PNB Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: PNB Bakery 
Address: 180 Paldal-ro, Pungnam-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do
Website: http://pnb1951.com/
Style: Korean
Price: $$

There are quite a few unusual/unexplained regional specialties throughout Korea. One of them appears to be the Jeonju chocopie. The city of Jeonju, more specifically the hanok village in the southeast part of town, seems to be overrun by various confectioneries making their own versions of gourmet chocopies. You know, Chocopies: one of Korea's most mass-produced sweets, these soft marshmallow-stuffed, chocolate-coated sandwich cookies produced by Lotte can be found in any supermarket. So what makes Jeonju the chocopie hub? No clue. All I know is that it's the only kind of bakery to be found in the hanok village - actually, I was a little irritated that I only came across their main location afterwards and found that PNB did in fact make more than just chocopies.

To be quite honest, I don't like chocopies. There really is nothing more fake than marshmallow-stuffed anything, so I wasn't all that curious how the gourmet version fared. This green tea chocopie (2300 won) wasn't so bad, however. The dark chocolate outside with green tea cookies and filling didn't have that fake, mass-produced feeling that I was dreading. On the contrary, the chocolate was a bit too brittle and flaked off and the cookie was a bit dry/overbaked, giving it an almost amateur taste. Of the two "Jeonju chocopies" this one was the best.

Finding this PNB location later on, I also wanted to try some real baked goods; in fact, they have quite a large selection of fresh baked goods in addition to packaged treats and gift boxes. I took the melon pan (2000). I never did turn into a fan of stuffed melon pan. Especially not the thick melon-flavoured custard inside this one. There was too much of it and the top was soggy, not crunchy. Not the best, and in the end I'm not really sure which of the two items I liked more.

Rating: **1/2