It goes without saying that all croissant lovers need to visit Nudake Sinsa when in Seoul. Brought to you by Gentle Monster, Nudake Sinsa is a viral bakery cafe in Gangnam which specializes in a single type of pastry — the croissant. This is Nudake’s third outlet after their first two outlets in Dosan and Seongsu.
Curious whether Nudake (and in particular, Nudake Sinsa) is worth the hype? Read on to find out.
We popped by Nudake Sinsa just after lunch. Whilst we didn’t expect to see a crowd outside the cafe given the timing of my visit, we were surprised to find Nudake Sinsa filled with a decent crowd on the first level. As for their dining space on the second level, it was close to full house.
The first thing that will catch your eye when you first enter Nudake Sinsa are the gigantic croissant sculptures that sit in the centre and at the corner of the clean and minimalist cafe space. And then right behind one of the croissant sculptures is a long table filled with different flavours of croissants for your picking.
This is where things get interesting. Nudake Sinsa doesn’t sell just regular croissants. Their menu features the Oniwassant, a French and Japanese fusion treat, which is a hybrid of the Japanese onigiri and a croissant. Their Oniwassant menu features 3 different shapes (a square, circle and flower) in 6 flavours.
Being matcha lovers, we gravitated towards the first sight of matcha. This is the Peak Oniwassant (6,000 won), a flavour from Nudake’s signature menu. Even though we packed the Peak Oniwassant to go, we are happy to report that the square-shaped Oniwassant was still crispy and flakey the next day, and these textures paired well with the light matcha cream.
And if you’re looking for something more savoury, try the Pollock Roe Oniwassant (6,000 won) or the Green Onion Oniwassant (6,000 won). The former is a croissant filled with savory pollack roe cream cheese and pollack roe maple syrup, whereas the latter comprises a croissant filled with onion cream and scallion toppings.
A tip — Nudake Sinsa is available for reservations on CatchTable. So if you’re serious about trying some of their Oniwassants, you know what you have to do.
Nudake Sinsa
43 Gangnam-daero 162-gil,
Gangnam District, Seoul
Tel: +82 70-4177-6977