Jongno 3-ga bakery that cured my TV-hype doubts: garlic bread, Munhwa

Munhwa Bakery: the Jongno 3-ga and Ikseon-dong bakery known for garlic bread

Today I'm writing about a visit to Munhwa Bakery (문화제빵), the famous bakery near Ikseon-dong by Jongno 3-ga. Whenever a bakery shows up on TV programs, I tend to get suspicious that it's just heavily marketed, so I always wonder if it's really as good as they say. This time too I went in half-doubting, but after actually buying and eating the bread, my mind completely changed haha.

Passing by near Jongno 3-ga station, I stopped at Munhwa Bakery, and even from the outside a faint, savory bread smell drifted out — it was hard to just walk past! The interior, from the outside all the way in, had this hanok-style wood tone that made it look even prettier.

Is there a queue at Munhwa Bakery at 2pm on a weekday?

I visited around 2pm on a weekday, and maybe because of that there were no waiting parties, so I was lucky enough to get in right away. Just note that it seems normally only 2 parties are allowed in at a time!

What I bought at Munhwa Bakery: garlic bread and mugwort rice cake bread

Inside, the store was packed with all sorts of breads that looked absolutely delicious. I'd originally planned to buy the bakery's most famous best-sellers, the garlic bread and coffee bread. But after browsing around and thinking it over, I finally settled on two things: garlic bread and mugwort rice cake bread.

Free salt bread for a receipt review, plus the white bean paste bun sample

There was a sign saying you'd get a free salt bread for leaving a Naver receipt review~ But there was no salt bread on display, so I wondered if it's not actually sold and is only for giveaways. At the counter, a white bean bun was sliced and set out for tasting, so I tried a piece. It wasn't overly sweet and had a clean, plain taste, so I thought it might be worth buying next time I get the chance. But there were so many other tempting-looking breads that I'll probably end up actually buying the white bean bun a bit later.

Paper bags came with no extra charge. Bank transfer is also possible!

Munhwa Bakery breads I want to try next time

While I was in the store, I watched other customers carefully, and someone bought an onion bagel along with garlic bread. It definitely gave off best-seller vibes as one of the store's signature items. Personally, if I visit again, I'd like to try black sesame bread, coffee bread, and the onion bagel. I personally love black sesame as an ingredient, and the other two are famous best-sellers that a lot of people seek out!

Munhwa Bakery garlic bread: ask and they cut it with scissors

The signature garlic bread~~ If you ask for it to be cut when you buy it, they'll slice it up nicely with scissors so it's easy to eat! If you want to eat it right away, be sure to ask for a cut.

How the garlic bread tasted: moist right through to the crumb

I brought everything home and ate it there, starting with the garlic bread, which I bought with equal parts anticipation and doubt. Garlic bread as a menu item can easily go wrong — too oily and greasy, or with sauce only coating the surface without soaking into the inside. On top of that, the baguette itself is often so hard it scrapes the inside of your mouth, so I honestly didn't expect much. But the moment I took a bite, the texture and taste completely flipped my expectations. It seemed to be made from a baguette, but the garlic sauce had soaked all the way through to the inner crumb, making it thoroughly soft. The only slightly tough part was at the very ends of the loaf, which I guess is just the crust-only section that lost its crispness once soaked with sauce and turned a bit chewy instead. But even accounting for that, the overall flavor and softness of the sauce were perfect — truly a home run.

Mugwort rice cake bread: faint mugwort aroma, so-so for my taste

Next I tried the mugwort rice cake bread I'd bought. I don't usually like rice cakes much, but I love the flavor and scent of mugwort, so I picked this one. Eating it, the mugwort flavor wasn't as strong as I expected, so by my personal taste it was just so-so. The sweetness spread on top especially felt a bit strong. But I think anyone who likes the combination of rice cake and bread would really enjoy this. The rice cake filling was evenly distributed inside, and the combination of sweet topping, plain bread, and chewy rice cake worked pretty well together.

Would I go back to Munhwa Bakery in Jongno 3-ga?

Munhwa Bakery in Jongno 3-ga delivered a flavor satisfying enough to wipe out all the doubt I'd had about bakeries featured on TV. In conclusion, if I have another reason to be around Jongno 3-ga, I'll definitely stop by again to buy bread. The garlic bread I tried this time was so satisfying that it naturally made me curious about the other breads too, haha. If you want to taste garlic bread with sauce soaked all the way through near Jongno 3-ga, or you're looking for a great bakery, I highly recommend stopping by Munhwa Bakery~~