Gluten Free Bella.bosco Camping Cafe And A Stroll At Seoul´s Waterfall

Bella.bosco is not only a camping themed cafe, they also offer a variety of creamy cakes which are made 100% of rice flour.

Note: While the cafe emphasizes that they use only rice flour, it doesn’t explicitly declare itself as gluten-free. Please be careful if you have a high sensitivity to gluten or are concerned about contamination.

Those cakes are also called 떠먹는 케이크 (Ddeomeongneun keiku), which means “scoopable cake” and that´s just how fluffy they are! A spoon is really all you need.
*You might want to remember the word 떠먹는 (Ddeomeongneun), as there is also 떠먹는 피자 (Ddeomeongneun pija) which is “pizza to scoop up” . In many cases it doesn´t contain gluten.

From the moment I entered Bella.bosco, I experienced what Koreans call in modern language 힐링 (‘healing’). It means “to relax” eg. by enjoying nature and other things that give an emotionally “healing” vibe.
If you need a relaxing day in Seoul with delicious cake, actual nature and a lot 힐링 (“healing”) of this article is for you.

Bella.bosco is situated in Seodaemun, Seoul. We decided to take a taxi to avoid the hassle of taking several buses from my home, and Korean taxis are quite affordable. (If you also plan to take a taxi, you can show the taxi driver the Korean address below.)

Bella.bosco Camping Cafe and its surroundings truly evoke the feeling of a camping trip, something I never thought would be possible in the heart of a city like Seoul. For furniture they used camping chairs and tables made of boxes. The grassy floor and various plants made visitors feel like being in the middle of nature. And the warm light bulbs, along with the purple lights, created an atmosphere that reminded me of a sunset. (I know my English is not be perfect, but you can probably get the idea by looking at the picture.)

There was also a big screen on the left of the room with a video of the ocean and the scenery changed depending on time passing by. We stayed from late afternoon until evening and the video shifted from an ocean view to a beautiful sunset and finally to a starry night sky. I felt what is in Korean called 힐링 (“healing”) mostly meaning “relaxed” from the moment I stepped into the cafe.

To be honest though, when I arrived, all I could think about were their “scoopable cake”. Therefor, it took me several bites of cake and sips of my coffee, before I truly started to notice the details in my surrounding.

As you can see in the picture below, there’s one of those typical touch panels for ordering next to the counter. Of course, you can also order directly with the staff. Bella.bosco Camping Cafe offers mostly gluten-free dishes, but I do recall seeing something that contained gluten, so please make sure to ask and/or double-check your order, as always.

They offer a lot of different rice cakes, as you can see as well on their navermap site. On this particular day they had sweet mango, cherry, summer peach and green grapes (also called “shine muscat”). One piece of cake was around 7,000-8,000 won and actually enough for two people.

I noticed on their menu that they also offer milk, strawberry, and mountain strawberry rice cakes on other days, and I definitely plan on coming back to try those as well!

The staff were very friendly, and we not only received our ordered drinks and food but also some blue and pink meringue cookies along with caramel cookies. And the best part—they were all gluten-free!

I’m not usually a big fan of americano because of its bitter taste, but I have to admit I felt a bit envious of that adorable, oversized bear-shaped ice cube! The cake had just the right amount of sweetness, but even though I thoroughly enjoyed my sweet cream coffee, I probably shouldn’t have ordered a sweet drink on top of cake. Nevertheless, it was absolutely delicious.

I also really liked the incredibly cute spoons that resembled shovels, which were perfectly aligning with the camping and nature theme. Maybe my fantasy was just running wild, but digging into the cake felt a bit like to dig up flower beds and was really fun tending to flower beds, and it was really fun to share and eat together. The cake itself was just as creamy, fluffy, and delicious as it looks in the picture, and it was loaded with juicy mango bites.

But since eating only one piece after coming all the way seemed like a waste, we decided to order again. And what is Korean summer without 팥빙수 (Patbingsu), ‘shaved ice with sweet red beans’?

Patbingsu is mostly gluten-free, consisting of shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, and red beans. However, the sweet rice cakes in many cafes I’ve visited contained gluten. Not at Bella.bosco, though.

And so I had my first shaved ice this year, again with shovel shaped spoons and one of those sun umbrellas that remind me in German ice cream shops.

After eating and spending some more time enjoying the ocean panorama (via video) and the camping lights, we decided to take a stroll. We found a promenade along the Hongjecheon Stream, a tributary of the Hangang River, which lead us after a few minutes of walking to Hongjecheon Waterfall.

The summer this year was and still is very hot, with temperatures more than 34 degree celsius but the air around the waterfall was cool and fresh. There where a lot of families with children and eldery people, some of them sitting on the terrace of a cafe on the opposite side. Some of them watching ducks in the water or just taking pictures.

Hongjecheon waterfall is located at the foot of Ansan mountain and there was a map showing several shorter hiking trails. Later I heard that cherry blossom is also very beautiful in this area.

Final thoughts

When I first took a taxi to gluten free cafe Bella.bosco Camping Cafe, I was mostly thinking of riceflour cake. But our visit turned into a trip into nature with a (indoor) camping experience and a visit to Hongjecheon waterfall, which we stumble upon.

The scoopable, creamy rice cake was delicious and the camping theme and decoration carefully matched down to the smallest detail made every bite special. The atmosphere was really cozy and ideal for spending some relaxed time with friends or on a date.

Total: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Taste: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Variety: ★★★☆☆ (only gluten free options)
Price: ★★★★☆ (3.5 normal prices)
Interior: ★★★★★
Access: ★★★☆☆

Adress:

bella.bosco dessert cafe/camping cafe 벨라보스코 캠핑카페
Mon.-Sat.12:00-20:00
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellabosco_cafe/
Adress: 서울특별시 서대문구 홍제내길 168 남양아파트 상가 벨라보스코 103호