A K-pop singer who topped Korean charts in 2011 just made a surprise visit to a Korean salt bread bakery in Coquitlam.
Saltybear Bakery shared photos of G.NA, born Gina Choi, inside the shop in early October, in a joint Instagram post with her verified account.
“Starstruck today! So honored to have the lovely G.NA visit Salty Bear,” the bakery wrote.
“Even more beautiful and kind in person! Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you again soon,” the post continued.
The Korean version of the caption goes further, calling her the singer who filled the team’s playlists in their 20s and saying her visit brightened the whole shop for the day.
G.NA answered in the comments with “So delicious” and a thank you, though neither the post nor her reply says what she ordered.
In the photo, she stands between two staff in matching brown Salty Bear Bakery caps and bear-logo T-shirts, wearing a Yankees cap and a black leather jacket.
G.NA debuted as a solo artist in 2010, and her 2011 single Black & White reached number one on Korean digital charts.
She has a Metro Vancouver connection, too, having graduated from Fraser Heights Secondary in Surrey.
The bakery stop came about five weeks after she hosted the K-pop Dance Championship at the 2026 Kimchi & K-Food Festival in Coquitlam’s Town Centre Park on August 28.
Korean entertainment outlets covered that hosting job as her return after a 10-year break from the industry.
Saltybear started in April 2025 as a weekly Instagram preorder bakery working out of a commissary kitchen in the Metrotown area.
Its pop-ups drew lines and sold out before the team opened a storefront on The High Street, reopening for good on August 25 after a soft launch.
Salt bread is the Korean take on a buttery, salted roll, and the bakery’s most requested flavours have included sweet potato cream, garlic cream cheese, mentaiko and milk cream.
Saltybear is at 1161 The High Street in Kensington Plaza, a couple of blocks from Coquitlam Centre.
If you’re headed that way, other recent openings nearby include Alfa Tea’s new patisserie on North Road in Coquitlam, plus Yang’s Fook Kee and Yinji Changfen in Burnaby.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 1161 The High Street, Coquitlam (Kensington Plaza)
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