After a walk through Seoul Forest, my go-to stop is Perment (퍼먼트) — a seoul forest bakery cafe right on the main street between the station and the park. It’s the kind of place you notice because it’s always busy, and once you’re inside, the wall of croissants, kouign-amann and baguettes explains why. Good bread, a big calm room, and pastries you can pack for a picnic on the grass — that’s the pitch.
Getting there
Perment is on the main walking route from the station into Seoul Forest, so you’ll likely pass it on the way.
- From Seoul Forest Station (Suin-Bundang Line) Exit 5: about a 5-minute walk (364m).
- Address: 37 Seoulsup 2-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul. (Google Maps)
Hours: 09:00–19:00 daily (last order 18:30). Cards accepted, oat-milk swaps available, and everything can be packed to go.
The space
Perment is bigger than it looks from the street — a ground floor plus a basement level, both roomy. The ground floor has the trendy, buzzy energy: the bread display, the counter, and a self-service bar with water and a mini oven where you can warm your bread.
If you want quiet, head downstairs. The basement is a no-kids floor, and it’s noticeably calmer and more spacious — a better bet for a relaxed conversation, while the ground floor stays busy around the pastry case.
What to order
The range is huge — baguettes, kouign-amann, campagne, danishes, croissants, cinnamon rolls, pretzels. Choosing takes a while (a happy problem). You grab a tray, load it up, and pay at the counter.
The two signature bakes are the fig and cream cheese baguette and the castella kouign-amann. The fig baguette is the one I’d send anyone to first: chewy bread, savory cream cheese and sweet fig playing off each other.
Kouign-amann is a caramelized, buttery Breton pastry, and Perment does a few versions — the plain (₩4,400) and a cream-filled one alongside the castella one.
Other favorites worth a look: the cinnamon rolls, a blueberry danish, and a sweet pumpkin cream cheese bread.
A few sample prices to set expectations: fig cream cheese baguette ₩6,800, castella kouign-amann ₩6,300, plain kouign-amann ₩4,400, americano ₩4,100, latte ₩4,600.
The vegan bread section
Here’s the part worth flagging if you’re plant-based. Perment isn’t a vegan bakery — most of its bread and pastries aren’t vegan — but it keeps a dedicated vegan section, each loaf hand-labeled “Vegan / no sugar, no butter.” When I visited, it had three: a sesame baguette, a whole-wheat campagne, and a walnut-cranberry campagne. The lineup can change, so check what’s labeled on the day. If you’re navigating eating vegan in Seoul, a stop like this — where the vegan options are labeled and you’re not guessing — makes life a lot easier.
Good to know
- Hours: 09:00–19:00 daily (L.O. 18:30)
- Payment: cards accepted
- Milk: oat-milk swaps available on most drinks
- To go: everything can be packed — grab bread and coffee and eat on the Seoul Forest lawn
- Vegan items are individually labeled at the display; ask staff if you’re unsure
Verdict
Perment earns its crowds. It’s an easy, rewarding seoul forest bakery cafe for anyone walking the park — a wall of pastries, a quiet basement if you want calm, and coffee and bread you can carry out to the grass. The signature fig cream cheese baguette is the thing to try first, and the labeled vegan section makes it a genuinely useful stop for plant-based visitors too. If you’re spending the day in the area, there’s plenty more to do around Seoul Forest and Seongsu to fold in.
