Tokyo Bingsu • 도쿄빙수

Bingsu is probably my favorite Korean dessert, especially during summer. A bowl of this fine ice shavings on a hot day could make the hot and humid summer days in Seoul more bearable. Tokyo Bingsu (도쿄빙수) is one of the new bingsu places I tried when I was wondering around Mangwon-dong with my friend, Jesselyn. Although they are well-known for their Tomato Bingsu (토마토 빙수), we opted for their Oreo Bingsu (오레오 빙수) since we weren't sure if we would like the Tomato ones and kinda felt like eating something sweet. The bingsu was great. The snow-like ice shavings were covered in condensed milk and top it off with the oreo crumbs, it made a perfect combo. And it's not too sweet either. I found out later that they have multiple locations in Seoul. Not a lot like those chain stores, but you got different options. Next time I visit, maybe I'll be brave and try their Tomato Bingsu.

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Tokyo Bingsu (도쿄빙수)

Address: 서울특별시 마포구 포은로8길 9
Tel: 02-6409-5692
Hours: 12:00 - 22:00

Instagram: @tokyobingsu

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Baobab • 바오밥

After we finished our photowalk (see my previous post here), we went to Baobab (바오밥) in Sinchon (신촌) to get dinner. The place is fairly new, I think, cos last time I was here, they just had their grand opening. Never been to this place before but the menu looks good, the food looks good, so I thought I should give it a try (and dragged Yais with me too this time). Their menu is not particularly extensive, which is usually a good sign for a Korean restaurant since they have to cook those few menus real good, otherwise people won't come back after their first visit. There are 4 main menus to choose from and some sides too if you feel like you need to order more food to add to your mains.

When it comes to food, I'm a fairly easy eater. Doesn't matter if the food is simple, as long as it tastes good, I'm a happy camper. Simple delicious foods are the best sometimes and that was exactly what I got from this meal. We ordered one pan of the galbi (소갈비한판)—which comes with rice and banchan—and the steamed egg with cheese and shrimp (치즈새우계란찜). Everything tasted good, seasoned well, and the portion was just right for two people to share. It was a solid meal, especially after all those walking around we did earlier that day.

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After dinner, we decided to go to Homilbat (호밀밭) to get some bingsu (빙수). This is probably one of my fav milky bingsu spots up to date, so I thought it'd be a good idea for Yais to try it too before he leaves. We ordered the summer special—the watermelon bingsu (수박빙수)—and it was really good. Ending a hot summer day with bingsu is never a bad idea, really. So that was my Saturday. And oh, I did a post before about Homilbat which you can check out here. That's it for now.

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Chocolate Snowflake Bingsu

Patmiok's (팥미옥) version of chocolate snowflake bingsu (초코 눈꽃빙수) is my favorite chocolate bingsu that I've tasted so far. The thing about it is that it's not overly too sweet and those really crunchy chocolate toppings are just delicious. They also offer two different serving sizes for your order that you can choose from—1 person or 2 persons (1인/2인) serving. This location that I visited is the one located in Sinchon (신촌) area, but they have multiple locations all over Seoul so you can find them in different neighborhoods as well. I would definitely recommend this bingsu, especially if you are a fan of chocolate.

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Homilbat (호밀밭)

First time I visited this place was last year when I came to Seoul for traveling. It's supposed to be one of the best bingsu places in Seoul, so I thought it's worth a visit since I was visiting Ehwa University area anyway. Little did I know that even during lunch time on a weekday, the place was packed. There were quite a long line when I got there and since I was pressed on time, I ended up not going to the place. So now, a year later, after I moved here I got plenty of opportunities to go back and try this place. This is one of my favorite bingsu places so far. I like the milky type of bingsu so eating their milk bingsu with fresh fruit is just perfect. Their home-made rice cake and red bean are good too. I noticed here some people ordered one for each person, but I think ordering one to share between two people is enough :)

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Pasiya's Injeolmi Bingsu

During summer, when the weather was still hot in Seoul, I went for a small bingsu quest with a friend of mine. We tried different bingsu places for almost a week everyday. I blame it on the hot weather, really. With the weather getting chillier lately, I don't crave bingsu as much, but thought I'd share a couple of shots that I got from that time. So for the first one, we went to Pasiya (파시야) near Ehwa University (이대점). The place is not too big, so it got crowded after a group of tourists came in. We ordered their Injeolmi Bingsu (인절미빙수) and Injeolmi Rice Cake Toast (인절미 찰떡토스트). I'm not a big fan of very very sweet stuff so these two menus were good. Not too sweet, very light, and refreshing. The Injeolmi Rice Cake Toast was pretty interesting too cos the toast is crunchy but the rice cake was very soft. I believe Pasiya is a franchise so you can find it on other neighborhoods as well. 

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