Lakeside Bakery With 60 Breads a Jaw-Dropping View

An Hour From Daejeon to a Lake View Bakery in Nonsan

Once May rolls around and the weather finally sorts itself out, you start itching for a decent day trip. I'm a bit of a cafe fiend here in South Korea, so when I heard about Lakehill Bakery — a lakeside cafe right by Tapjeongho Lake in Nonsan, a rural area in South Chungcheong Province — I told my wife we should go for a drive and grab some bread. She's never one to say no to that sort of plan.

It was May 2026, a weekday off, so we drove down from Daejeon. My wife is from overseas, and she loves poking around lesser-known corners of Korea — but neither of us had been to Nonsan before. It's roughly an hour by car from Daejeon, which makes it a perfectly manageable outing. I knew the bakery was attached to a hotel near the Tapjeongho suspension bridge, but I hadn't realised they'd recently refurbished the place. From the outside, the building looked so sharp that my wife genuinely asked, "Is this brand new?"

My Wife Froze in the Doorway

The moment we stepped inside, that was it. The entire ground floor is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, and Tapjeongho Lake with its suspension bridge stretches out right in front of you. My wife stopped dead in the entrance and wouldn't budge. I said, "We came for bread — go and pick something," but she'd already whipped her phone out. "Hang on, photos first." When someone hasn't even ordered yet and they're already snapping away, you know the view is genuinely something.

I'd walked in expecting a straightforward bakery, but honestly the lake view hit me before any of the bread did. Still, we couldn't just stand there gawping forever, so we agreed to save the scenery for later and headed over to the bread counter first.

Choosing Bread — Easier Said Than Done

The bakery section was no joke. Up front there were packaged breads and smaller desserts, and further in the display cases were lined with baguettes, bagels, croissants, and cakes — all warmly lit and beautifully arranged. Apparently the head baker trained at Sungsimdang, the legendary bakery in Daejeon, and by Korean artisan bakery standards this display was seriously impressive in scale.

Gift-Boxed Loaves and Pound Cakes

Deeper into the display area, there were breads packaged specifically as gifts. A pound cake called "Sungsimsungui Pound" sat alongside a hazelnut coffee pound cake. An orange castella — a sponge cake popular across East Asia — was topped with orange marmalade and labelled organic, while a chocolate brownie studded with Oreo cookies on top had my wife staring for a good while.

At around £4 a pop, they're a step up from your average high street bakery, but the signage mentioned organic flour throughout, so it seemed like they genuinely invest in their ingredients. My wife lingered over the gift section for ages but eventually decided, "We're not taking anything home today," and moved on.

Artisan Loaves With Brilliantly Daft Names

Over in the crusty bread section, a salt baguette made with French butter caught my eye first. Next to it were loaves with wonderfully quirky Korean names — "Squid Ink Rolling Pin" and "Black Rubber Shoe" — both made with squid ink dough, so dark they stood out from across the room.

The "Squid Ink Rolling Pin" is a brioche made with actual squid ink, topped with mixed nuts — it looks properly rustic and bold. "Black Rubber Shoe" is a squid ink bun filled with condensed milk cream, and the name is a nod to the traditional black rubber shoes Korean grandparents used to wear — it had us both laughing. The chapssaldoughnut is a chewy glutinous rice doughnut coated in sugar and red bean, while the coffee mocha bread was one of the more affordable options in this section.

Onion Bagels and "Squid in Name Only"

The next shelf had onion bagels, a croque-monsieur, and one with the unforgettable name "Squid in Name Only." The onion bagel was labelled as organic with a sweet onion flavour, and the croque-monsieur was a French toast style topped with melted cheese and sweetcorn.

The real eye-catcher was "Squid in Name Only" — a sausage and cheese bread made with squid ink dough. The name is pure cheek, and honestly, it's the sort of thing that makes you stop and take a photo whether or not you even buy it. Korean bakery cafes have a real knack for playful naming these days, and this place had that down to an art.

From Mugwort Mochi to Basil Tomato

A hefty loaf called "Ssuktteogssuktteog" — made with ssuk (mugwort, a fragrant spring herb) blended with rice cake — was topped with sliced almonds and had proper weight to it. Next to that sat a round bread oozing melted cheese, while a potato sausage bread in a pink paper tray stood out visually. The basil tomato bread looked the most appetising of the lot, with cream cheese peeking through its cracked surface.

A sweet potato brioche was piled high with sliced almonds. I asked my wife what she thought and got back: "They all look lovely, but they all look equally lovely, so I've no idea." After three years of hitting up cafes across Korea, I suppose that's a fair response. We'd only done one lap of the display and I already felt like we needed a bigger tray.

Korean Classics to House Signatures

A bit further in, the Korean-style breads began. Angbutter (a bun filled with sweet red bean paste and butter), churros, chocolate croissants, twisted glutinous rice doughnuts, and danpatbbang (traditional red bean buns) — all familiar faces at Korean bakery cafes, but each one was generously sized and so neatly displayed it was hard to walk past.

The angbutter came in a pink paper case — slow-cooked sweet red bean paste with butter, perfectly giftable. The chocolate croissant was thickly coated with chocolate chips pressed into the top. The kkwabaegi (twisted doughnut) is a Korean classic — dough twisted and deep-fried — but this glutinous rice version felt heftier than the ones you'd get at a traditional market stall. The danpatbbang had a glimpse of golden dough through the centre, made with whole Korean red beans.

Then came garlic baguette, alligator pie, chestnut manju (small baked pastries), egg tarts, and an array of chocolate cakes. By this point, the sheer number of options was bordering on overwhelming.

The garlic baguette was sliced and sealed in a clear case, and you could practically smell the garlic sauce from a metre away. The alligator pie — layered pastry with walnuts pressed into its craggy surface — certainly lived up to its name in the looks department. The chestnut manju were dainty little baked pastries with chestnut paste inside, and the egg tart was labelled as a Lakehill signature — noticeably larger than the standard bakery version.

Coal Briquette Bread and Apple Bread — a Proper Double-Take

A nut tart packed with walnuts sat beside two versions of yeontan-sikbbang — bread shaped to look exactly like yeontan, the cylindrical coal briquettes that were once used to heat Korean homes. The "black charcoal" version was dark, filled with four types of cheese, while the "white charcoal" version was lighter, stuffed with fresh cream and sweet red bean paste.

They've even got the holes punched through like real briquettes, so at first glance you genuinely might not clock that it's bread. It's the sort of thing that's twice as fun when you explain the cultural reference to someone who's never seen one. My wife took one look and said, "That's bread?"

Beyond those sat walnut bread, a croffle (croissant-waffle hybrid), and apple bread. The walnut bread was packed with walnuts and macadamias, and the croffle had beautifully defined layers with a glossy sheen. But the real showstopper was the apple bread.

The apple bread was wrapped in red fruit netting with a little leaf poking out of the top — exactly like an actual apple. Filled with cream cheese and apple jam, it's one of Lakehill's signatures. My wife stopped in her tracks to stare at this one. It looked more like a decorative piece than something you'd eat, almost too pretty to bite into.

The Cake Showcase — a Full Lineup

Past the bread displays came the cake section. From Swiss rolls to fruit-shaped mousse cakes, cheesecake, tiramisu, and Kirsch cake, the showcase was absolutely rammed. These weren't token slices either — each cake had real presence behind the glass, and just browsing was half the fun.

The mousse cakes were moulded into the exact shapes of real fruit — I honestly thought the green apple and red strawberry ones were actual fruit sitting there. The peach mousse had a gorgeous red-to-yellow gradient that looked startlingly real, and a heart-shaped chocolate mousse cake with a glossy finish gave the whole section a completely different energy.

The New York cheesecake was labelled as a proper flourless recipe, and the classic tiramisu was stacked in gold-coloured containers. The Kirsch cake — essentially a Black Forest gateau — had layers of chocolate sponge and fresh cream with whole strawberries piled on top, easily the most eye-catching thing in the entire cake section.

A Weekday, and Not a Single Gap on the Shelves

After working my way from the bread counter to the cake showcase, I noticed a sign on the exposed brick wall reading "A baker who makes honest food with pure ingredients" — and the fully stocked shelves seemed to back that up entirely.

It was a weekday, and they hadn't scaled back the range or baked any less — every shelf was completely full. I've been to bakeries where you turn up midweek and half the display is bare, which is always a letdown. No such problem here. Right then — bread thoroughly inspected, time to talk about the view.

Tapjeongho Lake Through Floor-to-Ceiling Glass

Bread and drinks are paid for separately here, and the general expectation is one drink per person if you're using the cafe seating. We'd spent ages just browsing the bread, so this time we ordered drinks and found a table. Through the glass, Tapjeongho Lake spread out in full — a suspension bridge arching across the water, layers of green hills stacked up behind it.

There was barely a breath of wind, so the water was perfectly still, like a mirror. Pine and maple trees planted in the foreground framed the scene almost like a painting. Every indoor seat faces this view thanks to the glass running right up to the ceiling — I genuinely hadn't expected to see anything like this from a bakery. I've visited a fair few cafes across Korea, but this lake view is up there with the very best.

Spring Breeze on the Terrace

Step outside and there's terrace seating too, with Tapjeongho Lake right in front of you — no barriers, no obstructions. Black metal tables and chairs were neatly set out, and through the pines and maples you could see the lake and bridge completely uninterrupted.

Spring and autumn are the sweet spot for this terrace. The air is mild enough that you can take your coffee and bread outside and just sit for ages without a care. Summer's too hot, winter's too cold — if you want to make the most of outdoor seating here, aim for the milder months.

Lake Views From Every Seat, Even Upstairs

Head up to the first floor and the seating opens right out. Round tables, square tables, window seats — the variety's good, and one entire wall is glass, so wherever you park yourself, Tapjeongho is right there. Wooden flooring, black chairs neatly arranged, and generous spacing between tables meant you never felt crowded by your neighbours.

When we arrived there were barely any other customers, but over the course of an hour five or six groups trickled in. It was a weekday, so this big space was largely empty — but at the weekend, I'd wager every seat fills up.

The ground floor tables are positioned right against the glass, so the lake feels even closer when you're sitting down. The door to the terrace was propped open, and a mix of sofa and chair seating made it comfortable for a longer stay.

With the lake and trees visible just beyond the glass, the ground floor feels closer to the water than upstairs, so the lake seems bigger and more immediate. On a quiet weekday, I'd say the ground-floor window seats or anything near the terrace would give you the best experience.

A Floor-Level Seating Area — Ideal for Families

Tucked away at the back of the first floor, there was a floor-level seating area — a raised platform where you slip your shoes off, with a low round table. It looked perfect for families with small children or anyone who fancied sitting somewhere a bit more relaxed.

There were power sockets and controls mounted on the wall, so charging devices wouldn't be an issue. Even in a large cafe, having a quiet little nook like this makes a real difference for families — a thoughtful touch.

Affogato and Einspänner by the Lake

We grabbed our drinks and settled into a seat facing the lake. With Tapjeongho as your backdrop, it's genuinely difficult to take a bad photo. The affogato was a soft-serve ice cream with espresso poured over, and the Einspänner — a Viennese-style coffee — came with a thick layer of cream sitting on top of a strong brew.

The affogato still had its ice cream swirled to a perfect peak — the espresso hadn't been poured yet — and the Einspänner had a lovely clean divide between coffee and cream. My wife took a sip and said the cream was satisfyingly thick, and she wasn't wrong — they'd been generous with it. Sitting there slowly working through our drinks while gazing out at the lake, it was hard to tell whether this was a bakery or a destination cafe. Either way, it felt wonderfully unhurried. The two drinks came to ₩17,500 (roughly £10), with the affogato at about £5 and the Einspänner around £4.70.

Twenty-Odd Tables, All With the View

Around where we were sitting, there were plenty more seats just like ours. Curved bar-style seating along the windows, two-person tables right against the glass, sofa seats — all facing directly onto Tapjeongho.

Most cafes that market themselves as "view cafes" have maybe three or four decent seats by the window, and everyone scrambles for them. Here, I'd estimate there were a good twenty tables with an unobstructed view of the lake. On a weekday, you can genuinely pick and choose — no stress, no elbowing for position.

Thoughts on the Drive Home

Of all the cafes I've been to in Korea, Lakehill Bakery was a genuinely satisfying visit. I've never seen another bakery where you can sit this close to a lake through floor-to-ceiling glass, and the fact that every shelf was fully stocked on a weekday really stood out. From the fruit-shaped mousse cakes to the coal briquette bread and the apple bread, the signatures are strong, and the cake showcase alone was worth a wander.

We'd had lunch not long before, so we skipped the bread this time and stuck to drinks — but sipping an affogato and an Einspänner with Tapjeongho right in front of us felt like more than enough. I'd wanted to walk across the suspension bridge too, but my wife was feeling a bit under the weather, so we settled for admiring it from the cafe. On the drive back, she said next time she's feeling better we should come back, buy some bread, and actually cross the bridge. Couldn't agree more.

If I had to flag a downside, the drink prices are definitely on the steep side. An Americano runs close to £3.80, and signature drinks are in the £5 range — add bread and you're easily looking at over £8 per person. Getting here by public transport isn't straightforward either. A taxi from the nearest town would cost a fair bit, and while buses do run, the timetable is sparse enough that I'd really only recommend this to anyone with their own car or a hire car.

The car park is shared with the hotel and it's a decent size — on a weekday, finding a space was no trouble at all. That said, weekends and public holidays could get tight, so arriving early would be wise. If you're after a scenic drive from Daejeon with a lakeside bakery cafe at the end of it, Lakehill Bakery near Tapjeongho in Nonsan is well worth a stop.