Bakery café in Hopo, Yangsan: fresh watermelon juice vs Ediya at Choi

Today I visited Choi (초이), a big café near Hopo Station.

Choi Main Branch opening hours and parking

Choi Main Branch is open every day from 09:00 to 21:50, with last order at 21:20. There's also an elevator inside the café.

The building has both an underground and an outdoor parking lot. There was plenty of room for lots of cars, and there were even spaces reserved for compact cars, so parking was easy.

Choi drink menu and prices

Choi's summer menu has cup bingsu (shaved ice) for ₩8,500, mango cup bingsu for ₩9,000 (highly recommended), and fresh watermelon juice for ₩8,000. For coffee and non-coffee drinks, an Americano is ₩5,000, an Airicano is ₩5,500, and lemonade is ₩7,000.

Choi is a big bakery café, but the drink list is wide too, so picking something was a real dilemma 🤔 I went with the fresh watermelon juice and it was honestly the best ever.. the watermelon juice of my life (full review below haha).

How wide is Choi's range of bakery items and cakes?

Bread at Choi's bakery runs ₩4,000–8,000, so the prices aren't bad. As you'd expect from a bakery café, there was a huge variety of breads, and this photo is a rundown of the best sellers.

I ordered two things, a croissant and a Choux Blanc, and one bite made it clear why they're called popular items.

Croquette, red bean bun and salt bread corner

• Hanwoo bulgogi croquette, ham and vegetable croquette
• Gongju chestnut bread, red bean bun, ciabatta, potato bread, sweet potato bread
• Corn bread, sausage bread, salt bread

These are tasty but not too sweet, healthy-style breads, so it felt like a corner anyone could enjoy regardless of age haha.

When I came back two hours later, the breads were all sold out. Next time I'll try the nostalgic old-school breads haha.

Croissant and kouign-amann butter bread corner

This is my absolute, absolute, absolute favorite corner: an area packed with butter-rich breads like croissants, Danishes, kouign-amann, pain au chocolat, Mont Blanc and bow ties haha.

Meal breads, cakes and desserts

There were also quite a few breads you can have as a meal, like panettone, babka, bagels and walnut pie.

From desserts like crunchy strawberry and Saint-Honoré to puddings and whole cakes, it looked like a good place to buy a birthday or anniversary cake. I saw quite a few customers just getting takeout too haha.

Floor by floor at this large Yangsan café, with Nakdong River views

Choi has three floors, 1F to 3F. Since the café has an elevator, bringing a stroller or wheelchair is no trouble, which I think is a big plus haha.

The 1st floor is the bakery space, where you pick your bread and order drinks. The 2nd and 3rd floors are the café spaces where you can sit and relax over your bread.

From the window side you can see the Nakdong River, which is great for zoning out at the water. That also makes them the popular seats..!

The 2nd floor alone has lots of seats, from single seats to big-group tables, with generous spacing, and even on a weekday there were plenty of guests chatting or relaxing.

3rd-floor outdoor area is a no-kids zone

The 3rd floor at Choi is a no-kids zone, so children can't enter. Maybe because it was so hot during my visit, nobody was up there at all, but the outdoor space was spacious and there was even an artificial lake? haha.

At the entrance on the way up, umbrellas are provided so you can enjoy the view even on rainy days. They'd work as sun umbrellas too haha.

Choi fresh watermelon juice vs Ediya watermelon juice

What I ordered at Choi: watermelon juice, lemonade, a croissant and a Choux Blanc.

Choi's watermelon juice is really just watermelon, blended into real fresh juice! The watermelon juice at franchise cafés these days sometimes has ice in it or a strong syrupy taste, which has let me down before.

Best of all, there were no seeds at all, so nothing got caught while drinking, and I loved the cool, natural sweetness. I've also had Ediya's watermelon juice, supposedly the top among franchises, but personally Choi's tasted far better.

The lemonade isn't made with sparkling water, but the lemon syrup is sweet, so it didn't taste like a watery ade, which I liked.

How do Choi's croissant and Choux Blanc taste?

Choi's croissant has a crisp outside with the layers well defined, and the inside has that soft pastry texture. The croissant and Choux Blanc were among the biggest reasons I visited Choi, and I could see why people call it a croissant hotspot.

I added fresh cream and ate it together, and it really goes well. Kind of a whipped cream croissant feel ^_^

The Choux Blanc is a Mont Blanc with diplomat cream inside. When I split the bread the cream didn't flow out, but it was packed full, so it looked so tempting.

You get the nutty flavor typical of Mont Blanc together with the smooth texture of diplomat cream, so I bet it's a fantastic combo with coffee haha. After this, I got curious about a plain Mont Blanc too.

Wrap-up

• Large café with Nakdong River views
• A croissant hotspot near Busan
• A place with great watermelon juice
• Franchise watermelon juice comparison
• A good café to bring a stroller

I went expecting bakery goodies, but I came away falling for the watermelon juice 100 times over T.T From now on, whenever I crave watermelon juice I'm going to Choi,, no other watermelon juice in my life X please do visit ㅠㅠ