Gyeongju walnut pastry shop with handmade iced americano: Buja Hodu

What kind of shop is Buja Hodu?

Buja Hodu is a dessert shop on Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju specializing in walnut pastries. It's open daily from 09:30 to 20:00, and if you're driving, there's a nearby public parking lot you can use.

There are so many dessert shops on Hwangnidan-gil, but the smell coming from in front of Buja Hodu was a little different.

The smell of freshly baked dough and that distinct nutty walnut aroma spread all the way out to the street. "There's no way I can just walk past this smell, right?" When you travel, snacks like this that weren't part of the plan end up being the ones you remember most.

Buja Hodu felt less like a café you sit and linger in, and more like a shop for grabbing walnut pastries to go or enjoying them lightly with coffee. There were a few small outdoor tables in front of the shop too, so it was a nice spot to sit and eat for a bit before moving on.

Buja Hodu walnut pastry flavors and gift set sizes

Buja Hodu's walnut pastries come in four flavors: low-sugar red bean, pea cream cheese, matcha, and almond praline. Gift sets can be chosen in 10-piece, 15-piece, 24-piece, and other sizes.

Buja Hodu's walnut pastries are said to be made with domestic Korean rice dough. The flavor lineup is

• Low-sugar red bean
• Pea cream cheese
• Matcha
• Almond praline

That's how it was set up.

Gift sets can be ordered in 10, 15, or 24 pieces, and we ordered the 24-piece set to try a bit of everything.

However, the almond praline is only made in a limited batch of 50 a day, so we didn't get to try it on our visit. Next time I'd like to go a little earlier and eat the almond praline first.

Getting the 24-piece box, I could see why it's popular as a gift. The box was neat and the contents were arranged tidily, so it seemed like something you wouldn't feel awkward giving to family or friends, not just eating yourself while traveling.

If you're looking for something a little different from the usual Gyeongju souvenir snacks, this is worth considering. We ordered ours to eat right away rather than as a gift, so that's exactly what we did.

Whole walnut texture and how the three flavors differ

The first thing I noticed with Buja Hodu's walnut pastries was the size of the whole walnuts. The low-sugar red bean wasn't overly sweet, the matcha was subtle, and the pea cream cheese was on the softer, richer side.

The first thing I noticed eating Buja Hodu's pastries was the size of the walnuts. Usually with walnut pastries you get small bits of crushed walnut scattered through the filling, but here, biting in revealed a big whole walnut right away.

Rather than just having bits of walnut mixed in, there was a whole walnut inside, so the crunch really stood out. Biting into that crisp walnut inside the soft filling added a nutty flavor, and the texture felt different from typical walnut pastries from the start.

The red bean filling wasn't overly sweet and didn't overpower the nuttiness of the walnut. Buja Hodu says it uses low-sugar red bean paste, and eating it, the sweetness didn't lead the way — instead the red bean and walnut flavors came through one after another.

The rice dough was soft, and the inside was packed with filling and a whole walnut, so even just one or two were more filling than expected.

The matcha walnut pastry had a comfortable, mellow flavor, with the matcha lingering gently rather than hitting hard.

The pea cream cheese was in a completely different mood from the previous two. The soft, nutty flavor unique to peas combined with the richness of cream cheese to give it a softer, more decadent feel.

On top of that, the pea's distinctive color blended with the dough and the whole walnut to make a really pretty cross-section, which made it great for photos too.

Walnut pastries with Buja Hodu's handmade iced americano

Along with the walnut pastries, we ordered an iced americano. The owner said it's handmade coffee made by the top master craftsperson in Gyeongju. It was clean tasting on its own, but personally I liked it even more paired with the walnut pastries.

Take a bite of the walnut pastry, then a small sip of the americano, and the sweetness of the filling gets cleaned up while the nutty walnut flavor comes back to life. Especially with a pastry as packed as Buja Hodu's, after a few bites you naturally start craving a sip of coffee, and it hit the spot perfectly. Seriously amazing~! You have to try them together~! haha

Is the 24-piece set at Buja Hodu worth it?

• A great snack to pair with coffee while exploring Hwangnidan-gil
• Walnut pastries defined by Korean rice dough and big whole walnuts
• A lineup where you can enjoy low-sugar red bean, pea cream cheese, and matcha all at once
• Clean packaging makes it a good souvenir or gift from Gyeongju
• A place I'd like to return to for the daily-limited almond praline

What stuck with me most this time was the whole walnut you could really bite into inside the pastry. There were unique flavors like matcha and pea cream cheese too, and pairing it with the americano worked really well. If you're walking around Hwangnidan-gil in Gyeongju craving something sweet and nutty, or looking for a souvenir to bring home, how about a box of walnut pastries with whole walnuts and a cup of coffee at Buja Hodu?^^