Cheongju rice cake shop with handmade yakgwa: Tteokmama Yullyang

Today I visited a rice cake shop near my house. It's Tteokmama Yullyang Branch — the person I live with loves tteok (rice cakes) more than bread, so we eat it often, and with the holiday coming up I wanted to celebrate a little and try their handmade yakgwa (honey-glazed rice cake cookies).

Tteokmama Yullyang Branch hours and parking

Tteokmama Yullyang Branch is at 94 Gonghang-ro, 1st floor, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea, open 09:00–21:00. It's closed for the two days of Chuseok, September 25–26.

You can park either beside the store or in the lot behind the building. The lot right beside the store is pretty small, so parking in the alley behind is a bit easier.

Tteokmama Yullyang Branch sits right on the main road, so it's easy to spot. It's open year-round, but closed the two days of Chuseok, so definitely check the hours before you go. They said the selection is more plentiful on weekday mornings than in the afternoon, so keep that in mind!

A wide rice cake café hall that works for group meetups

Tteokmama Yullyang Branch sells a variety of things — tteok, coffee, traditional tea, fruit-vegetable juice — and the hall is spacious with plenty of seats, so it works for group visits too. When I was there, quite a few people were chatting over tteok and tea. It struck me that this would make a great alternative to a café for a get-together, while I busily picked out rice cakes.

Bojagi-wrapped Chuseok gift sets at Tteokmama

The Chuseok holiday gift sets were beautifully displayed. I always order a tteok set to bring for the holidays too, and the bojagi (traditional wrapping cloth) packaging caught my eye — it's so pretty. I found myself wondering how they tie the bojagi so perfectly, and I think it would make a wonderful holiday gift for parents.

What kinds of tteok does Tteokmama Yullyang sell?

There were so many kinds of tteok that someone as indecisive as me really struggled to choose! I was curious about the new pizza sulgi (pizza-topped steamed rice cake), and since I already love chapssaltteok (glutinous rice cake), there was a chestnut version too. Pumpkin injeolmi was a must-buy, and since I'm obsessed with yakgwa, I picked some of that too.

• Honey sulgi (steamed rice cake)
• Red bean siru-tteok (steamed layered rice cake)
• Injeolmi (rice cake coated in bean powder)
• Chapstteok sandwich
• Yakgwa (honey-glazed rice cake cookie)
• Yugwa (puffed rice cracker)
• Pizza sulgi, pumpkin injeolmi, chestnut chapssaltteok
• Fruit mochi (strawberry, tangerine, shine muscat grape), songpyeon (half-moon rice cake)

On top of these, there were plenty of other tteok varieties and drinks available too.

The fruit mochi (strawberry, tangerine, shine muscat grape) was arranged so beautifully, with songpyeon and yakgwa displayed alongside. There's so much variety that picking is half the fun, and the packaging is so pretty it kept catching my eye. With this many kinds of tteok, there's plenty of enjoyment in choosing whatever suits your taste.

Small frozen packs that suit two-person households

There's also a separate display of tteok packed in small frozen portions, which seems great for sampling a little at a time. In a two-person household like mine, buying too much often means it goes uneaten and feels wasteful, so being able to buy just what you need is a real plus! There were so many types of sikhye (sweet rice drink) too, so I picked out a bottle.

Custom 100-day and thank-you rice cake orders, plus free Cheongju delivery

Beyond the wide range of items sold in-store, Tteokmama Yullyang Branch also takes custom orders for 100-day rice cakes, first-birthday rice cakes, thank-you rice cakes, and event rice cakes. Orders placed through Naver over ₩69,000 come with free delivery anywhere in Cheongju, so if you're buying in bulk, don't miss that. There's also a current promotion giving Naver order customers a free 1L bottle of slow-brewed sikhye — worth grabbing along with your order!

How did the handmade yakgwa and salted yakgwa taste?

Since I was meeting my sister and her kids the next day, I picked salted yakgwa for my sister, handmade yakgwa for myself, and pumpkin injeolmi and pizza sulgi for the kids to enjoy. Elders always say not to play with your food, but before eating, I still made squares, built little house shapes, and stacked them up like a tower. (It was fun.)

One bite of the handmade yakgwa and before I knew it I was on my sixth, telling myself to stop — but after dinner I ended up finishing the whole batch anyway. It's not an artificial sweetness but a mild, gentle one, so once you start you can't stop — be careful! Genuinely delicious. (From your resident yakgwa fanatic.)

The salted yakgwa was great too, with a sweet-and-salty finish that came together really nicely...! I could hear my calorie count ticking up, but eating something delicious puts you in a good mood, so it's fine ^-^ // Everyone, go visit Tteokmama Yullyang Branch and try the different kinds of tteok ~ there are so many tasty ones!

Ate well again today!