like hard bread

The fig campagne (rustic sourdough-style loaf) is the style anyone who likes bread with a hard texture will enjoy. Sweet figs are packed between the plain bread, so the flavor got better the more I chewed. Once again, I think plain bread where you can taste the ingredients suits me best.

An atmosphere you want to stay in, and the self bar

The self bar at Baedagol Bakery House has an oven for warming bread and wrapping paper for packing leftover bread. It was a busy day, but the atmosphere was so good that we stayed over an hour.

There were so many customers that day that I couldn't take many photos of the interior. But that just shows how good the atmosphere was, and I understood why people stay so long.

We usually don't sit long at cafés, but that day we were drinking coffee and talking, and suddenly an hour had passed. The self bar was well set up too, and it felt like even the small details were considerate of the people using it, which I liked.

Verdict: a bakery café in Wondang I'd come back to

Good bread, a cup of coffee, and an outdoor terrace and garden where you can spend relaxed time. Baedagol Bakery House isn't just a café for eating bread but a place to rest for a while. If you're looking for a bakery café with a nice atmosphere in Wondang, this is one I'd want to visit again.