The true charm of a day trip to the countryside, leaving home early in the morning, is undoubtedly the food. A neatly prepared set meal featuring local specialties or a bubbling hot pot bursting with savory flavor is delightful. Even if you are not at the coast, wild vegetable dishes found inland or meat soup served in an earthenware pot can truly be considered the perfect souvenir of an escape from the city. However, as I headed toward Cheongju, my mind was entirely filled with the sweet and comforting desserts of the city. If Daejeon is a city of bread boasting nationwide fame, Cheongju—a calm city of education—is known as a charming city of desserts where chocolate, confectionery, and street desserts harmoniously blend together .

As someone who prefers express buses to trains unless the distance is too far, I look up dessert shops and bakeries saved on my map app during my spare time on the bus to finalize my route, taking into account their days off and my travel path. Although I am a super J who always prepares a Plan B, I try not to get too stressed about variables that arise during a trip.

Our first destination was Mimi Hotteok , located in the food court of the Hanaro Mart inside the Yongam-dong Nonghyup Logistics Center. Having set out a longer-than-expected journey just to eat a single hotteok, we are, as always, noble souls who are sincere about food. We walked along an unfamiliar path, wondering if we were even going the right way, following the shortcut suggested by our map app. We entered the mart and found the food court kiosk. Resisting the urge to buy a generous ten and heat them up in the air fryer over and over, we grabbed a freshly fried hotteok. Perhaps influenced by the croffle craze—where anything is pressed and baked—the crispy, pressed Mimi Hotteok was savory and crunchy, fully satisfying the expectations we had imagined . Mimi Hotteok was so appealing that we even considered turning around to buy another one—it gets a thumbs up!

I turned around and found a traditional Korean confectionery shop. Its name is 1913 Cheongju Kitchen . It is led by CEO Kang Shin-hye, who learned cooking from Lee Mal-soon of the Korean Traditional Food Research Association, a successor to Kang In-hee, who has conveyed the flavors of Korea through noble family cuisine and traditional dishes. This is an elegant space where you can enjoy rice cakes and traditional sweets made by her personally, along with tea .

In particular, it is known as a place that recreates traditional Korean sweets from the 1910s using "Banchan Deungsok," a Tangible Cultural Heritage and the first Hangeul cookbook in North Chungcheong Province. Although it hasn't been long since it opened, it was a place I definitely wanted to visit whenever I came to Cheongju. This year, Dano fell on May 31st, and luckily, I was able to taste the special menu items created for the festival: Omija Hagyul Hwachae and Dutub-tteok, a traditional royal court rice cake. From the craftsmanship to the taste imbued with the elegant charm of the space, it left me deeply moved, making me unable to stop exclaiming in admiration. I think that from now on, the flower language of Cheongju for me will be "1913 Cheongju Kitchen ."

Heungheung Bakery, a tart specialty shop located on Seongan-gil, a bustling street in Cheongju, is a place where an "open run" is always a must, satisfying dessert enthusiasts with its excellent value and taste. Specializing in fruit tarts crafted by a pâtissier and kitchen team trained at Le Cordon Bleu, the showcase is filled with tarts and cheesecakes that stand out for their dazzling visuals using generous amounts of seasonal fruit and the harmony between their solidly crafted cream and almond filling. You can take your order to go on the first floor or enjoy it leisurely on the second floor after placing your order.

The composition of a tart topped with seasonal fruit is actually quite simple. You simply place a crust made with almond powder, butter , sugar, and eggs into a mold, bake it, let it cool completely, and then top it with prepared cream and a highlight fruit. However, the touch of an expert reveals the difference in that subtle detail. It involves harmoniously matching the type of cream to complement the fruit's moisture, acidity, sweetness, and flavor . You must pay close attention to enhancing the dessert's sweetness, shelf life, visual appeal, and color while preserving the fruit's inherent freshness. For example, the combination of pistachio cream and grapefruit is excellent, as is the tart featuring a tiramisu layer with strawberries and mascarpone cheese. From the fun of picking and choosing individual slices to the beautiful packaging you can pack to take back to Seoul, this place leaves nothing to be desired.

Finally, I would like to introduce Bonjeong , a chocolate specialty shop worthy of being called the original idol of the Cheongju dessert scene . As a local brand that has been loved by the people of Cheongju since it first opened in 1999, it holds a special place in the childhood memories of many. Aside from the commonly known chocolate dessert 'bonbon,' I believe that cakes are undoubtedly the desserts where the charm of rich chocolate shines most beautifully .

You can find Sachertorte, Austria's quintessential dessert featuring a beautiful blend of apricot jam and chocolate, and Black Forest—a chocolate cake containing cherries named after a forest on the border between France and Germany—at Bonjeong. While sharing a whole cake is fun, it is also available by the slice, so we highly recommend trying it. Just as afternoon fatigue sets in during your travels, a rich and sweet iced chocolate drink will serve as the perfect booster. Don't miss the nuances of this sweet and bountiful culinary journey in Cheongju until the very end!

Kim Hye-jun

Kim Hye-jun, a food content director, restaurant branding director, and food columnist, is a food service expert who runs 'Kim Hye-jun Company.' She entered the food service industry by chance when she began working as a manager at a French restaurant. After studying French pastry at Le Cordon Bleu and working for a pastry brand for three years, she naturally expanded her expertise into the field of branding. Since then, she has followed the destiny of 'food' placed before her, including opening her own establishment. For a long time, she has enjoyed flavors in her work and daily life, written about food, and cared for three cat brothers.