Bakery and Pastry of Jeonju : Baguette Burger, Choco Pie, and Bibimbbang

From Jeonju Hanok Village to Jeonju Train Station, visitors to the gourmet city of Korea come across various local bakery and pastry shops. I’ll introduce the three most famous among them.

Baguette Burger of Gilgeoriya

I started at ‘Gilgeoriya’, located in Jeonju Hanok Village. Among the street food venues of the Hanok Village, Gilgeoriya’s baguette burger has been constantly popular.

To make a baguette burger, first, empty the inside of a span-long piece of baguette bread, then, fill the inside with tuna, minced meat, and chopped cabbage. It looks similar to a ‘pizza’ baguette, but the spicy sauce is what makes the baguette burger of Gilgeoriya special.

The baguette burger was warmed up before served. I found it not difficult at all to carry it on the streets.

PNB – Choco Pie

Next, I visited PNB, a historic local bakery and pastry shop, for the nationwide-famous ‘Choco Pie’. Unlike the ‘Choco Pies’ sold in supermarkets (those with marshmallow inside), PNB’s ‘Choco Pie’ consist of white cream and strawberry jam between crumbling chocolate bun. I visited PNB’s Hanok Village branch.

As PNB’s ‘Choco Pie’ became popular, similar products appeared in other cities. However, there are reasons why people go for the original. Open in 1951 and lasting for three generations, PNB is a historic bakery and pastry shop. Apart from the ‘Choco Pie’, also popular are bouchee, yang-gaeng (sweet red bean jelly), and senbe (flat crackers with seaweed or peanut flakes).

The ‘Choco Pie’ was as tasty as I first tried it many years ago. I wish more local bakery and pastry shops flourish!

Cheonnyeonnuri Jeonjubbang – Jeonju Bibimbbang

​My last destination for today is ‘Cheonnyeonnuri Jeonjupang’. The shops are located near Jeonju City Hall, in the Hanok Village, and inside Jeonju Train Station.

‘Cheonnyeonnuri Jeonjupang’ is a social enterprise established to promote employment of the elderly and disabled population. Since its establishment in 2014, the enterprise has been growing: this year, it aims to make 3 billion won sales and employing 45 people from the most vulnerable groups in the society.

The most popular thing in ‘Cheonnyeonnuri Jeonjupang’ is ‘Jeonju Bibimbbang’. It’s a bread version of the famous bibimbap (vegetables and meat mixed with rice). Inside ‘Jeonju Bibimbbang’ is bean sprouts, pork, tofu, and other vegetables mixed with gochujang (chilli pepper paste) sauce. They go surprisingly well inside the bread!

Another popular thing here is ‘tteokgalbi bbang’. Unlike the common ‘pizza bbang’ with sausage or ham, ‘tteokgalbi bbang’ has a chunk of tteokgalbi (Korean hamburger steak) over bread.

So today, I visited Gilgeoriya, PNB, and Cheonnyeonnuri Jeonjubbang. When you get hungry after a long day of taking photos around Jeonju Hanok Village, why don’t you stop by one of the local bakery and pastry shops? You’ll be surprised at how the locals got creative with the breads and pastries.