Walnut cake café in Seo-gu, Daejeon for a quiet summer date: Hong Hodu

Today I visited Hong Hodu, a café in Daejeon famous for its walnut cakes (hodu-gwaja, walnut-shaped pastries filled with red bean). I'd heard it was a cool, quiet place to talk on a hot day, so off I went.

Where is Hong Hodu in Daejeon, and what are its hours?

Hong Hodu is a walnut cake café at 19 Daedeok-daero 135beon-gil, 1st floor, Seo-gu, Daejeon. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–21:00, and closed every Monday. I walked straight up toward the GS25 convenience store and the café came into view.

The walk up is a bit tough, but think of it as exercise and you'll be there in no time haha

Hong Hodu exterior

This is Hong Hodu as I came up from the GS convenience store. It was so hot that all I wanted was to get inside fast, so I dashed in haha. It was so cool inside that the heat just melted away. For summer, Hong Hodu is totally awesome, highly recommended.

How much are Hong Hodu's walnut cake gift sets?

Hong Hodu has Set A and Set B as special gift menus. Set A was on sale for ₩11,000 and Set B was ₩18,000. The prices were really cheap, and it's a café where you can try a variety of walnut cake flavors.

With prices this low, it's a perfect place to buy a gift!!

Is Hong Hodu's atmosphere good for a date?

Inside, Hong Hodu was really spacious with lots of tables. It looked like a cool, quiet place to relax on a hot day, and I loved that!!

It seemed like a perfect spot for a date, a café couples can really enjoy, so I'd highly recommend it to couples.

What is on Hong Hodu's menu?

The coffee menu at Hong Hodu is americano, café latte and vanilla latte. Other drinks include homemade lemon tea, homemade honey ginger tea, Signature Tea, strawberry latte, ginger latte and lemon ginger ade. There were also lots of walnut cake sets and cakes.

From all that we ordered 12 walnut cakes + a homemade lemon tea + an iced americano, and the total came to ₩16,800.

The takeout boxes for the walnut cakes were stacked up like a tower. I liked that they displayed them so customers can see that's what your order goes into if you take it away.

How do Hong Hodu's walnut cakes and homemade lemon tea taste?

While we were chatting, ta-da! Our order arrived. Homemade lemonade, americano and walnut cakes, such a perfect snack combo, and I gobbled it up. I love snacks way too much for my own good, so eating walnut cakes today was great.

There were 12 walnut cakes in all. The red bean and walnut inside tasted like the ones sold at highway rest stops, really sweet and awesome. The walnut cakes were so prettily shaped, and the owner must have amazing hands.

Iced americano is one of the drinks people order all the time. But I can't really drink coffee, so I tried the homemade lemon tea instead. My mouth filled with a tangy lemon flavor, I slurped it right up, and it was so good.

The homemade lemon tea seemed like it was made in-house, with so much handmade care!!! 💛🍋💛

What flavors of walnut cake does Hong Hodu have?

Hong Hodu has not only red bean walnut cakes but also sweet potato and matcha ones. I took the leftovers home to eat, and the sweet potato and matcha walnut cakes felt so new to me, because I'd only ever had the red bean kind haha

Still, I was glad to try several flavors of walnut cake at Hong Hodu. Thumbs up!!