Haksapyeong bakery café in Sokcho with a muse-toy photo zone

The place that's been setting SNS on fire lately! With a look more potato than an actual potato, targeting bread lovers across the country, I visited Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store.

Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store hours and facilities

• Hours Mon–Sun 09:00–18:00 (closed Thursdays)
• Takeout, group seating, free Wi-Fi, separate men's/women's restrooms, parking

Parking and the potato-shaped exterior on Haksapyeong-gil

Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store has a fairly spacious dedicated parking lot, so even beginner drivers can access it easily. When traveling, I sometimes get disappointed by tourist-spot restaurants with flashy signs but ordinary food. But Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store had a distinctive sense of style and wit visible from the storefront onward, which put me in a good mood.

The cute yet trendy exterior, which blends well with Sokcho's lively atmosphere, stood out from far away. True to the quirky name 'burnt potato bread,' the whole store was decorated with a potato concept, making it a great photo zone too.

What the inside of Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread looks like

The moment I stepped inside, the savory smell of freshly baked bread hit me and nearly made my head spin.

The interior was so nicely decorated it felt like a waste to just grab bread and go. It seemed like a great place to relax with a potato bread and a hot coffee.

Celebrity-painted muse-toy artworks and painting your own

One corner of Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store displayed muse-toy artworks painted by various celebrities who had visited. The store also sells muse-toys directly, so it seemed like a fun way to spend time decorating one while enjoying bread and coffee.

Burnt potato bread menu and the free tasting

Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread sells coffee and tea, of course, along with desserts like burnt potato bread, oranda, and jjondeugi. The burnt potato bread was available for tasting, so I got to try before buying, which was great.

I bought a pack of 4 burnt potato breads (10,000 won) and 12 Sokcho jjondeugi (10,000 won) and ate them at my accommodation.

How the burnt potato bread looked and tasted

From a distance, Sokcho's 'burnt potato bread' looked exactly like a freshly dug Gangwon-do potato. The coarse powder on the surface really evoked actual dirt, perfectly recreating the feel of potato skin. (The two holes poked in the middle even looked like eyes.) Thanks to these detailed touches, I thought it couldn't get more perfect for an SNS photo.

You're surprised once by the visual, and surprised again by the texture the moment you take a bite. The outer layer isn't the dry or soft texture of typical wheat-flour bread — since it's made with rice flour, the outside was crispy while the inside was chewy and sticky like rice cake, and I really liked it.

The Sokcho jjondeugi I bought alongside it came with all 12 pieces individually wrapped, making it great for sharing with people nearby or snacking on one at a time when bored.

Is Sokcho Bultan Gamja Bread Main Store worth a stop?

Sokcho has so many famous foods — dakgangjeong (sweet fried chicken), mulhoe (cold raw fish soup), and squid sundae are all classic favorites, but I think discovering a trendy local bakery café like this one, which doubles the small joys of traveling, is really what travel is all about. Sokcho's burnt potato bread delights the eyes with its playful visual and nails both health and flavor with rice flour and potato. If you're looking for a great bakery in Sokcho or a Sokcho souvenir gift, I really recommend 'Bultan Gamja Bread.'