Yeouido rice cake shop, first manggaetteok taste: Ojo Manggaetteok

Manggaetteok! A name I'd heard often but never actually tried, so I was curious what it tasted like. Here's my review after trying it at Ojo Manggaetteok in Yeouido.

Ojo Manggaetteok location, hours and parking near Saetgang Station

Ojo Manggaetteok is a rice cake shop in Yeouido, located on the 1st floor of Hongwoo Building, 78 Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, close to Saetgang Station. A cute little cube-shaped sign inside the building makes it easy to spot.

• 📍1F Hongwoo Building, 78 Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ⏰Hours: Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00 / Sat 08:00–16:00
• Closed every Sunday (may close early once ingredients run out / open Sundays for group reservations)
• ✔️Reservations (call or text), takeout, delivery, and group orders available
• 🅿️Hongwoo Building parking lot (1 hour free with a stamped parking ticket)

What is manggaetteok?

What is manggaetteok?🕵🏻 (mangae is the Gyeongsang-do dialect word for cheongmirae, or smilax vine) Manggaetteok is a traditional Uiryeong-style glutinous rice cake wrapped in smilax leaves, which helps prevent spoilage and adds a subtle fragrance.

Inside Ojo Manggaetteok: shop atmosphere and rice cakes on display

Ojo Manggaetteok's interior has a comfortable feel, with soft, calm lighting.

Various menu items are on display, including packaged gift sets, individual rice cakes, ginger tea, candied walnuts, and oranda (Korean snack).

Ojo Manggaetteok is 100% handmade using Korean-grown red beans, glutinous rice, and mugwort, following a low-sugar, no-preservative, no-additive, no-coloring, no-artificial-ingredient principle.

Ojo Manggaetteok menu and rice cake gift sets

There's a wide range of individual rice cakes, from single manggaetteok pieces to gift sets, thank-you or group orders, yaksik, injeolmi, dutubtteok, and seolgi. It seems like a great K-dessert gift for a foreign friend or a thank-you present for any occasion. What I picked up was the Mixed Set A gift set (manggaetteok, lotus-leaf yaksik, apple roll, mugwort injeolmi).

Ojo Manggaetteok, this Yeouido rice cake shop, was recently featured on MBN's <Someone Else's Precious Family>, and as a token of thanks, Shin Ji's gift was none other than this very Ojo Manggaetteok🎁

Just a note — pre-orders can be delivered by quick courier anywhere in Seoul!

Along with the rice cakes, there are refreshing drinks available like omija (schisandra berry), sweet pumpkin, and traditional sikhye (rice punch).

On one side of the store, staff were busy making manggaetteok — rolling and wrapping them fresh right there.

Bojagi wrapping and how to store and thaw rice cakes

Ojo Manggaetteok's gift sets come wrapped in an elegant, understated bojagi (traditional wrapping cloth)🌺, then placed inside a shopping bag as well.

• ✔️Storage: keep frozen in an airtight container
• ✔️Thaw naturally 2–3 hours before eating, or if it's hardened, lightly grill on low heat or steam

What's in Mixed Set A? 25 pieces total

A beautifully arranged gift set with a generous variety: 15 manggaetteok, 4 lotus-leaf yaksik, 3 apple rolls, 3 mugwort injeolmi — 25 pieces total. Each manggaetteok is individually wrapped by color, and honestly the look was almost too pretty to eat🫢

I was especially curious about the manggaetteok, since the rice grains are still visible — what would that texture be like?

How do they taste? Mugwort injeolmi, lotus-leaf yaksik, apple roll and manggaetteok

First up was the mugwort injeolmi. A gentle mugwort fragrance spread nicely, and it was so chewy. The clean, mild flavor was addictive — I nearly ate all three,,

Next was the lotus-leaf yaksik. Wrapped in a lotus leaf, it had a subtle lotus fragrance and wasn't too sweet or oily. It was packed with pumpkin seeds, giving it nutty flavor and a good chew.

The apple roll: sweet, crisp apple paired well with the chewy rice cake. I'm not sure if the apple was pre-treated somehow, but the juicy apple really stood out.

And finally, the star of the show — manggaetteok! The smilax leaf had such a fragrant aroma, I hadn't expected that. And unlike the other rice cakes I'd tried, the whole-grain-rice texture of the outer skin was genuinely new to me. The red bean filling was sweet and finely mashed, smooth enough for kids and adults alike to enjoy without any hesitation.

Is Ojo Manggaetteok worth it? Final thoughts

Manggaetteok, a signature K-dessert, is charming for its subtle smilax leaf fragrance and chewy texture. It's not overly sweet and feels neatly made, making it a great pick for holiday gifts or thank-you presents — if you're looking for a rice cake gift set in Yeouido, Ojo Manggaetteok is a shop worth recommending!