Cheongju rice cake café sultteok and an 11am visit tip: Tteokmama

[Cheongju/Gaesin-dong] Tteokmama Open 08:30 Close 21:00 1F 101, 13 Bokdae-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea

Before you visit, you can find pickup reservations and free delivery through Naver Place so you don't make a wasted trip!

Where do you park at Tteokmama Cheongju Gaesin Branch?

A Cheongju rice cake shop worth recommending for return-gift rice cakes — Tteokmama Gaesin Branch. I used the underground parking lot (3 hours free). Just be careful, the entrance and lot are narrow ⛔️

20% off a whole tray of cheese pizza seolgi

It feels like more and more places in Cheongju are selling pizza seolgi (pizza-topped rice cake) :) The moment I saw the poster for it, I went and bought some. If you buy a whole tray of cheese pizza seolgi, you get 20% off. You can also order it through Naver Reservation, Baemin, or by phone!

A rare rice cake café in Cheongju: Tteokmama Gaesin Branch

It was so good I went back again! Tteokmama Gaesin Branch has a nice spacious store too. I already love rice cakes, and this place sells such a wide variety that I end up going pretty often!

There aren't many rice cake cafés in Cheongju, but Tteokmama Gaesin also sells coffee and drinks, plus has seating where you can enjoy rice cakes on the spot :) Every morning they use 100% domestic glutinous and non-glutinous rice, steamed fresh to order in a traditional siru (steamer) the old-fashioned way — that's the Cheongju rice cake shop known as Tteokmama.

There were plenty of frozen rice cakes on display, plus the trendy 'Dubai rice cake.' They also sell homemade sikhye (sweet rice punch).

When are the most rice cakes out? After 11am

Tteokmama also does return-gift rice cakes, and the shop's variety is genuinely huge! Sometimes you just crave rice cakes but there aren't many places selling them by the piece... and ordering a whole tray feels wasteful when you just want a bite! Songpyeon, baekseolgi, injeolmi, chapssaltteok, jeolpyeon, sirutteok — so many kinds!!!

It says they open at 8:30, but you really need to go after around 11am to get the full variety of rice cakes! ⭐️ Since everything on display is made fresh that same day, buying in the morning meant I got to eat warm rice cakes!

Chuseok gift sets and fruit chapssaltteok at Tteokmama

With the holiday coming up, they're also selling rice cake sets as Chuseok gifts!

They're also selling fruit chapssaltteok! 🍓 🍊 🥝

From the box packaging to the set compositions, Tteokmama offers a lot of variety. Even beyond holiday gifts, it seems worth considering anytime you need to give rice cakes as a gift :)

You can also order 100-day rice cakes, dol rice cakes, and chapssal cakes here.

True to being a rice cake café, they sell a variety of coffee and drinks, and Baemin delivery orders are available too.

How do the sultteok, choco injeolmi and fruit mochi taste?

The pizza seolgi was a bit more underwhelming than I expected, but if you've never tried it, I'd still recommend giving it a go! It's sold affordably at ₩2,000 each.

Chewy, mellow sultteok. Chewy on the outside and soft inside, every bite had great texture. It wasn't overly sweet either, so it was easy to keep reaching for more, and it paired really well with coffee.

Choco injeolmi? It's the same kind of rice cake, but genuinely delicious! Even the friends I was eating with were surprised at how good it was.

The fruit chapssaltteok wasn't too sweet either, and the rice cake itself was nice and chewy! Sometimes if the red bean filling is too sweet, the whole mochi ends up cloying, but Tteokmama's fruit chapssaltteok struck a good balance :) Next time I want to try eating rice cakes with coffee inside the store!

If you're in Cheongju looking for a simple snack, return-gift rice cakes, or rice cakes to give as a present, Tteokmama in Gaesin-dong is worth a visit. Especially if you love rice cakes like I do, browsing the variety on offer is half the fun :)