Gyeongju walnut pastry shop with affogato and avocado: Buja Hodu
In short
Buja Hodu is a walnut pastry (hodu-gwaja) shop on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, making rice-dough pastries with a whole premium walnut and low-sugar bean paste. I tried one freshly baked in the store, then took home a box of 15 mixed and 15 original to share with my kids and parents, where the pea cream cheese and matcha were the favorites. Buja Hodu's novelty flavors, affogato walnut and avocado walnut, had to wait for next time since I visited right after a meal.
Good to know
- Hours
- Opens 9:30 AM, closes 8:00 PM
- Packaging
- Instant pack and box pack, each with its own price list
- What I ordered
- Box pack with 15 mixed + 15 original
- Almond praline
- Limited to 50 a day, 500 won extra per piece
- Dough and filling
- Rice dough, premium whole walnuts, low-sugar bean paste
- In-store perk
- 1 americano or 2 walnut pastries
- Address
- 38 Poseok-ro 1095beon-gil, Building B, Unit 105, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do
- Price reference
- ₩500 ≈ $0.4 (2026-09-22)
as written by the visitor on Sep 22, 2026
A Gyeongju souvenir beyond Hwangnam-ppang: Buja Hodu on Hwangnidan-gil
Buja Hodu is a walnut pastry shop on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju, open from 9:30 AM to 8:00 PM. With so many famous souvenir snacks around like hwangnam-ppang, gyeongju-ppang, and gyeongju pie, things can start to feel a bit repetitive — so how about trying Buja Hodu instead?!
I really love walnut pastries — I even keep a mental list of the best ones at highway rest stops — and Buja Hodu's version was seriously satisfying.
Made with rice dough and premium walnuts, flavored with low-sugar red bean paste, Buja Hodu would make a great, health-conscious holiday gift as the next big holiday approaches.
Instant pack or box pack: which one works as a gift?
Buja Hodu's price list is split between instant packs and box packs. The box pack comes in a case pretty enough to make the recipient smile, which makes it a great souvenir from a Gyeongju trip.
A whole walnut in every piece, plus almond praline limited to 50 a day
Buja Hodu is serious enough about walnut pastry desserts to create unusual variations, and each pastry is packed with a whole walnut, so the nutty flavor really comes through. There's also a menu item called almond praline — limited to 50 a day, with a ₩500 surcharge per piece — that adds a nutty richness plus extra calcium, which makes me curious too. Buja Hodu doesn't seem like a shop that just makes things sweet; it feels like a walnut pastry specialist chasing real flavor :)
Affogato walnut and avocado walnut: saved for next time
Walnut pastry with avocado is a combo I can kind of imagine but haven't actually tried, so now I'm curious. It sounds like a delicious pairing, but since I'd already eaten, I'll have to save that harmonious apricot-style walnut pastry for my next visit.
One americano or two walnut pastries!! You'd be missing out if you don't take them up on it — with ingredients this healthy, Buja Hodu can't possibly taste bad, so make sure you grab yours!
A tasting piece in store, then ordering 15 mixed and 15 original
They offered me a fresh pastry to try right there, and it was genuinely packed full — the cross-section, with its low-sugar paste and whole walnut, looked exactly like the one on the menu board outside.
I ordered two types of box packs: 15 mix and 15 original. What do you think of the packaging case?! It felt really thoughtfully done and premium — more than fit to become a rising souvenir snack of Hwangnidan-gil, don't you think?!
Pea cream cheese, original and matcha, tasted at home with the kids
Back home, I got ready to share them with the kids. Look at the size of these walnut pastries!
The pea cream cheese one is totally my kind of flavor. Peas, cream cheese, and whole walnuts — all delicious things mixed together, so it would honestly be unfair for it not to taste good!! Haha. It was so good I devoured it in no time.
It was a flavor combination I'd never tried before, and I kept saying "so good, so good" the whole time.
The low-sugar walnut pastry is packed full inside too, right?! They say it's made with rice — I wonder why that makes it softer than a wheat-based one? In the end it's still carbs, but the texture from rice dough is definitely moister. Haha.
There's also a matcha-flavored walnut pastry, which I tried for the first time. Since it's still fundamentally a walnut pastry, you get the subtle presence of matcha rather than its bitterness.
Why Buja Hodu works as a holiday gift
It would have been a shame to only try the original flavor. Definitely get the mix so you can taste the pea cream walnut pastry too. Enjoying Buja Hodu's walnut pastries with my parents and kids, I was reminded of the old saying that the best souvenir really is a walnut pastry — it won the whole family's taste buds over. The case is thoughtful enough to work as a gift too, so my list of Gyeongju souvenir snacks just got one item longer. If you're preparing for the holidays nearby, a healthy walnut pastry snack would make the recipient really happy. Enjoy walnut pastries that people of all ages love, and have a fun trip to Gyeongju :)
Make sure everyone gets to try the delicious desserts at Buja Hodu on Hwangnidan-gil :)
Where it is
38 Poseok-ro 1095beon-gil, Building B, Unit 105, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea경상북도 경주시 포석로1095번길 38 B동 105호
