Modu Cafe

Korean flavours in Western pastry forms

The pastry case is where Modu Cafe makes its case: dark chocolate mochi brownies with the chew of rice cake running through them, perilla lime tarts that set a Korean herb against citrus, and a short rotating list built the same way. The cafe opened in the Highland Park district of Los Angeles in October 2024 as the permanent home for a pastry project that had already found an audience before it had an address. Its founder is a Korean American pastry chef, and the method is consistent: familiar Western formats used to carry less familiar flavours, rather than a French bakery template with a few Korean items added at the end. The name, 모두, means everyone. Eater has since named it in its bakery guide.

A counter, seating, and brunch through the day

It works as a counter-service cafe with a room to sit in rather than a restaurant. You come in, read the day's selection at the counter, order coffee and something sweet, then either stay near the case or take a table. The space is compact, bright and minimalist, which suits pastry built to be looked at as well as eaten. Coffee is a real part of the offer rather than an afterthought, with specialty lattes meant to hold their own against the sweetness and texture of the bakes. Brunch runs daily, which gives the cafe a savoury daytime role beyond the pastry case and makes it a longer stop than a bakery run would be.

Order the mochi brownie and the perilla lime tart

Take the dark chocolate mochi brownie and the perilla lime tart together, because between them they show the whole idea. The brownie keeps the density and richness of the Western version while adding the soft chew associated with mochi, a rice-cake texture familiar across Korean and Japanese sweets. The tart moves the other way, bright and herbal, with perilla's citrus and faint mint set against lime in a recognisable tart shell. One rich, one sharp, and the range becomes legible in two bites. Order a specialty latte with them rather than a plain drip, since the drinks are built as companions to the pastry. With more time, start with brunch and finish at the counter, which is how the room tends to be used.