Get to this Lakewood bakery early for prime choice of chapssal, a divine Korean rice flour doughnut

The door is wide open to let fresh air into the L-shaped storefront of Bon Bon Bakery, or perhaps it’s intended to let the aroma of warm rice flour doughnuts draped in cinnamon sugar out and into the parking lot of Boo Han Plaza in Lakewood.

It’s 7 a.m. on a Thursday in late May. Baker Denny Shin has been here since 4:30 this morning. David Lee joined around 5:30 and the owner, Chris Chung, a half hour later.

Fresh cream whips against the sides of a commercial mixer, fluffed into a cloud for filling and layering. A timer beeps. Feet in soft resin Crocs shuffle across the linoleum floor to the oven, a tray of golden-brown cakes in circular molds pulled from within.

In the corner, a modestly sized fryer accepts a batch of kkwabaegi, a beloved Korean doughnut enjoyed in the morning or afternoon. The delicate rice flour and milk dough is rolled slightly thinner in the middle, then twisted to create five idyllic bites. It feels sturdy in your hand but softly succumbs to the pressure of the first tear. If you arrive early enough to nab a warm one, it won’t be long for this world.

Around 8 a.m., a regular customer greets the staff like he’s been here many times before. He pulls a few of these treats straight from the trays, stacked on rollaway carts pulled into the retail area for stocking.

“I found out this place is awesome,” laughed Kyung Song, who stops in Lakewood en route from his home in Puyallup to work in Tacoma. “So I come here once or twice a week.”

Other coveted fried delights include the karaage style, covered in toasted panko, and the version known simply as chapssal, shaped into rounds about the size of a mandarin. A timid crunch yields a hollow interior with a dollop of red bean paste, slow-cooked by Chung and Co. on the stovetop before resting in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

They are so very different from an American doughnut — not airy and fluffy like a yeasted, raised round with a hole, but rather chewy, similar to the Japanese-inspired mochi found at shops such as Milkvue Donuts in Gig Harbor and Dochi in Seattle. Yet something about them feels so familiar.

“Because of that texture, the sensation is a little bit different,” said Lee, who helped interpret for Chung. “It’s very hard to describe.”

Since opening about a year ago, the bakery has steadily increased its supply as word spread. Lately the bakers try to have 80 to 90 doughnuts on weekdays and upwards of 150 on weekends. Lee recalled one morning when a customer piled the remainder — maybe 20 or 30 chappsal — onto multiple trays, and a fellow behind him not so quietly implored him to share. (If you want that many, order in advance. Bon Bon is more of a select-few kind of place.)

Why not just make more doughnuts?

Bon Bon’s specialty is, in a sense, its sheer variety, with an embrace of old-world techniques molded to modern tastes. Chef Chung estimates he has unveiled only half the recipes in his repertoire since opening Bon Bon last spring. He is also a master cake decorator with a distinct style, curving fresh cream icing (never denser buttercream) into a pristine dome, then, seemingly without blinking, swirling fruit gels with a careful toothpick as the stand rapidly spins.

Vanilla, chocolate or hand-peeled sweet potato cakes range in size from mini to extra-large, available in the case daily or by custom order in advance.

Chung has been baking since age 21, training in Korea before studying in Japan. He opened his first business in the Los Angeles area more than two decades ago. After moving to Western Washington, he led the in-house bakery at H-Mart in Lynnwood for 11 years. Through a family connection, the now-practiced pastry chef met the proprietors of Boo Han Market, whose name also graces the plaza at 9122 South Tacoma Way. To compete with the Lakewood H-Mart one block north, which opened in 2013 and houses Olive Bakery, they asked Chung to take over an old video store in the corner unit.

Enter and look to the right for standard or whole-wheat milk bread, almost a Japanese shokupan but here made with slightly less dairy.

To the right, survey those divine chappsal, as well as doughnuts filled with sweet cream in flavors like blueberry, strawberry, or cookies and cream. Eclairs, sponge cakes, pound cakes and cookies feature traditional Asian ingredients of bean pastes, chestnut and mugwort, the latter a medicinal herb — earthy with a hint of aniseed — used in baking in a fashion similar to matcha.

Flavors common to American quickbreads — banana walnut, for instance — mingle here, too, in an effort to reach all palates, said Lee. “We want to transition to a new era.”

Many Asian bakeries in the U.S. are old-fashioned, he added, sticking to classic treats and classic flavors, and the service can be transactional and thus intimidating to the uninitiated. Chung set out to create a contemporary bakery where customers can feel free to ask questions or seek suggestions, and where regulars and newcomers alike will always discover something new.

Try one of the soboro-ppang, a sweet bun with an unexpected streusel shell, and if available, ssuk injeolmi, a stretchy soft pillow of a rice cake flavored with mugwort. The dacquoise — a Korean spin on a French macaron — with green bean paste also provides subtle crunch with a textured filling.

Nothing at Bon Bon is overly sweet, a purposeful goal, said Lee.

Take the chef’s special corn mochi, petite squared rolls speckled with black sesame seeds that I enjoyed with soup, though they easily could stand in for a morning meal with a slab of butter and pinch of sea salt. Don’t make the mistake of buying a pair — go for six.

BON BON BAKERY

▪ 9122 South Tacoma Way, Lakewood, 253-267-1353, instagram.com/bonbonbakery2021

▪ Daily 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

▪ Details: Korean-focused bakery known for rice doughnuts and distinct homemade cakes

▪ How to order: pick up a tray and select items with tongs from the open display tables (some items are always pre-wrapped individually), though staff will assist if they are available; order large quantities and custom cakes in advance

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.