Moniline House Gluten Free Bakery in Seoul, Korea

Recently, I visited the gluten-free café and bakery, Moniline House (모닐이네 하우스), in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul.

Note: Moniline House advertises all of their products as gluten-free!

Yeonnamdong, located near Hongdae, is known for its trendy cafes. Moniline House is approximately a 10-minute walk from Hongik University Station, exit 3.

From Hongdae Station, you’ll stroll through the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, a narrow but charming small park in the heart of the city. This park traces the path of an old railroad line and features a stream alongside the walkway, all of this making it a popular route for walks.

You will discover Moniline House in a small side road. The green and yellow exterior is hard to overlook, but it is located in one of those smaller streets, you wouldn’t expect to find something else than residences.

The first time I set foot into the bakery I immediately felt at home with its cozy interior, the smell of freshly baked cookies and the friendly staff.

They offer a wide variety of cookies, scones, sweet bread, as well as a few pieces of cake and non-sweet bread. Not everything is gluten-free, but the staff is very friendly and willing to explain and make recommendations. Also gluten-free food was clearly marked with a ‘GF’ label.

The man, whom I assume was the young owner, was very passionate about explaining how they baked their products (the kitchen was behind a curtain just on the right side of the bakery). It was clear that the people working there are truly the heart and soul of Moniline House.

Moniline House 모닐이네 하우스 has only very few tables available for seating, but we were lucky enough to catch a table.

I decided to try the house-made cookie ice cream, and it turned out to be the best I’ve had so far. I also liked the cute cookie featuring their mascot, which I think they mentioned was a monkey in a bear costume? (I don´t clearly remember, haha.)

Mr. Sogumbbang chose a non-gluten-free cheese bagel and was also very satisfied. They did have Sogumbbang (salted bread) , but not in a gluten-free version on that particular day. However, they do offer it on their website, along with Yakgwa (traditional Korean cookies) made entirely from riceflour, as well as cakes, and more. You can find the link below.

I couldn’t resist, so I ordered the cookie from the picture above. They brought us a warm cookie, most likely baked fresh that day, and once again, I felt that every won spent there was definitely worth it.

One week later, I returned because I had ordered gluten-free bread buns for making burgers at home. These weren’t your typical burger buns; they were more like the bread rolls I used to eat in Germany. It’s quite a challenge to find non-sweet bread in South Korea or Japan. And even though these bread rolls had some sugar in them, they were not really sweet. They are one of the few bread rolls I found so far, that I would recommend to anyone who misses the kind of ‘good’ not sweet bread you can find in Europe a lot.

When I left, I grabbed a coffee to go for my stroll through Gyeongui Line Forest Park, and to my surprise, the staff gave me a gluten-free scone as a gift.

Final thoughts

Total: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Taste: ★★★★★
Variety: ★★★★★ (only gluten free options)
Price: ★★★★★
Interior: ★★★☆☆
Access: ★★★☆☆

Overall, Moniline House 모닐이네 is a gluten free café/bakery I would definitely recommend. Their service is great, staff is really friendly and understanding (I communicated in Korean with them so I can´t say anything about their English though). Everything I ate there so far was really good and comes freshly from the oven. They have a big range of different cookies and bread, however not so much cake, which wasn´t a minus for me though. The prices were quite reasonable, especially for gluten-free options.

The only negative point for me was the seating.
Their interior is cozy but the lack of seats made me feel very aware of other people who might be waiting. The bakery is also very small, which makes conversations feel less private.
Moniline House 모닐이네 is great for gluten free sweets, but if you want to have a long talk with a friend or a relaxed date, you might do take out and go to another place.

Adress:

Moniline House 모닐이네하우스
Mon-Tue, Thur-Sun 11:00 am- 20:00 pm, closed on Wednesday
Korean website: https://smartstore.naver.com/monil2house
Adress: 252-3 Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Instagram: monil2_house