Photos by ChiHon Kim ()
Dunpo, a small neighborhood near Camp Humphreys, is a unique place where immigrants from different countries are carving out their new lives in South Korea. Here, you’ll find grocery stores stocking a wide variety of food ingredients from Russia, China, the Philippines, Thailand, and more. If you love to cook and are looking for specific items you can’t find in regular grocery stores, a visit to Dunpo might be the answer.
I, on the other hand, visit Dunpo for one reason: cake! For the past year, I’ve been trying to eliminate sugar from my diet, but I’ve realized that life without sugar is one I don’t want to live. Instead, I’ve decided it is possible to eat less sweets, but still enjoy dessert on occasion. For dessert, Dunpo has some great options for unique sweets on the occasions when I’m looking for a treat.
DeLen Bakery is a Russian establishment in Dunpo offering breads and cakes that are actually less sweet than what you’d find in Korean bakeries like Tous les Jours and Paris Baguette. When I stepped into DeLen, two Russian bakers were making dough on site wearing pure white chef jackets, which was good sign that they have freshly home-made baked breads. Though they don’t speak Korean or English, I used a translation app and gesture to communicate with them and luckily most of their items are labeled in both Russian and Korean.
I opted for a Medovik (or Honey Layer Cake) for 6,500 won (or $5.17) and Napoleon Cake at the same price. The Medovik cake has 10 layers of honey goodness with creamy filling in between and comes adorned with caramel flames. I loved the slightly gooey texture with rich honey and sour cream. You may find it too sweet, but for me it was well-balanced, slightly nutty with slight sweetness. Their Napoleon Cake also was not disappointing at all. It tasted creamy, of course, not too sweet, and was very aromatic with rich pastry cream and butter in between the flaky layers. I ate both of my cakes in one sitting!
There are also a couple of Russian cake options to choose from, including Royal, Aristocrat and more. Not my thing, but, of course, they have super sweet cake options as well. If you aren’t entirely crazy about sweet desserts like me, they also offer a good selection of Russian bread such as Piroshki (or Russian stuffed rolls) and healthy rye bread at a very reasonable price.
In the mood to try something new? Head to DeLen Bakery and treat yourself to sweet cakes and bread from Russia!
ADDRESS 둔포리 416-6 (KOR), 157, Dunpojungang-ro, Dunpo-myeon (ENG)
HOURS 6 a.m. to midnight (Closed every Monday)
PHONE 010-8239-9559, 0507-1399-9559
