Gyeongju café with twice-baked apple pies: Gyeongju Tokyo Pie

Choosing a dessert spot in Gyeongju: Gyeongju Tokyo Pie

I went to Gyeongju, haha. While I was there, I stopped by restaurants and cafés, but I absolutely love desserts, so wherever I go, I always make sure to visit a dessert place. Gyeongju has so many dessert shops.

After much deliberation, I discovered Gyeongju Tokyo Pie (경주도쿄파이). One person in my family absolutely loves apple pie, and apparently these were made by a Japanese pastry master who used to make apple pies in Tokyo.

Can you see the cross-section of Gyeongju Tokyo Pie? At first I thought the inside might be sweet bean paste, but it was apple. A whole apple! So I thought, ah, this isn't the apple I knew in Korea, soaked excessively in cinnamon and sugar. Doesn't it look so delicious? +_+ Honestly, Japan is really good at baking.

So, final decision! I decided to come here, hahaha.

A display case that was nearly empty even on a weekday afternoon

But would you believe it? When I arrived, there was only one of each pie left in the display case. ㅠㅠ It was 2:30!!!!! On a weekday!!!!!! Some items were completely sold out, too. I was so anxious that I hurriedly looked for the owner.

When I asked, they said there were still gift sets available, and they were busily making pies in the back, hehe.

I wanted a set made up of apple pies, but apple pie was so popular that only a mixed set of apple pie, anko (sweet red bean paste), and chocolate was left. Still, thankfully, more than half the set was apple pie, haha.

The owner was very kind, first of all. Come to think of it, I don't know whether that person was actually the owner or an employee. Anyway, they were very kind, and I made sure to get my review-registration Americano too, haha.

They make every product directly in the shop and bake limited quantities only twice a day. This is a flavor people in their 30s would like more than people in their 20s. It is genuinely, elegantly delicious…!!

Not-too-sweet apple aroma and crisp pastry

It wasn't overly sweet, and rather than making me go, “Oh, delicious. This is incredibly delicious!” at the very first bite, the buttery baked aroma and the crisp, flaky pastry came through first, then the apple hit. Usually, don't they make the filling sweet?

But they didn't make it sweet—they let that apple aroma and flavor, you know, really burst out and spread. So you can eat four in one sitting. I ate one in the park and three in the car on the way home—I am supposedly a small eater, lol.

Just because it isn't sweet doesn't mean it lacks apple aroma. It is a little refined and mysterious, with the butter aroma and apple aroma bursting out for a delicious flavor that isn't sweet. So I ate all the extra ones I bought as gifts by myself, sorry. If you go to Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju, I highly, highly, highly recommend buying these as gifts at least once. But buy two boxes, hahaha.

Haha, anyway, I bought them as gifts, but the problem was that they were so good I ate them all while going back and forth, lol. I set one aside so my husband could at least taste it… and barely managed to leave even that one. ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋ At first it was, “Oh, this is good,” but the more I ate, the more it became, “This is so delicious.”

A snack after a walk around Hwangnidan-gil

Anyway, when you visit Gyeongju, there is more to see than you expect, so you get hungry quickly. This is perfect as a Hwangnidan-gil snack. Oh no, I feel like I am going to end up going to Gyeongju just to eat this. It is a three-hour trip one way.

Anyway, as soon as I bought the pies, I went to a nearby park, spread out a picnic mat in a spot with a great view, lay down, and ate them. I thought, what kind of paradise on earth is this?

I highly, highly, highly recommend Gyeongju Tokyo Pie for dessert in Hwangnidan-gil. I want to eat it again. Gyeongju is three hours away, but this is genuinely worth going all the way there to eat. I am not exaggerating. How should I put it? It is a bit like bomal kalguksu (sea snail knife-cut noodle soup) in Jeju. At first you think, “Oh, it is savory,” but then it is a taste you keep thinking about the next day and for years afterward. I think it is a flavor that is truly hard to find in Korea. The way they hold back on the sweetness while maximizing the apple aroma—I want to eat it so badly. ㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Gyeongju seems to have delicious food, lovely people, good air, and a beautiful natural environment. I love Gyeongju >.<