Sunchang hanok café peach jar bingsu and fig rice cake: Hwayangyeonhwa

On this trip to Hoemunsan Natural Recreation Forest, I discovered a gem: Hwayangyeonhwa, a hanok café in Sunchang.

It's about 20 minutes by car from Hoemunsan Natural Recreation Forest. We arrived in Sunchang and decided to stop here for a bit of energy before checking in at the forest.

The roads were surprisingly congested, probably with people heading off on late summer vacations, and by the time we got close to the café we were all suddenly exhausted. At times like this, you really need sweet dessert and coffee!

The address of Hwayangyeonhwa, the Sunchang hanok café where we recharged, is 91 Gyeongcheon-ro, Sunchang-eup, Sunchang-gun, Jeonbuk-do.

Back when I used to go on a lot of café tours, I visited quite a few hanok cafés too, so I was curious what Hwayangyeonhwa in Sunchang would be like.

Where is Hwayangyeonhwa in Sunchang, and is there parking?

Arriving at Hwayangyeonhwa, tucked at the end of Sunchang's central road, the first thing that struck me was the genuinely gorgeous hanok building.

There's its own parking lot, and since we visited on a weekday afternoon, we parked easily and headed straight in.

A white, gentle Jindo dog named Baekseolgi (백설기, named after a white rice cake) greeted our family.

Maybe because there are dogs at my parents' house, Hobbang waved excitedly at Seolgi even though he'd never met her before. He gets happy any time he sees a dog.

What we ordered at Hwayangyeonhwa: chapssaltteok and drinks

Inside, the friendly owner greeted us. We took our time looking over the showcase and the menu board.

This place is known for its jar bingsu and handmade chapssaltteok, and there were so many good-looking items that we spent a while deciding what to get.

The chapssaltteok made with different fruits were each individually wrapped in colorful hanji (traditional mulberry paper) — the packaging alone was so pretty that these would make great gifts.

We picked the yogurt-fruit chapssaltteok, matcha chapssaltteok, and fig chapssaltteok. For drinks, we ordered one each of iced americano, iced five-grain latte, and iced matcha latte.

And there's no way we could come all the way to Hwayangyeonhwa, famous for its jar bingsu, without ordering bingsu!

After some deliberation, we went with the summer-only peach bingsu.

While we ordered, Hobbang kept pointing at a painting of giant strawberries on the café wall, chattering away excitedly about it. (He's such a strawberry fan that he eats them almost every day during strawberry season.)

Hanok floor seating that worked with a 20-month-old

With our drinks in hand, we crossed over to the hanok building on the other side of the yard.

There were other guests there too, enjoying a relaxed weekday afternoon in small groups. Stepping inside felt like visiting my grandmother's house — such a warm, nostalgic space.

Low dog-leg tray tables and cushions gave it real old-school charm, and yet the air conditioning was blasting.

A little while later, all the other guests left and we lucked into having this spacious room to ourselves for a bit. That kind of chance doesn't come often!

Thanks to that, even with a 20-month-old, we could enjoy our desserts comfortably without worrying about anyone else around us.

Matcha latte and five-grain latte, shared with a toddler

Once we laid everything out together, the colors were so pretty it almost felt a shame to eat.

The americano paired nicely with the sweet chapssaltteok,

and the matcha latte and five-grain latte were rich enough that you could feel the owner's generosity.

The matcha latte especially stood out.

We ordered the five-grain latte to share with Hobbang. He's been eating misugaru (roasted grain powder) pretty well lately, so I picked this for him, and sure enough he loved it — great for sharing with a baby.

Personally, I often find matcha drinks at Korean cafés a little disappointing, but Hwayangyeonhwa's matcha latte had that proper rich, slightly bitter matcha flavor. It suited my taste so well it reminded me of the delicious matcha desserts I've had in Japan.

How the handmade chapssaltteok taste: yogurt-fruit and fig

Now, time to taste Hwayangyeonhwa's other signature menu — the chapssaltteok!

Looking at other reviews, people neatly sliced theirs with a knife for a pretty cross-section photo, haha — well, I failed at that.

Once I tasted it, I realized the rice cake skin was so thin and soft that for clumsy hands like mine, scissors might actually make cutting easier.

First, the yogurt-fruit chapssaltteok: inside the thin, soft rice cake skin was plenty of tangy yogurt and fruit. It wasn't overly sweet, making it an easy dessert to enjoy without guilt.

We ate the fig chapssaltteok back at our lodging, and I was surprised to find a whole fresh fig inside.

The gentle sweetness and soft fig went perfectly with the rice cake. Of all the menu items, this fig chapssaltteok is the one that keeps coming back to my mind — I really loved it.

Peach jar bingsu with half firm, half juicy peaches

But without a doubt, the best item our family had that day was the peach bingsu!

It was piled high with peaches that looked fresh at a glance, served in a rustic yet stylish jar — I didn't know bingsu and a jar could go together so well.

What was especially fun was that it had a mix of half firm peaches (ddakbok) and half juicy peaches (mulbok).

Even within our own family, we're split firmly into firm-peach people and juicy-peach people, so this was perfect for all of us to share together, haha.

Hwayangyeonhwa makes their bingsu with fresh seasonal fruit, and it seems we visited right at the tail end of peach season.

Without exaggeration, the peaches in this bingsu were the best peaches I've had all year.

It really drove home the saying that good ingredients determine the taste of a dish. The peaches themselves were so sweet and delicious that the red bean paste served alongside felt almost unnecessary.

Even the ice cream on top went so well with everything that we ended up slurping down the last of the melted bingsu broth before leaving, haha.

Yesterday, chatting with my family about the trip, everyone agreed in unison: "I want to eat that Hwayangyeonhwa peach bingsu again."

For me, it's not just the peach bingsu — the fig chapssaltteok keeps flickering in my mind too. I think when strawberry season comes, I'll have to go back for the strawberry bingsu.

Why Hwayangyeonhwa is a good rest stop on a Sunchang trip

Close to Sunchang Gochujang Village and Sunchang Fermentation Theme Park, and an easy drive from Hoemunsan Natural Recreation Forest where we stayed, Hwayangyeonhwa was a wonderful hanok café to rest at during our Sunchang trip.

From the beautiful hanok space to the pretty handmade chapssaltteok and the jar bingsu piled high with seasonal fruit, everything about this place was lovely.

A place that gave our family another 'hwayangyeonhwa' (화양연화, meaning 'the most beautiful, flower-like time') alongside delicious desserts. When strawberry season comes this winter, I'll have to visit again for the strawberry bingsu. 😊