Gyeongju café walnut pastries warmed at home: Buja Hodu

Looking for a new souvenir after my Gyeongju trip

I visited Buja Hodu, a great walnut pastry spot among the food places on Gyeongju’s Hwangridan-gil! Buja Hodu opens every day from 9:30 a.m.

I went to Gyeongju for an overnight trip with a close older friend, and after eating near Hwangridan-gil, we were looking for something to buy as a gift before heading home. I always end up bringing back the same Gyeongju souvenirs, so this time I wanted something a little different.

Taking out and enjoying Buja Hodu

Buja Hodu has about one or two outdoor tables where you can sit and eat, but most people seemed to take their orders to go. They use Korean rice batter instead of wheat flour. Maybe that is why the walnut pastries were soft without that heavy feeling you can get after eating a lot of them, which was nice.

Four walnut pastry flavors and box sizes

Buja Hodu has four flavors in total, with made-to-order packaging and boxed packaging. The walnut pastry flavors are low-sugar red bean paste, pea cream cheese, matcha, and almond praline, and they come in 10-, 15-, and 24-piece portions. They also sell drinks and coffee, not just walnut pastries.

I think freshly made walnut pastries with coffee would be so delicious.

• 10-piece original ₩9,500 / mix ₩11,000
• 15-piece original (red bean paste) ₩14,500 / mix ₩17,000
• 24-piece original ₩23,000 / mix ₩27,000

Buja Hodu is also running an event. If you write a review, you can choose two walnut pastries or one Americano.

I visited early, and they already had quite a lot of walnut pastries prepared. Buja Hodu currently also offers bojagi (traditional Korean wrapping cloth) gift wrapping.

Warming up the 24-piece mix at home

I usually bought Gyeongju bread or glutinous barley bread in Gyeongju, but thanks to Buja Hodu, I brought home walnut pastries this time.

I did not get the separate bojagi wrapping and simply brought them home in plastic packaging. Just thinking about having them with coffee made me feel like they would go so well together.

I brought home the 24-piece mix, and when I opened it, everything was packaged nicely.

I checked the instructions for enjoying the walnut pastries and warmed them in the microwave. It said to sprinkle a little milk on them before microwaving, so I guess they taste even better that way.

When I unwrapped one, my very first thought was that the walnut pastry was big. And the filling was absolutely packed in! Personally, the regular red bean paste was delicious too, but the matcha and pea cream cheese were flavors I could only try at Buja Hodu. I microwaved mine, and I loved that the walnut pastries were not overly sweet overall! And perhaps because they are made with rice batter, they did not feel heavy after eating them either.

The low-sugar red bean paste and pea cream cheese flavors

The low-sugar red bean paste definitely went down more easily because it was low in sugar. Twenty-four pieces is a lot, so I split them up over several sittings, but there was plenty to share and enough variety that I did not get tired of them!

The pea cream cheese had such a good sweet-and-salty combination. The kind of flavor women would love..! It was not overly sweet, though—nutty, sweet, and savory—and I thought, wouldn’t this be amazing with milk? I was so sad that I did not have any milk at home ㅠ

Buja Hodu also sells online, so you can have it delivered too!