On January 25, 2026, after a delicious lunch at the restaurant street in Hwaseong Yunggeungneung, we visited a special space called ‘Bakbongdam’ for a cup of coffee. We came here thanks to my husband’s meticulous planning, and it was about a 15-minute drive away.
Operating Information for Bakbongdam
Operating Hours: Opens at 10:30 AM
Closed: Lunar New Year’s Day (February 17, 2026)
Spacious Parking and Convenient Accessibility
Bakbongdam offers a spacious parking lot, providing convenience for visitors arriving by car. When we arrived, it was quiet right after an early lunch, but about 40 minutes later, the parking lot was full, indicating a lot of visitors.
Bakbongdam: A Complex Cultural Space
Ascending the stairs, you’ll find the cafe building on the left and a smart farm cultivating vegetables on the right. The name ‘Bakbongdam’ is presumed to be derived from the local area name Bongdam-eup, and it is a complex cultural space that reinterprets Old Guksoondang Hwaseong Brewery in a modern way, based on Guksoondang’s core value of ‘Lawful Innovation’. This space seamlessly connects various facilities such as a research institute, brewery, smart farm, kitchen, tasting room, and bottle shop, offering a diverse range of experiences.
Unique ‘straw trees’ and small trees add a touch of charm to the somewhat desolate space.
Cafe Interior and Menu
The cafe interior, which gradually filled with more customers, exudes a cozy atmosphere. Here, you can enjoy various beverages along with baked goods and fresh vegetables grown in the smart farm.
Particularly eye-catching menu items include the ‘Sultteok Set,’ which resembles a bagel, and ‘단팥, 소보루 세트’. Additionally, the ‘Bumuk Sultteok’ (drizzled sultteok), where hot red bean sauce is poured over the sultteok, is an attractive menu item that entices orders just by its visual appeal.
Various Desserts and Packaging
The display case is filled with tempting desserts. We enjoyed the ‘Bumuk Sultteok’ at the cafe and took home the red bean rice cake and sultteok set. In the kitchen, steamers were busily working to make warm sultteok.
Our order included the red bean rice cake to go, the sultteok set to go, and for dine-in, the Bumuk Sultteok and one Americano.
Second Floor Connected to the Smart Farm
On the second floor, you can move through an external passage connected to the smart farm building. The view outside the window would be beautiful on a warm spring day. All tables and chairs are made of wood, giving a minimalist and pretty look, but they may be somewhat uncomfortable for long sittings due to the lack of cushions.
My companion who visited with me praised the Americano as delicious and regretted not ordering the red bean latte. However, we chose sultteok over drinks because we were too full and wanted to try the warm sultteok first.
Review of ‘Bumuk Sultteok’
As soon as we sat down, we poured the red bean sauce over the sultteok and tasted it. While some suggested that ‘dipping’ might be tastier than ‘drizzling,’ we recommend briefly dipping the sultteok in the red bean sauce before eating. This menu item is a unique type of steamed bread that has been featured on TV shows like ‘Master of Living’ and ‘Jeon Hyun-moo’s Plan.’ The combination of the sultteok’s moderate sweetness and savory flavor with the sweet red bean sauce is excellent, making it a highly recommended dish.
Tasting Bar and Wine Shop
On the first floor, there is a tasting bar where you can sample makgeolli and beer, as well as a wine shop. The wine shop also hosts free tasting events, and unique decorative items resembling flowing wine catch the eye.
For a French beef stew dish, we purchased a bottle of red wine on sale, recommended by a staff member.
Various Alcoholic Beverages and Rare Wines
The beer products also catch the eye with their cute designs. I was particularly interested in a beer with a sheep character drawn on it for my son, who was born in the year of the sheep in 2003. Here, you can also find rare wines worth tens of millions of won, such as a 2000 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. High-end wines are stored in a separate cellar room with controlled temperature and humidity.
Inside the Smart Farm
The fresh vegetables used in the vegetables and salads sold at the cafe are grown directly in the smart farm. You can peek inside through small windows, and I look forward to seeing what trees will be growing when I visit again in the spring.
The outfit I wore that day consisted of a mustang top gifted by my husband for my birthday, ivory corduroy pants bought by my son, a dog keychain purchased in Dongdaemun, and a wool doll character created by Market Kurly’s AI Studio. I plan to go on outings and trips wearing this outfit.
Visit Review and Overall Impression
On the way back to the parking lot, there was a crowd as if all the residents of Hwaseong and the metropolitan area had turned out. It’s so popular that it can be difficult to find a seat if you visit late.
The sultteok set we tasted at home consisted of 5 types of sultteok and 2 types of spread. The gochujang sultteok and spread have not been tasted yet, but overall, they were reasonably edible. The red bean rice cake is a dessert that can be polarizing; the combination of the cake-like base, which is a hybrid of bread and rice cake, and the red bean cream was unique. Personally, I think it would have been better if it were just red bean rice cake.
If you are visiting near Hwaseong, I recommend stopping by Bakbongdam, a complex cultural space that blends a brewery and a cafe concept. The outdoor food stalls were not operating that day due to the cold weather.
Address: Gyeonggi Province Hwaseong Bongdam-eup Suyoung-ri 403
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