This is my first time to Korea and one thing I did not expect, not in a thousand years, was the abundance of patisseries, boulangeries and bakeries brimming with delectable French pastries and Korean adaptations. I’m not kidding when I tell you I am surrounded. The mouth-watering delicious bakeries of Busan are out of this world.
Coffee Culture
One thing I did know about Korea was their very strong coffee culture, I have dived into this head on and will be writing a specific post on this subject. I don’t know if there is any correlation between the abundance of coffee shops and bakeries, but that is the only connection I can think that has created this heavenly discovery.
Coffee is super popular here, the most frequently purchased drink being the iced americano. Coffee shops range from the humble take-out window to the mega three floor vintage factory type buildings that have been re-imagined into massive coffee houses. Most popular time to be frequenting these? About 9pm. 🤣
Gentz Bakery
In a sub ground floor below the Lotte Department Store in Seomyeon and connecting to the Metro line, one will find the Gentz Bakery. This is a typical looking bakery for Busan, everything laid out before the shoppers, in the open, not in a case, and a feast of bread and similar goodies before your eyes.
When I tell you I could only walk around at a snail’s pace, because every single item looks so incredibly delicious and must be inspected fully. Green bread? Hmmm, turns out it is ‘mugwort rice bread’! How marvellous! See what I mean by Korean adaptations?
And then almost right beside it, my jaw dropped, a flaky buttery croissant smashed together with the best-looking chocolate chip cookie. Imagine if you have been away from your country for over 1.5 years, and see a newly baked chocolate chip cookie? And combined with your favourite French pastry, the croissant. 😋🤯😁
Ops Bakery
Located not too far from Gentz is Ops Bakery. This business has been in Busan for over 30 years and has multiple stores throughout the city. Everything is made fresh each day and by hand, and they mean that.
Beside most items is a small plate that contains the goodie cut into pieces for sampling before purchase. I savoured the custard bun and was amazed. Not the gooey fake and too sweet commercial custard you get everywhere else, this custard was eggy, and oh so real.
Have a look at these amazing breads and sweets and tell me you would be able to stop at only purchasing one item. What surprises me a lot about the bakeries in Korea is they display the savoury and meat containing items right beside say a doughnut or apple pie. No barrier between a pastry containing a slice of ham, wiener or cheese and a sweet.
Koryodang
Fancying something purely savoury? Have a look at these pizza and flatbread type treats from Koryodang who as been creating such delicacies since 1945.
Tell me you don’t want to take a slice or three home or to the beach and enjoy them with an iced cold Cass beer.
Tous les Jours
A huge and popular chain here in Korea is Tous les Jours, filled with so many delicious treats. This was my first discovery, as they are everywhere I seemed to be walking. One of the few places open early too, so if you have a hankering for some delicious and fresh French pastries at 8am, you will be in luck.
Have a look at these treats and revel in their ability to make your taste-buds tingle.
Paris Baguette Boulangerie
Another chain here in Korea, is Paris Baguette, very similar to Tous, they have an array of French based pastries, bread, sandwiches and more. Here you can purchase your breakfast and lunch. I enjoyed the twisted donuts, which is a Korean staple (even found at Korean bakeries) and the chicken sandwich. Both were amazing, I can tell you that.
One thing I should note here, is most of these prices are really truly quite reasonable. If I tried to purchase this quality in Canada? I would be paying at least double, probably more. The bakery items seemed to range in price from about 1,800 to 4,500 won, or $1.80 CAD and up. When I left Canada over 1.5 years ago, I was paying $3.99 for a single muffin from a grocery store! Not even bakery quality.
Korean Bakeries
I did try actual Korean bakeries too, two in fact. What I found was the prices were similar but the quality less so. The things that stood out the most was the flavour of the oil in the Korean bakeries was quite strong, old, and unpleasant.
Many Korean baked goods are actually deep fried so this makes a huge difference to overall enjoyability. The second thing I noticed, was the lack of draining. The baked goods I tried from the Korean bakeries were absolutely saturated with oil. So much so that I had to squeeze them out into paper towels once I got home, I just couldn’t eat them otherwise.
If you are a lucky visitor and happen to be coming to South Korea at any time, you will not only notice the abundance of bakeries, patisseries and boulangeries, but have a feast available before you that you never thought possible. Maybe because I am a baking fiend, absolute lover of anything and everything baked goodie-esque, but I am still utterly surprised by the bounty that is here.
