Dessert in South Korea - 22 Restaurant Picks

Fruit tarts rotate with the seasons at this Mangwon-dong French pastry shop, and some use Korean produce, like a yuzu t…

Glutinous-rice yakgwa, the Korean honey-and-oil pastry, gets a different filling and topping per flavor here: green tea…

Fresh from the oven, the egg tarts have a thin shell that shatters into flakes around a warm, soft custard. Several bat…

Tucked into a residential lane off Dasan-ro, this tiny dessert shop has no seats and sells takeaway only. Portuguese-st…

Baked the Portuguese way, the egg tarts shatter at the pastry edge and stay soft in the custard center. Next to the Pic…

A small renovated hanok-style space off a Bukchon alley turns out French pastries and French cakes, with low bar seatin…

Butter is the first thing you notice on stepping into this small bakery at the entrance to Onjeong Village. The Danish…

Rum canele here has a crisp shell, a chewy centre and a gentle rum scent, and the vanilla financier is moist, soft and…

Tucked into an easy-to-miss alley near Ewha, the café opens up inside into a large ground floor plus a second level beh…

Madeleines dominate the counter, with steady sellers joined by limited flavors that change each season. The plain one l…

At the mouth of Gwangjang Market's bindaetteok alley, you watch the dough being twisted and dropped into the oil while…

Milk ice, shaved in house, is dense and heavy and melts slowly on the tongue. The traditional red bean bingsu is topped…

Unsweetened whole red bean porridge, made with Korean red beans, is thick and filling enough to stand in for lunch. Gre…

Finely shaved milk ice is topped with house-cooked red beans, and more beans and roasted soybean powder are layered thr…

Pearl sugar folded into a cold-rested fermented dough melts on the press into a crunchy caramelized shell, while the in…

The plain patbingsu, shaved ice with sweet red beans, takes its sweetness from apple jam rather than sugar, the old way…

Old-style patbingsu here means finely shaved ice and house-cooked red beans, with no milk cream or fruit. Stir it well…

Finely shaved ice gets a generous layer of whole Korean red beans and plain injeolmi rice-cake pieces with no powder co…

Mother-of-pearl cabinets, an old wooden staircase and boldly patterned furniture make this Euljiro dessert room look li…

The French name means small glasses, and the room shifts accordingly: coffee and pastries by day, natural wine with sma…

In the black sesame bingsu, finely ground sesame rings a mound of milk ice topped with red beans and chewy rice cake. T…

Restrained sweetness in the red beans, simmered in the shop itself, keeps a whole bowl of patbingsu, shaved ice with re…