# Seocho dessert counter fig pistachio cake on a weekday off: Chef Cho - By Juyeong (https://superchart.com/en/@gyeonggi-meal-postcard/) - Written Sep 17, 2026 - Local places › Cafés › Seocho, Seoul - Sponsored: This visit was conducted as a sponsored store visit. - English edition: https://superchart.com/en/@gyeonggi-meal-postcard/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/ - Also in: [한국어](https://superchart.com/ko/@gyeonggi-meal-postcard/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/index.md) ## In short Chef Cho is a fruit cake shop in Sweet Park on B1 of Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam in Seocho, Seoul, where the cakes are labeled 100% dairy fresh cream. On a weekday afternoon after taking a half day off, I browsed Sweet Park and chose Chef Cho's new fig pistachio cake with the basic packaging, and it was packed with whole figs while the pistachio tasted nutty with no artificial flavor. This is a cake worth picking up on an ordinary day, not just a birthday. ## Good to know - **Location**: Sweet Park, B1, Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam (176 Sinbanpo-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul) - **What I ordered**: Fig pistachio cake (new item) - **Best seller**: Real Mango Rose - **Fresh cream**: Labeled as 100% dairy fresh cream - **Basic packaging**: Careful wrapping plus one small ice pack included - **Cooler bag**: 2,500 won extra (recommended for trips over 1 hour) - **Shelf life**: 2 days refrigerated - **Price reference**: ₩2,500 ≈ $1.8 (2026-09-18) *as written by the visitor on Sep 17, 2026* ![Vertical photo of Chef Cho's fig pistachio cake](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-01-14j03-874.webp) ## A weekday half day off at Sweet Park, Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam Chef Cho is a fruit fresh cream cake shop in Sweet Park on the basement level of Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam. I took the morning off to deliver a wedding invitation to my professor, and with a bit of time left before heading into work, I dropped by Shinsegae Gangnam to look around. I have zero sense of direction, so I get confused every single time I go to Sweet Park...😂 I always end up wandering a bit going 'is this the right way?' lol. But once I actually get there, there's so much to look at that it's perfect for killing time. ![View of Sweet Park store area in the basement of Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-02-6w9md-900.webp) ![Corridor view of the Sweet Park dessert shops](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-03-g0ens-m-900.webp) I was just browsing Sweet Park when I stopped dead in my tracks at how gorgeous something looked! ![Fruit fresh cream cakes displayed at Chef Cho's showcase](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-04-w1nmu-m-900.webp) ![Display case of Chef Cho cakes topped with fruit](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-05-1xi2y-900.webp) ## Inside the Chef Cho showcase: cakes made with 100% dairy fresh cream I didn't know this, but apparently the chef appeared on a Korean TV show about masters of everyday work. Every single cake was so beautifully done that I found myself standing there for ages just looking lol. The fruit placed on top of each cake looked so perfect that it made me want to photograph it before anything else. I personally prefer dairy fresh cream over the plant-based kind since I find it tastier, and this place had it labeled as 100% dairy fresh cream. The visuals were insane, right? Cake after cake, lined up like ✨. Honestly, there wasn't a single cake that didn't look amazing, so my eyes were darting all over the place. This one looks good... that one looks good too... I agonized over it for a long time lol. There were so many varieties that it seemed easy to pick based on personal taste, from cakes piled high with fruit to ones with chocolate or cream, so I spent forever deciding what to choose. ![Showcase with several varieties of Chef Cho cakes](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-06-1la6o-1200.webp) ## Why I chose the new fig pistachio cake over Chef Cho's Real Mango Rose In the end, the cake I chose was the fig pistachio cake. ![Fig pistachio cake displayed at Chef Cho](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-07-1qvji-900.webp) ![Real Mango Rose cake with mango arranged in rose shapes](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-08-dgyfa-900.webp) Chef Cho's most popular cake seems to be the Real Mango Rose, which, true to its name, has mango arranged beautifully into rose shapes. The mango really did look like blooming flowers, so gorgeous that it looked delicious just from the visuals alone. But it's fig season right now, and I'm completely obsessed with figs, so when I saw that the fig pistachio cake was a new item, I ended up choosing that one after a lot of back and forth! If you love figs, this combination is hard to walk past lol. Figs and pistachio together — that's basically all my favorite things in one cake, right? So I decided to just go with my own taste haha. ![Close-up photo of the purchased fig pistachio cake](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-09-trbjm-900.webp) ![Chef Cho cake box and shopping bag](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-10-5pr04-m-782.webp) ## Chef Cho packaging: free ice pack, cooler bag 2,500 won When you buy a cake, they wrap it up carefully so it's easy to carry, and they include one small ice pack as standard. I went with the basic packaging, but they mentioned that if travel time is over an hour, they recommend adding a cooler bag. The cooler bag is an extra ₩2,500, so if you're planning to carry your cake around for a while, that's worth keeping in mind. If your travel time is long, adding the cooler bag seems like a good idea. ![Cake box packaged with an ice pack](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-11-1d7tq-900.webp) ## Opening the box at home: a cross-section full of whole figs Finally opened it up at home! Looking at it again, it was just so pretty lol, almost too pretty to eat. I spent a while taking photos before I couldn't hold out any longer and dug in lol. I'm actually not that big a cake person — normally I'll go for a slice cake or an ice cream cake instead. So I tried this without much expectation, but... this was seriously, ridiculously good. ![The fig pistachio cake opened at home](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-12-waxv4-900.webp) And get this — there are whole figs inside! That's insane lol lol lol. The figs were packed in generously, not held back at all, and I loved that. ![Cross-section of the cake showing whole figs](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-13-1xlrq-900.webp) ![A slice of cake packed full of figs](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-14-sgr2r-900.webp) ### How the figs and pistachio in Chef Cho's cake actually tasted It wasn't just a bit of fig placed on top as decoration — you could really taste the fig with every bite, which I loved. The fig's distinctive sweetness with its slightly soft texture blended with the pistachio's nutty flavor, and the combination was way better than I expected. The pistachio also tasted like the real thing, nutty and true to itself with no artificial flavor. Some pistachio desserts can have an overly strong or artificial edge, but this one had none of that. Just pure, nutty, soft pistachio flavor! No graininess or dryness that nuts can sometimes have — it was soft and nutty and genuinely delicious. ![A slice of fig pistachio cake plated on a dish](https://img.superchart.com/images/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake-15-1hu0s-900.webp) The fig gave a sweet chew while the pistachio's nuttiness held it together from behind, so I kept reaching for more. My boyfriend said if we weren't dieting, this would've disappeared instantly lol. We're both kind of on a diet? so out of conscience we didn't finish it all in one sitting, but if it weren't for that, it really would've vanished in no time lol. ## How to store the cake, and why I'd go back to Chef Cho The shelf life is 2 days when refrigerated, so anyone planning to buy should keep that in mind. If you're like me and won't eat it right away but plan to finish it by the next day, refrigeration is a must! You don't need a birthday or anniversary to want a good cake sometimes, right? On days like that, buying a pretty cake and having it at home with coffee is genuinely nice. If you're looking for cake at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, it's worth browsing Sweet Park and checking this out. I was happy — eating a pretty cake made even an ordinary day feel a little special. I'd definitely go back. Next time I'll have to try a different cake — already wondering which one I'll pick then lol. The best!! 👍🏻 ## Where it is - Chef Cho Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam (쉐프조 신세계백화점 강남점) - 176 Sinbanpo-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea, B1 Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam - 서울특별시 서초구 신반포로 176 신세계백화점강남점B1 - 37.5043657, 127.0042308 - Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/search/%EC%89%90%ED%94%84%EC%A1%B0%20%EC%8B%A0%EC%84%B8%EA%B3%84%EB%B0%B1%ED%99%94%EC%A0%90%20%EA%B0%95%EB%82%A8%EC%A0%90/@37.5043657,127.0042308,17z --- Superchart · https://superchart.com/en/@gyeonggi-meal-postcard/shinsegae-gangnam-chefjo-fig-pistachio-cake/ · https://superchart.com/llms.txt