Songjeong café with paid parking across the street: Suwolgyeonghwa

I'd had my eye on Suwolgyeonghwa (수월경화) since the last time I came surfing at Songjeong Beach!! It even has my mom's name in it, so I'd already snapped a photo of the sign — and this time, since I was out in Haeundae anyway, I figured why not swing by Songjeong too? That's how I finally made it to Suwolgyeonghwa haha. I was especially excited because the ocean view is supposed to be legit.

Suwolgyeonghwa Hours: 11:00 - 23:00, last order 22:30 Location: 188 Songjeong-jungang-ro 6beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, 4th floor

Where to park at Suwolgyeonghwa in Songjeong

Suwolgyeonghwa is on the 3rd and 4th floors, so we actually got a little lost ;; you can't see the upper floors well from the car, so I typed the address into navigation and was still going "where is it??" until I got out and checked. If you see the Hoi An sign, that's the building. Parking is technically the building's double-parking lot... but yeah, double parking. There's a paid lot across the street from it, and since we already loved Suwolgyeonghwa, we just paid to park there!!!

From the entrance, Suwolgyeonghwa already had a different kind of presence... the 3rd floor made me go oooh, and then walking up to the 4th floor was like wow... this is a café where the owner genuinely poured their whole heart into every detail.

A Songjeong café with two Blue Ribbon awards

Why are there so many people at Suwolgyeonghwa? Turns out it's won two Blue Ribbons. No wonder I wanted to come (?) And recently too!! It won last year and this year, so that just makes me trust the place even more, right?

Once you walk in, a staff member hands you a menu and tells you to pick a seat yourself. So I grabbed one of the several menus laid out in front of the staff and found a spot — and wow, look at this! Even the menu has a gradient blue reminiscent of waves!! It's these small details piling up that make a café feel genuinely moving.

Every seat at Suwolgyeonghwa has an ocean view

Honestly, every single seat in this place is Instagram-worthy. There's a curtain behind you, and Songjeong Beach fills your view straight ahead, so no matter where you sit, Suwolgyeonghwa delivers.

We were wondering whether we'd have to sit away from the window, but right then a guest at a window seat got up, so we grabbed it haha. I've seen the ocean my whole life — from boats, from school — but the beach still gets me every time!

This window seat's charm isn't just the wide-open sea view — can you sort of see it through the left window? Yes! That's a train passing by! Whenever someone in the café shouts "Oh!! Train's coming!" everyone turns their whole body that way and immediately opens their camera app.

Inside the café and the one-order-per-person rule

I was curious about the whole menu, so I picked super carefully. Oh, side note — it's one order per person, but dessert counts as an order too, so we got the 1 dessert SET, a Louis Velvet Cloud, and a ssanghwacha (twin flower tea). Ssanghwacha lets you choose whether to add egg, so of course we ordered it the original way — with egg.

The interior is comfortable and pretty spacious too, and the way the space is laid out is genuinely charming. In the center there's a large table area, kind of like a library reading room, where groups or anyone can sit freely.

That table had a pattern drawn in sand with clear glass laid over it — it had this Eastern aesthetic to it, and honestly, making that sand pattern isn't that hard, right?! But I kept being amazed at the owner's brilliant idea anyway haha.

Our cute little baby guests can come too, with mom, dad, and the whole family, and take in the Songjeong scenery all at once. There are baby chairs so you can look after your baby comfortably while having tea.

The window seats had a few items placed on them — a small square tabletop mirror, maybe for photos? And a flower arrangement.

What's in the 13,000-won Dalbodeure dessert box

The buzzer went off, so we picked up our drinks and dessert. The dessert box is called the 'Dalbodeure box' — a menu packed with Suwolgyeonghwa's signature desserts.

• Gamtae myeongnan financier (sea lettuce and pollock roe)
• Whole red bean ang-butter monaka
• Ganache monaka
• Black rice sulbbang (steamed rice cake)
• Injeolmi (rice cake) skewer

Five kinds for ₩13,000 — honestly if you've got a bigger group, this feels like the better deal (?)

The desserts are so cute!! Not sure what the little pouch-like thing under the Dalbodeure box is for haha — is it for sale, or is it for takeout packaging?? Not sure, but at a glance, all five pieces don't look like they'd fit inside that box.

The ssanghwacha comes in a mini jar wrapped in hanji-like paper with a rubber band detail — it really captures the whole Suwolgyeonghwa vibe.

This gangjeong (rice puff snack) seems to be the standard hangwa dessert that comes as a set with ssanghwatang! Nutty and not too sweet, so I didn't get tired of it even after one piece.

Louis Velvet Cloud milk tea

The Louis Velvet Cloud was in the 'taerak' category — taerak meaning milk-based, latte-style drinks with milk in them. I ordered it based on the description, "a harmony of rooibos milk tea holding dark chocolate and milk cloud cream," and honestly, the subtle milk tea aroma with a deep, sweet finish was genuinely delicious. I'd recommend this one to anyone without hesitation haha.

Ssanghwacha (herbal tea) with an egg yolk

I'd only ever seen ssanghwatang (twin flower decoction) in cartoons — this was the first time I ever came face to face with one, let alone tasted it. Since this first happened at Suwolgyeonghwa, well, I won't dedicate the honor elsewhere.

They really filled the ssanghwatang all the way up to the rim of this tiny earthenware jar?! With a mountain of pine nuts on top, so at first I thought, 'wait, is there even an egg in here?' haha.

Stirring it revealed the egg's true form...! Since it's dropped straight into a drink you're sipping, I'm guessing they use really good quality eggs — even stirred with a spoon, the yolk didn't break easily~?!

Now that we'd tasted each drink, it was time to properly open Suwolgyeonghwa's showpiece, the Dalbodeure box?! They even give you this tiny card with all the descriptions on it, so it's nice to check it while you eat.

The first dessert we tried was the injeolmi skewer, a texture so familiar to our palates. The rice cake comes in 4 pieces, topped with what looks like a honey drizzle over the soybean powder, and on top of that (honey?), puffed rice — crunchy, chewy, and sweet all at once, a dessert with a lot going on.

I never touch alcohol, but I absolutely love sulbbang (steamed rice cake)! Even though it's called 'sulbbang,' 'jeungpyeon' is actually the more accurate name — and speaking of which, the recent spinoff of Jigu Oaksil, Uju Ddeokjip, had Mimi making cream butter rice cake by pan-frying jeungpyeon in butter.

I'm honestly the type who wonders why people even eat gamtae (sea lettuce) — why do people like it so much? So I can't really say I noticed anything special about the gamtae financier. Also, financiers are usually baked crisp with a lot of almond flour inside for a chewy texture, but Suwolgyeonghwa's Dalbodeure box gamtae financier felt more like a madeleine, which honestly made it easier to eat!

I actually really dislike monaka normally?ㅠㅠ But this ganache-filled monaka!! One bite and I went wow! Seriously haha. The white ganache tasted like chewy white chocolate, and the nuts sprinkled lightly on the outside kept what could've been too-sweet ganache balanced with a nutty note.

Even the bathroom was fun haha, there was a meju (fermented soybean block) ornament hanging in there haha.

Next to the register and kitchen area, there's a small space where you can browse Suwolgyeonghwa's many kinds of tea.

Why Suwolgyeonghwa is easy for international visitors

As mentioned earlier, Suwolgyeonghwa really does get a lot of international visitors. If ordering is difficult, foreign guests can skip the kiosk and order with staff instead. Having a translation QR code is genuinely such a thoughtful touch ㅠㅠ

As you probably know, Suwolgyeonghwa is really a tea specialty spot. Next to the kiosk, they seem to be setting up a station where you can smell the various teas along with their descriptions — maybe???

The 3rd floor: floor seating and tea courses

The 3rd floor turned out to be a special space of its own — you can enjoy tea class, afternoon tea, tea course, and 'My Journey' there, and given all that, it seems like you'd need a reservation.

I thought I'd had my fill of the café by the time we left, but oh, the 3rd floor was so good too?! There's really no 'enough' at Suwolgyeonghwa — everything's just so good that I wanted to keep staying ㅜ

I can't even imagine how much effort went into collecting not just the furniture across the whole café but also these little interior props, all so perfectly suited to Suwolgyeonghwa ㅠㅠ

Oh, and one more thing — this 3rd floor space is floor seating, so if getting up from the floor is hard for you, I'd recommend using the 4th floor of Suwolgyeonghwa instead.