Language Log

« previous post |

Nick Tursi suggested that I visit Sungsimdang in Daejeon, so I went two hours out of my way as I was travelling to Seoul. Sungsimdang (Korean: 성심당; Hanja: 聖心堂; lit. Sacred Heart Hall) is a phenomenally popular bakery that could easily establish branch stores all around Korea and, indeed, the world, but it refuses to do so, not expanding beyond the city of Daejeon.

We were lucky that it was raining that day, which made the line outside the store only stretch for one block, whereas in good weather it may stretch back and forth for a length equal to three blocks or more, and you'd have to wait for 2-3 hours to make your way through it.

(photo courtesy of Song Yaoxue)

Inside the store, the lines continued to wind through the aisles packed with scores of their delectable pastries.  Nick had told me that Sungsimdang's customers converge on the store from all directions, and you can see them dispersing throughout the city with bags full of buns, rolls, muffins, donuts, and so forth in hand.  As you can see from the photograph above, I was one of them that day.

Sungsimdang's "twi-so" (튀소), which translates to "fried soboro," is a signature item of the bakery. It's known for its crispy exterior and soft interior, typically filled with red bean paste.  I was intrigued by the word twi-so, and was determined to figure out what it means.  It turns out that "twi" is short for "twigim" and "so" is short for "soboro".  The first part was not too hard, for it just means "fried; tempura; deep fried" in Korean, but the second component threw me for a loop. because it comes from a Japanese word that denotes a rather different type of pastry:

Bread came to Korea by way of Japan which was first exposed to it by Portuguese traders and missionaries in the 16th century–soboro bread is a great example of this layered food history. In Japanese, the word soboro そぼろ refers to minced meat/fish in soy sauce. The Japanese term is not native to its language, and has roots in the Portuguese words sabor, meaning flavor, and streusel, which looks similar to minced meat. Going even further, the word streusel originates from Germany, and refers to a topping made with sugar, butter, and flour. In Korea, soboro means streusel–it all comes full circle.

"Soboro Bread, Korean Peanut Streusel Bread, 소보로빵", Jessica's Dinner Party (1/04/19)

Whatever the origin of the word, twi-so, the pastry it designates has won a loyal following in Daejeon and beyond, all the way to Philadelphia, but you have to go to Daejeon to get the real McCoy.

"Iconic Daejeon bakery earns praise with 'no sales' notice at Seoul event",
By  Moon Ji-yeon, The Chosun
Kim Seo-young
Published 2024.05.07. 15:30

Sungsimdang, a renowned bakery and a popular tourist attraction in Daejeon, will participate in an event in Seoul without selling any products, leaving many consumers who expected to purchase their breads disappointed. Following continuous inquiries, Sungsimdang announced that their products are sold only in Daejeon, a statement that has received online praise for maintaining the integrity of a local brand.

It's a pastry worth tasting and an experience worth undergoing.

Oh, another reason I went to Sungsimdang is because of the signage on the front of the store.  As you can see from the photograph above, it is tastefully in four languages / scripts:  Hangul, English, Chinese, French.  That is highly unusual in Korea.  During my travels there for hundreds of miles and through about a dozen cities, I saw almost no Hanja (Chinese characters).  The signs were almost exclusively (99.99+%) Hangul.  Considering the history of writing in Korea, where Hangul was invented by King Sejong in the mid-15th century, was adopted for official documents only in the middle of the last decade of the 19th century, and began to be used for elementary school texts in 1895, it is remarkable how thoroughly Hangul has conquered writing in Korea, both north and south, and how beloved it is by the people.  More on that in my next post on Hangul as an alphasyllabary.

Selected readings

• "Portuguese words in Japanese, and beyond" (1/8/23) — especially the word for bread
• "Romanized Japanese Bible translation" (4/10/25)"

May 13, 2025 @ 5:02 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and business, Language and food

Permalink