Gyeongju walnut pastry café for a Daereungwon picnic: Buja Hodu

A while back I planned our first trip to Gyeongju with my little one! Every time I checked the weather app during planning it was cloudy, cloudy, cloudy — even rain — so I was so worried. But of course, the day we went it was blazing sunny... honestly too hot haha.

Today I'm writing up our visit to Buja Hodu, a dessert spot on Hwangnidan-gil, from our Gyeongju trip with my baby.

• Location, hours, and parking
• Menu and store interior
• Overall verdict

Buja Hodu's location and parking

This place is right at the entrance to the alley leading into Hwangnidan-gil, near the Meister High School where most people park! Super easy to find.

There are lots of good restaurants and cute little shops nearby, so it's a fun street to wander around.

Parking is really hard, as you probably know (a lot of the alleys are already full of parked cars)... so parking at a public lot and walking over is a good option.

If you see this sign, you've found the right spot!

The menu: go with the Best Mix

The menu board is right by the sales window like this. My husband and I usually only like red bean paste, but this time we decided to try the best-seller menu. The Best Mix comes with three flavors: red bean, pea cream cheese, and matcha.

They were also running an event where writing a receipt review got you 2 free walnut pastries or a coffee!

The walnut pastries baking away deliciously inside the store.

Since it's a walnut pastry shop, there's no seating inside, but there were a few outdoor tables! Good for resting your tired feet while you wait for pickup.

Chuseok holiday gift sets

And next to the register you can spot some pretty boxes...! Aren't they gorgeous, so soft and delicate looking?

With Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) season coming up, they were also selling holiday gift sets. If you have an elder in the family who loves red bean like me, these would make a great gift!

Tasting them at a picnic near Daereungwon

The box of walnut pastries we took to go! We headed straight to a picnic spot near Daereungwon and dug in right away.

My husband and I really love walnut pastries, so wherever we see them we buy and try them on the spot!

What made Buja Hodu especially good was that the pastries are made with rice, and they use low-sugar red bean paste!

Red bean

When you bite in, you can see it's packed with walnuts and red bean paste. The not-too-sweet red bean filling combined with the walnuts was insanely good...!

Matcha

The second one we tried was the matcha walnut pastry! I wondered what a matcha version would taste like — turns out a slightly bitter matcha flavor comes through strongly, leaving your mouth feeling clean and refreshed.

Pea cream cheese

Last, the pea cream cheese flavor. This one was way better than I expected haha. I'm not usually a big cream cheese fan, but the combo of sweet pea paste and mild cream cheese worked really well.

Even the baby was pouting like 'don't I get my own?'... totally eyeing the walnut pastries.

Overall verdict

Buja Hodu...! They're packaged so cute and round that they'd make a great gift for Chuseok or Lunar New Year too. And since it's 100% domestic rice, people who don't do well with wheat can happily enjoy this dessert too.

Each of the three flavors has its own charm, so ordering the mix set is great, but next time I go I think I'll order just red bean haha. Original really is the best — red bean!!!!!!

Hwangnidan-gil gets so packed with people that sometimes I feel like I'm going to get trampled to death... but since Buja Hodu is right at the entrance of the alley, it felt like a place to catch my breath a bit. The location is really Vvvvery good...! If you're planning a trip to Gyeongju or heading to Hwangnidan-gil, I really recommend stopping by.