Potato bread café in Sokcho with freezer reheating tips: Bultan

Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store exterior and parking

The building stood out so much that I could spot it from a distance. The whole exterior is decorated with colorful characters and illustrations, so it is hard to just pass by. It was an easy place to remember during a Sokcho trip.

There was also a cute Bultan Gamja Bread character by the entrance. It was quite an unusual place for photos, too.

When I visited, there was a fair amount of parking space in front of the store. It was not an extremely cramped lot, so I could visit without worrying about parking at that time. It seems like a good stop for anyone traveling around Sokcho by car.

It is close to Hanwha Resort, so those heading there could pick some up as a snack or late-night bite.

An interior where you can eat in

Inside, the atmosphere was quite different from the exterior. With wood-toned décor, plants, artwork, and assorted props, it felt much more like a café than I expected.

There were Bultan Gamja Bread decorations throughout, which made looking around fun too.

There is seating, so this is not simply a place to grab potato bread to go. You can have Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread right there with a drink. The chairs looked quite comfortable, so it seemed like a nice place to take a short break while traveling.

Around the counter, potato bread, Sokcho Jjonddeugi, and various other products were on display.

Potato bread prices and items for sale

When I visited, Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread was ₩10,000 per box, and the sign said that buying three or more boxes brought a 10% discount, making each pack ₩9,000. Bread prices are so high these days, so this felt very affordable. That day, I picked up one box of four Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread and one set of 12 Sokcho Jjonddeugi.

There was information about payment with the Sokcho Love Gift Certificate at the counter, and Apple Pay was marked as available too.

Along with potato bread, they sold snacks such as Sokcho Jjonddeugi and oranda, a Korean puffed-rice snack. Sokcho Jjonddeugi was sold as a set of 12.

They also sold drinks, making it easy to enjoy with the potato bread in the store.

One side of the shop had a self-return area and a microwave. Potato bread tastes much better warm, so I also liked being able to heat it up and eat it right away.

And then there was this origin-label sign I found in the store that was a little funny, haha. It said the potatoes were domestic, and the employees were “purely domestic.” Even little lines like that suited the store's atmosphere.

How is the black potato bread made?

As its name suggests, Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread is potato bread with a black exterior. It is not actually made with burnt potatoes; apparently, squid ink gives it that black color. Black rice, black beans, and black sesame powder are also coated on the outside to add its distinctive color and nutty flavor.

They say they wash and roast potatoes themselves every morning and make the potato bread daily, flavoring it with cream cheese and butter. They also use deep seawater from the East Coast, do not add synthetic additives, and make and sell it on the same day, so it seemed like a good Sokcho food item or gift snack.

The yellow box, with its colorful characters, was very cute too. When you open it, each potato bread is individually wrapped.

At first glance, they really look like pebbles, haha. Their black color definitely made them look different from ordinary potato bread.

Fluffy potato filling and a nutty exterior

When you break one in half, the inside is yellow like a potato, unlike the black exterior. It is packed quite generously with potato. On my first bite, I could feel the potato's signature fluffy, soft texture, and the cream cheese and butter gave it a rich, smooth flavor rather than the plain taste of a simple boiled potato.

The outer layer had a nutty flavor, perhaps from the black sesame, black bean, and black rice powders, while the potato inside was incredibly soft. They went very well together. Personally, it was one of the Sokcho foods I ate on this trip that really stayed with me.

I originally bought four, intending to eat about two and save the rest for later. But they were so good that I ate two immediately, haha. I even froze the remaining two to savor later, but by evening I was craving them again. In the end, they had barely been in the freezer before I took them out, reheated them, and ate them.

Freezing and reheating potato bread

If you are not going to eat Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread right away, you can freeze it. Since each one is individually wrapped, it was easy to put the ones I was not eating straight into the freezer. If, like me, you buy them while traveling and cannot finish them all at once, or buy multiple boxes to enjoy slowly at home, freezing them seems like a good option.

For thawing and reheating potato bread, the instructions on the package say that after naturally thawing a frozen product, you can follow the room-temperature directions. You can also cook it straight from frozen if you want to eat it right away.

• Microwave: 20 seconds at room temperature
• Microwave: from frozen, heat for 30 seconds, turn over, then heat for 20 seconds
• Air fryer: 180°C for 5 minutes at room temperature
• Air fryer: 180°C for 10–15 minutes from frozen

For anyone eating potato bread again after freezing it like I did, it was convenient that you do not have to wait a long time for it to thaw; you can heat it straight from frozen. For microwave cooking, the instructions say to open the package and transfer it to a microwave-safe container first, so keep that in mind. Personally, the filling became softer and tasted better when the potato bread was warmed up.

I also bought Sokcho Jjonddeugi

I picked up some Sokcho Jjonddeugi along with the potato bread. Sokcho Jjonddeugi, a chewy Korean snack, comes in red snow crab, squid, and dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken) flavors. I thought it was fun that famous Sokcho foods had been turned into jjonddeugi. It would make a nice Sokcho travel souvenir or gift too.

When you open the bag, they have the long jjonddeugi shape we ate as children, so just looking at them brings back a little nostalgia. I tried them too, but they made me think of my parents, who like jjonddeugi, so I gave them to my parents. These days, we do not often go out of our way to buy snacks like this, so I think they are a fun item to bring home as a Sokcho travel gift.

A place I want to revisit for Sokcho travel snacks

I expected Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store to be simply a place to pick up Sokcho potato bread and leave, but the interior was more spacious than I expected, with seating where you can eat it right away with a drink. Above all, Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread itself was really delicious. I ate two of the four immediately and froze the other two to save them, only to thaw and eat them again that evening—enough said, haha.

The soft, fluffy potato, the richness of cream cheese and butter, and the outer coating of black rice, black beans, and black sesame powder gave it a charm a little different from ordinary potato bread. Parking was relatively plentiful, it was good for an immediate snack during a Sokcho trip, and the individual wrapping made it convenient for gifting or freezing for later. If you are looking for Sokcho potato bread, a Sokcho travel gift, or Sokcho food, I think Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store is worth a visit.