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KVIBE IDOLS › Food guides › Korean dishes explained › 떡·한과·약과 (tteok, hangwa, yakgwa)
🍜 Korean dishes explained
Tteok, Hangwa & Yakgwa떡·한과·약과 · tteok, hangwa, yakgwa
What is it?
Tteok are rice cakes — chewy injeolmi rolled in soybean powder, half-moon songpyeon for Chuseok, colourful steamed cakes. Hangwa are traditional confections, and yakgwa (honey-ginger fried cookies) became a youth trend. Korea Tourism Organization data showed tteok and hangwa as the fastest-growing category in foreign visitors' card spending in 2025 (+76.9%).
How to eat it
- Buy fresh tteok in the morning at a rice-cake shop (tteokjip) or market — it hardens by the next day.
- Yakgwa and hangwa keep well — good souvenirs.
- Pair with sikhye (rice punch) or green tea.
- Typical price
- ₩3,000–8,000 per pack
Where to try it
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Is tteok the same as mochi?
Related — both are rice cakes — but tteok includes many non-sweet and steamed styles, and rice cakes in tteokbokki are also tteok.
Where can I buy yakgwa?
Traditional markets, rice-cake shops, Insadong and many convenience stores and supermarkets.
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