Bread is one of Seoul's quiet obsessions — salt bread, bagels with a queue around the block, French pastry. These are the bakeries on my map. A few famous ones are marked “I'd rather”, with the place nearby I'd walk to instead.
No photos, no star ratings — just what I'd tell a friend. 44 places across 17 neighborhoods, from the same guide as the neighborhood pages.
Open the guideA calm bakery-brunch spot — the Ashville palette eats as well as it photographs.
The Anguk outpost of that Seoul-Forest bakery, good bread over three floors, and always a seat free.
A tteok (rice cake) shop open since 1949. Grab the royal dutteok, or anything, as you pass through Bukchon.
Started the Korean bagel craze, and the line still shows it; the other branches are far easier.
London Bagel Museum's salt-bread spin-off, well-branded and tasty; usually a line, so I go nearby.
Canelé and madeleines done straight, out on a terrace; there are no indoor seats.
Natural-levain sourdough with a Blue Ribbon; the jalapeño melting-cheese sandwich is the meat-free draw.
Haven't been. A new three-floor brick bakery on Sajik-ro's edge, a different mood on each floor.
Probably the most famous scone name in Korea. The owner's British, and the scones show it.
The Yeongjongdo salt-bread name Seongsu lines up for, now in Ikseon: shorter line, outdoor tables a step away.
Haven't been, but it's a weekday-only sandwich-and-financier bakery in the Centropolis tower by Jonggak.
Seoul's oldest bakery, opened just after Liberation; three generations in, quietly modernizing.
One of the names that drove Korea's salt-bread craze: thousands a day, a queue that moves fast.
One of Seongsu's big-three salt-bread bakeries; a deeper, richer take than the going trend.
A Seongsu bread-pilgrimage stop, and one of its big-three salt-bread bakeries.
A big European-style bakery-cafe on the Seoul Forest strip, with actual room to sit down.
A rice bakery: everything from 100% Korean rice flour and a rice sourdough starter.
A Blue-Ribbon bakery long loved in Seongsu, its hearty meal breads on a house levain and organic flour.
A takeout bakery of organic-flour hard breads, with wine, cheese and olive oil on the same shelves.
The owner-chef came up at Michelin-starred Mosu; the sausage bun's grilled to order, and it sells out.
Haven't been. A salt-bread and milk-bread bakery that moved over from Garosu-gil; ciabatta too.
Haven't been. A retro-French takeout cookie shop with a big pink bow out front; classic butter cookies.
Haven't been. A big open-kitchen bagel bakery some rank in Seoul's top three.
A neighborhood bakery famous for its cream-packed shu-cream buns; grab one, no thinking required.
Small neighborhood bakery, all of it good. I always get the Lilion Sand: baguette, butter, apple jam.
Hearty hard-crust meal breads from a first-generation master, the baker's baker. Yongsan has loved it longest.
A big, cool, corporate bakery-hall, genuinely handy in a heatwave. But in Hannam I'd rather buy from a baker.
The bakery from the Haus Garage team; the room feels Nordic, and the bread's worth it.
Opato's bakery-only shop; come straight here if you just want the salt bread.
A relaxed, good-looking bakery in the Yongsan blocks. The bread's been good every time I've gone.
A Yongsan bakery worth timing: the fresh bakes land at 11 and 3, and the popular ones go between.
A long-loved neighborhood bakery, strong on croissants and baguettes.
A bakery gathering Korean and modern breads, and it nails the salt bread.
Sourdough sandwiches and focaccia on an up-and-coming Huam-dong block.
Italian bakery that Italians vouch for: proper breads, pizza by the slice, a deli case.
The Yeonnam scone place that fills up at weekends. Good scones, but the area's full of calmer rooms.
Run by a Japanese baker off a baking show, and it shows — the classics, done straight.
Mangwon's bakery of record: baguette, salt bread, the lot. Locals come for the croissants and pastry.
Cream buns fit to burst through the skin, and a mammoth loaf people cross the city for.
Haven't been, but it's a basement bakery open two afternoons a week, and good kitchens buy its bread.
Korea's croffle (croissant-waffle) started in this basement, and it hasn't coasted since.
Haven't been, but it's San Francisco-style sourdough, naturally leavened, over two floors.
One of Seoul's benchmark croissants, and the coffee holds its end up too.
The bagels everyone queues in Anguk for, and the line here is far shorter.
What to order and how to get in — the hours, the queue apps, the booking that needs a Korean phone number — is in the app.
Bukchon is free, in full, so you can see whether you trust me before paying.
Seoul by moment: early mornings · on your own · vegetarian · late nights · with a view · for a date
Seoul by kind of place: cafes · specialty coffee · bakeries · desserts · tea · Korean barbecue · bars · natural wine · markets · museums and galleries · shopping · things to do