Gangneung gelato café with a milk choco chip-tofu cup: Hi Gelato

What I look forward to most on a Gangneung trip is definitely the food. (Just me, haha?) You have to eat hoe (raw fish), jangkalguksu (soy-based knife-cut noodle soup), corn, potatoes, soft tofu... Gangneung has an unusually strong lineup of regional food. This time I looked around and found a place making gelato out of ingredients Gangneung is known for, like corn and soft tofu, so I went to check it out.

Where is Hi Gelato in Gangneung, and what are its hours?

Hi Gelato is at 158 Toseong-ro, 1st floor, Gangneung, Gangwon, South Korea, open 11:30–20:00. It's on Toseong-ro, not far from Gangneung Jungang Market, Wolhwa Street, and Seobu Market, so it's a good stop while wandering the markets — lots of good restaurants nearby too.

Time to go in for soft tofu gelato! Hi Gelato's exterior is super refreshing. I didn't expect to find a place with this kind of colorful vibe in Gangneung — colorful and slightly exotic-feeling. Holding a gelato in front of this place, you'd get a great travel photo. On the door, a bear is doing a "HI." Maybe that's where the name Hi Gelato comes from, haha. So cute.

Hi Gelato menu and prices, plus the extra taste scoop

A small cup is ₩5,000 and lets you choose 1–2 flavors; a large cup is ₩6,500 for 2–3 flavors. Once you choose the flavor you want to try, they add a separate taste-topping scoop on top. Calling it "one scoop" undersells it — it's a decent-sized helping, so you get to properly enjoy the flavor you were curious about.

There's also a TO GO menu for taking gelato with you.

• Small box ₩16,000 / 2 flavors
• Medium box ₩22,000 / 3 flavors
• Large box ₩32,000 / 4 flavors

If you're traveling with a group or want to bring some back to your accommodation, getting a box seems like a good option.

There's also a signature menu called Hi Gelato. The lineup changes with the season, and when we visited it was the summer version — blueberry compote, lemon sorbet, and vanilla gelato together for a tangy + sweet combo! This signature also came with a taste-topping scoop of whatever flavor we wanted. My husband picked the signature; I went with the large cup!

They're also running a Naver receipt review event that upgrades a small cup to a large cup, plus a 10% discount for following on Instagram. Pretty good perks.

What Hi Gelato looks like inside

The interior kept the same vibe as outside — colorful all over. Lots of color used, bright and cute like a proper gelato shop should be. The space is small but plenty for sitting down and enjoying a gelato.

Our order: a large cup of soft tofu and milk choco chip with a corn supernova taste

The hard part was picking a flavor! There was so much I wanted to try. The showcase alone makes you stand there thinking for a while. Since we were in Gangneung, I felt like we had to try soft tofu and corn at least once, so I went with soft tofu and milk choco chip, plus a corn supernova as the taste-topping. My husband picked mango and strawberry "in love" as his taste-topping for the signature.

When you order, they scoop the gelato right in front of you, and just watching them scoop it you could feel the chewy texture.

How did the soft tofu and corn gelato taste?

Perfectly colorful for a photo. The signature especially was clearly more vivid than the cup gelato. This is exactly the kind of thing that tastes better because you're traveling!

The signature Hi Gelato was completely refreshing. The tart, cool lemon sorbet plus the blueberry compote made for a tangy + tangy combo.

The gelato had that distinctive chewy texture, melting slowly but densely. The corn flavor I picked for the taste-topping wasn't just a hint of corn aroma — it had the real, deep sweet and nutty flavor of actual corn, and it was so good. The Gangneung soft tofu gelato was also nutty and appealing! I wanted to try every flavor they sell... Recommended as a Gangneung dessert.