The summer of 2018 saw the hottest morning in Korea for 111 years and today temperatures are expected to reach 39 degrees. Its always hot in July and August but this year really has been a struggle. So how can we deal with this heat?

Well, I bought some ‘ice towels’ on the TV shopping channel for us to wear around our necks to stay cool…

That’s the level of excitement we’re dealing with here. 

But what are the trendy young people doing to combat the heat? One thing to do is hang out in a bingsu cafe!

氷水 BING SU

The Chinese characters for Bing-Su are ICE + WATER.

I think the 2 characters are interesting because they look so similar. The character for ice – BING (氷) is actually the character for water- SU (水) with an extra stroke on the left … as though the water has frozen and a piece broken off into an ice cube.

So what is bingsu and what’s the deal with the adzuki beans?

So the original dessert is pat bingsu (팥빙수) – finely shaved ice topped with condensed milk and adzuki bean paste. And this version of the bingsu dessert was introduced to Korea during the Japanese occupation in the early 20th century.

The taste of adzuki bean paste (called anko in Japan) takes me back to when I first arrived in Japan 20 years ago. After a while, despite loving my exotic new life, I found myself in a bakery gazing at familiar-looking bread buns. I bought those buns. I took them home. Probably made a cup of tea. And then I took a big bite out of a bun expecting a comforting doughy flavour of home.

Oh the naivety.

The mouthful of thick extremely sweet unidentifiable paste with lumps in it caught me off guard. (And this was after being served fish eyeballs at a dinner on a previous occasion). I wasn’t ready to meet my new friend Anko (Pat in Korea) in a bread roll. But we would continue to meet in all sorts of places.

The adzuki beans are boiled with sugar. But I had always thought of adzuki beans as savoury, not sweet. That was the problem.

Still, anko grew on me. And now I love this filling in bung-eo-bang – fish-shaped waffles filled with custard or bean paste sold on street stalls. A similar idea to the fish waffle is Poo bread (yes, that’s what I said) a waffle in the shape of a ‘poo’ with various fillings including vanilla, chocolate, sweet corn, and of course bean paste! If you’re not eating your dinner right now you can read about my poo bread experience here.

FINISHING OUR GREEN TEA BINGSU

But getting back to bingsu, I have no idea why it’s so popular! I like a waffle with some bean paste in it but bingsu for me is just ok and a dollop of good quality ice cream is better and more flavourful. Green tea ice-cream being my absolute favourite thing in the world on a hot day. After white wine.

But people will queue up in this heat to eat bingsu!

Even we did once. We went to a cafe on a Sunday afternoon and had to wait 15 minutes to get in before we could order our bingsu. And then it cost 12,000 won!

My parents-in-law would tell you that bingsu is a CHEAP dessert.

But NOT ANY MORE IT ISN’T.

12,000 won for a dessert that is 90% ice? Blimey.

OK so the dessert does come with two spoons and is meant to be shared so you only have to buy one dessert. And you don’t need to order a drink with it since it is very refreshing on its own. So maybe the price is not that bad. It’s almost the same as a couple of coffees in Starbucks.

We shared a green tea bingsu.

It certainly looks impressive when it arrives stacked high with green tea flavoured ice. The sweet adzuki bean paste on the top was quite nice. It wasn’t too sweet or soft. It was fine, as my dad would say when he’s not overly impressed.

FROM CHEAPO TO LUXURY BINGSU

There is a huge range of bingsu on offer these days from the extremely cheap to the ridiculously expensive with all sorts of toppings of exotic fruit, coconut, and various teas.

Perhaps I need to try something a bit more luxurious to understand the popularity of Bingsu?

Check out this mango bingsu at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul (pic below) complete with dry ice for 42,000 won. GULP. That’s more than 25 quid! Apparently these desserts are aimed at millennials who are happy to pay high prices for EXPERIENCES. The hotel has even got a short video on their website showing the ‘reveal’ as the lid is lifted off the mango bingsu setting off a dramatic dry ice extravaganza! 

SHOULD WE TRY A LUXURY BINGSU?

So now despite being underwhelmed by my bingsu experiences so far, I am actually TEMPTED to try a LUXURY BINGSU.

Take a look at these top 5 luxury desserts at posh hotels! suggested by the Olive TV show Yogigo. In pole position is a romantic looking creation coming in at 80,000 won at the JW Marriot hotel. That’s over £50 so I’m assuming it comes with something else! Number 2 is the Mango Bingsu we’ve just talked about at the Conrad Hotel. And the third choice is a creative garden scene made with chocolate soil and orange chocolate carrots. (38,000 won) Visually this is my favourite. But what does it taste like?

Honestly, I’m tempted to find out.

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