Pane et Tua [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pane et Tua (빠네뚜)
Address: 11-2, Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Website: n/a
Style: Korean, European
Price: $$

Please, please tell me this bakery still exists - it's my final bakery from my Korea trip and also one of the highest rated, but there's no sign of it existing on Google either in its name or the Korean version. Good old Naver says that this bakery is (now?) operating as "Burrito-do by Pane et Tua" (브이리또 by 빠네뚜) - is that still the same bakery? There were no burritos when I was there....

Nonetheless, Pane et Tua was celebrating its grand opening when I was there and there was a hint of newness to the whole operation. The baker was even on hand greeting customers so the enthusiasm was definitely there. It being pretty busy, they were restocking even as I was standing there, wandering through the small selection and deciding what I wanted among the flaky pastries and a few more classic Korean "bread".

Then I spotted it: the final kouign amann (2900 won). As I've said countless times before, if there's a kouign amann to be tried, I am there. It's Cake Tour policy! It didn't look overly intricate, just French dough coiled round in a spiral, but everything about this was spot on. There wasn't too much of the caramelized sugar bottom; the dough was flaky on the outside and soft on the inside with a deliciously buttery taste - none of those funny, somewhat off-putting flavours/smells I encountered with other butter baked goods. Flawless execution, this truly was on par with French bakeries and one of the best stops on the Korean leg of the Cake Tour.

Rating: ****