Gyeongju café rice walnut pastries, original vs mix: Buja Hodu

A stop at Buja Hodu while strolling Hwangridan-gil

After walking around the lanes of Hwangridan-gil in Gyeongju for a while, I started to feel a little peckish. I stopped by Buja Hodu, a popular Hwangridan-gil dessert spot, to look for a snack to eat right away and a dessert to take as a gift. Hodugwaja (walnut pastries) are easy to pull out and eat one at a time while sightseeing, and since everyone from kids to adults tends to like them, they seemed like a nice Gyeongju travel souvenir or gift too.

📍 Location: 38 Poseok-ro 1095beon-gil, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongbuk ⏰️ Hours: Daily 09:30–20:00

It is in a convenient spot to drop into while exploring Hwangridan-gil, and it opens early, so it also seemed handy for picking up a box before heading home on the last day of a trip.

Original and mix options and prices

• 10-piece original: ₩9,500
• 10-piece mix: ₩11,000
• 15-piece original (gift box): ₩14,500
• 15-piece mix (gift box): ₩17,000
• 24-piece original (gift box): ₩23,000
• 24-piece mix (gift box): ₩27,000

The original is the classic red bean walnut pastry with a lower-sugar red bean filling. The mix includes red bean, matcha, and cream cheese–pea fillings.

They also offered bojagi wrapping, a traditional Korean cloth wrapping, for holiday gifts.

I was curious about the classic flavor but also wanted to try every unusual one, so I bought one 15-piece original box and one mix box.

Individually wrapped boxes and whole walnuts

When I opened the boxes, each walnut pastry was neatly wrapped in wax paper. The packaging was simple yet polished, so it looked easy to give to family, friends, or coworkers without feeling overly formal.

Buja Hodu Gyeongju says it uses dough made with 100% Korean rice and lower-sugar red bean filling. Above all, the biggest point was that each pastry contains one whole walnut.

Walnut pastries sold at highway rest stops or ordinary shops often contain only chopped walnut pieces or about half a walnut, but when I split one open, a plump whole walnut was set right inside.

With one bite, the nutty flavor of the walnut filled my mouth as I chewed it. It went nicely with the red bean filling, balancing sweetness and nuttiness, and personally, this whole-walnut texture was what I liked best.

Comparing red bean, matcha, and cream cheese–pea flavors

The original red bean filling was moderately sweet and clean-tasting—a crowd-pleasing flavor that adults would really enjoy too. Maybe because it was lower in sugar, it was not overly sweet; the nuttiness and sweetness of the filling were just well balanced, so I could keep eating them without getting tired of the flavor.

The matcha walnut pastry had a gently spreading, pleasantly bitter matcha aroma, making it a good one to have with tea or coffee.

The cream cheese–pea filling was the most distinctive, pairing soft, lightly salty cream cheese with sweet pea paste. My husband especially said the cream cheese–pea filling was delicious.

The mix box lets you choose among classic red bean, matcha, and cream cheese–pea flavors, so it was nice for enjoying according to your preference.

How to store leftover walnut pastries

If you eat them while they are still warm after buying them, you can really enjoy the crisp, nutty character of the rice dough.

For leftovers, put the walnut pastries in a zip-top bag or airtight container and freeze them. Before eating, air-fry them at 180°C for around 3–5 minutes, and they became crisp outside and moist inside again.

Hwangridan-gil has lots of pretty cafés and flashy dessert shops, but if you are looking for a snack to eat while traveling or a practical food item to take home, I think this would be a good choice. With the individual wrapping and neat gift-box presentation, they were also nice for giving to friends or bringing to the office to share one by one. If you are looking for a practical edible gift that people can actually enjoy together instead of a predictable Gyeongju souvenir, I think it would be nice to stop by Buja Hodu, a Hwangridan-gil dessert spot.