Hoduya Walnut Cake Dessert - 벤쿠버 호두과자 — Restaurant in Vancouver

I went here for snacking last week. I’m so glad this place exists since I was a huge fan of Hodugwaja (walnut cakes) growing up. Hodugwaja is a widely sold Korean snack at highway food vendors in Korea. It’s quite a popular winter snack like Bungeoppang.

I was super excited stopping by here. Walnut cakes were freshly made by the owner. I ordered 15 pcs with ($11, mixture of cream, red bean and white bean) a cappuccino ( $3). My mouth couldn’t stop munching because there was more than one sample. The owner was super generous giving me samples after 5PM. Tried white walnut cake, choco chip sour cream cookie, and some cookie. I forgot what it was called.

The treats here were so amazing. The owner played an awesome magic to make fantastic Korean snacks. Sesame cookie was super yummy. It also had bits of sour cream in it too. It was nutty and creamy and yet not too sweet. I shared the rest with my family. Walnut cakes were amazing like the original ones from Chun An. Chun An is famous for Hodugwaja and you know this if you grew up in Korea. Cookies are bit expensive, but it was worth buying my snacks here.

I’ll go back whenever I miss eating...

Korean walnut cakes - traditional and delicious.

The owner here is super nice and friendly. I was surprised to see so many options and so options for mix and match + quantity as well. When you enter - it smells like a simple sweet Asian pastry shop.

Red bean paste vs pastry red bean difference for those who wonder - the paste is a lot more smooth and uniformed into that paste meanwhile the pastry one is more chunky with bean remnants that you can find. It all comes down to preference of texture. You can also say the paste is sweeter than the pastry one (imo at least).

Very reasonable pricing and everything comes out piping hot. From the red bean ones and the outer walnut cake (there are pieces of walnut you will find) , it is not overly sweet - just a hint of sweetness. There is also more content/filling than cake (which is preferred).

Will come back given the chance to! Ordered 15 and took a few days to finish (reheating in the microwave works very well too but you will lose that crispy outer crunch). If you have a toaster oven, this would reheat well...

Two things stopped us from getting the snacks on our turn after waiting in line for about 10 minutes.

First time seeing a employee make the food while not wearing a mask. she was having a conversation with her fellow employee over the food. She also wiped her nose with her finger while helping the group infront of us pay, and went straight back to making the cakes. Pretty unhygienic even without Covid.

The owner invited her friends into the store, which is only big enough for 1 group with Covid procedures, and was having a opening celebration or something. The friends were not wearing a mask and stood right next to other customers and was talking in their direction. Hope the owner will implemenf stricter covid procedures since their indoor space is quite small.

I was quite excited about visting for the first time as the hodu cakes are one of my favorite childhood snacks and it is almost impossible to get them anywhere else. However, after seeing how the store doesnt even care about their customer's health or baseline hygiene we decided not to...