Gyeongju walnut pastry café with a whole walnut inside: Buja Hodu

What kind of place is Buja Hodu on Hwangnidan-gil, Gyeongju?

There's always a must-do when you travel to Gyeongju. Between seeing all the historic sites, Hwangnidan-gil is lined with every kind of snack and delicious food! On this Gyeongju trip I kept going back and forth along Hwangnidan-gil and ate a ridiculous amount of snacks, and among them was a walnut pastry (hodu-gwaja) spot I have to tell you about.

Buja Hodu, a Hwangnidan-gil favorite in Gyeongju, is a short walk from the main street — a premium walnut pastry shop with gift wrapping nice enough that I'd recommend it as a Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) present this holiday season.

Walking toward the main street side of Hwangnidan-gil, you'll run into Buja Hodu's flagship store, which has outdoor seating. Since it's right on the main road, it's easy to find, and there also looked to be spots to park briefly out front.

Even the name Buja Hodu (부자호두, roughly "rich walnut") feels like a Hwangnidan-gil favorite that's perfect for gifting.

Does Buja Hodu offer bojagi wrapping for Chuseok gifts?

They have gift wrapping that's perfect for Chuseok holiday presents. The 24-piece box can be wrapped in bojagi like this.

There are several bojagi colors to choose from, so if you're stuck on a dessert gift, I'd recommend this Hwangnidan-gil walnut pastry shop.

Buja Hodu walnut pastry flavors

Buja Hodu also operates as a café. There are four walnut pastry flavors total — even the original uses low-sugar red bean filling, so you can worry less about sugar, and the pea cream cheese and matcha were flavors I'd never had before, unlike anywhere else! The almond praline is limited to 50 a day, so I didn't get to try it — I'm curious, so I plan to go back.

Sweet snacks like walnut pastries really do pair well with an americano or a latte. The weather was nice, and the outdoor tables looked like a great spot to eat and drink.

What goes into the 24-piece box?

That day I bought a 24-piece box of walnut pastries. It wasn't for gifting so I skipped the wrapping, but even the box alone made Buja Hodu's walnut pastries look upscale! Doesn't that brown box look really sleek?

Every walnut pastry at Buja Hodu, this Hwangnidan-gil favorite in Gyeongju, is made with dough from domestic Korean rice. It's a premium walnut pastry made with good ingredients and care, using rice dough grown in Korea.

Opening the box, you can see the walnut pastries neatly arranged inside. The 24-piece box holds four rows of eight. That's 16 original, 8 matcha, and 8 pea cream cheese, for 24 total. Since each flavor has different colored wrapping, I could tell the flavors apart just by the packaging without getting confused.

Original — one whole walnut in low-sugar red bean filling

First, the classic, no matter what! Made with domestic rice dough and low-sugar red bean filling, it wasn't too sweet, with a mild sweetness, and there's one big whole walnut packed inside so the nutty walnut flavor fills your mouth — a truly premium walnut pastry. With a lot of other walnut pastries I've tried, it's mostly just red bean filling with a few small walnut bits, so they end up feeling like walnut-shaped cookies rather than actual walnut pastries. But Buja Hodu's really do have a whole walnut inside, so the nutty flavor comes through strongly.

Matcha — pleasantly bitter and hard to stop at one

The green tea walnut pastry has matcha mixed into the filling, and you could really taste matcha's mild bitterness. Even someone who isn't a big green tea fan could eat this comfortably. That slight bitterness made it taste better than something plain sweet, and it kept me reaching for another one.

Pea cream cheese — a different take from ang-butter

And then a walnut pastry with pea filling and cream cheese! Most places sell ang-butter (red bean and butter) walnut pastries, but here it's not plain red bean filling and not plain butter — it's pea filling with cream cheese, which ends up tasting quite different from ang-butter. The slightly rich, savory oiliness of the cream cheese combined with the sweet, nutty pea filling was excellent.

Final thoughts on Buja Hodu

Buja Hodu, a Hwangnidan-gil favorite where you can enjoy walnut pastries in a range of flavors, would also make a perfect Chuseok holiday gift. This trip taught me just how many great food spots Gyeongju really has, and this walnut pastry shop is one I'd love to visit again. They also ship, so check out their Smart Store!