Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Korean Dessert In Singapore - Bingsu Vs Soft Serve Ice Cream

The Korean wave continues to hit Singapore over the past few years with K-Drama, boy bands, fashion and now even dessert cafes are into trend these days selling Bingsu (Korean style shaved ice with assorted toppings) and soft serve ice cream which are popular among youngster.

In June school holidays; together with my partner in crime (my boy, Instagramer @greenpiggy) we have a lot of fun going around Singapore to hunt for food as well as sightseeing. Below are some of the Korean Dessert Cafes which we have tried and would like to share our views with you too.



NUNSONGYEE - 눈송이
(45 Burghley Drive)


Bingsu - 빙수 (shaved ice with toppings) or Patbingsu (팥빙수) is a popular dessert found almost everywhere in Korea during the summer months. The early forms of bingsu consisted of shaved ice and a few basic ingredients such as red bean paste, tteok (rice cake) and ground nut powder. But now bingsu comes in more variety with ice cream, whipped cream, syrup, nuts and etc to cater for the younger generation.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsongyee - Black Sesame Bingsu & Injeolmi Bingsu
Nunsongyee which means "snowflake" in Korean is the first dessert cafe that sells bingsu in Singapore.  Nestled deep in Serangoon Garden Estate, it takes about 5 minutes drive away from Chomp Chomp Food Centre which is famous for its local hawker delights. The cafe is best known for their soft and snowy shaved ice that melt instantly in your mouth and their popular flavours are Black Sesame and Injeolmi.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsongyee - Menu
They have a total of 10 Bingus; 7 Normal (pat, oreo, cheesecake, chocolate banana, injeolmi, nlueberry and mixed berry)  and 3 Premium (black sesame, coffee and strawberry) ranging from SG$12.90 - SG$18.90.

Besides bingus the cafe also offers beverage such as coffee, tea, smoothies, drinks and Korean snack like toasts and rice cakes.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsongyee - Black Sesame Bingsu
Their signature Black Sesame Bingsu (SG$18.90) comes with homemade red bean (azuki) paste and Korean steamed glutinous rice cakes, roasted soybean powder, ground black sesame seeds and almond flakes. If you are a dessert fans that like black sesame paste, you will definitely loves this nutty fragrant treat with combination of chewy rice cake, sweet soft red bean and crunchy almond flakes.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsongyee - Injeolmi Bingsu
Injeolmi Bingsu (SG$14.90) is my current favourite with layers of shaved ice and top with generous amount of roasted soybean powder, homemade Korean steamed glutinous rice cake and handful of crunchy toasted almond flakes. You can either eat it on its own or drizzle it with the given condensed milk to enhance the taste.Very addicting combination!



Above is an Instagram clip on our visit to Nunsongyee for their Bingsus. When compared both the bingsu that we had, we preferred the nutty and malt taste from Injeolmi than black sesame. Besides the steep prices (premium flavours) and off the way location we think their snow soft bingsus are still the best that we tried so far.

For your information the cafe is accessible by public transport such as taxi and bus where you can take Bus 317 from Serangoon Bus Interchange and alight after the 13th bus-stop (Stop ID: 66191; Serangroon Garden School).

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsongyee

NUNSONGYEE - KOREAN DESSERT CAFE
45 Burghley Drive
#01-04
Burghley Lifestyle Hub
Singapore 559022
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nunsongyee

Opening Hours:
12:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Thu)
12:00pm - 11:00pm (Fri)
10:00am - 11:00pm (Sat)
10:00am - 10:00pm (Sun)
Closed on Monday

Payment Mode:
CASH ONLY


NUNSARAM KOREAN DESSERT CAFE
(Orchard Central)


[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram
Nunsaram is opened by the same people behind K Cook (Korean BBQ Buffet) which is also located in Orchard Central (#07-01). The cafe serves similar bingsu flavours like most other bingsu cafes like Injeolmi (Korean rice cake), Black Sesame, Mango, Chocolate and etc. But they have a special Purple Sweet Potato Bingsu (SG$14.90) which is pretty at sight and popular among patrons too.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram - Menu Board
Likewise other than bingsu, Nunsaram also offers coffee and sides with 3 variations each of Tteogkkochi (Korean rice cakes on skewers) and Bread for patrons to go with their dessert.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram - Green Tea Bingsu
While looking at the menu I was tossing between green tea or purple sweet potato but after discussing with mum and aunt we decided to go for Green Tea Bingsu (SG$13.90) because we love the combination of green tea ice cream with sweeten red beans.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram - Green Tea Bingsu
Everyone was so excited digging into the fluffy "snowflakes" shaved ice which just literately melt in our mouth. As you can see from the above photos, the bingus is packed with various toppings such as almond, sweeten red bean, dash of green tea powder and a scoop of green tea ice cream. With that you get different taste and texture with every spoonful of mixture that goes into your mouth. Indeed it was a new experience for the folks who join us.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram - Chocolate Bingsu
Just like fast food and ice cream, bingu is also popular among all ages. Here is the Chocolate Bingsu (SG$14.90) which I order for the boy who likes anything with chocolate. The shaved ice is fully packed with toppings such as cubes of chocolate brownies, whole and sliced almond, a scoop of chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips and plus a good drizzle of chocolate sauce!


Although the bingsus at Nunsaram might not taste as milky when compared to those we had at Nunsongyee but their prices are more affordable from SG$12.90 - SG$15.90 despite of their good location in town. Furthermore they are also more generous with their bingsu toppings in terms of quantity and variety that makes it worth the price.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Nunsaram

NUNSARAM KOREAN DESSERT CAFE

Orchard Central Outlet
181 orchard Road
#05-51/52
Singapore 238896
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/NUNSARAMSG

Westgate Outlet
3 Gateway Drive
#04-37/K4
Singapore 608532

Opening Hours:
11:00am - 10:00pm (daily)


BANANA TREE CAFE SINGAPORE
(26 Keong Saik Rd)


[Korean Dessert Cafe] Banana Tree Cafe Singapore
Few weeks back while the boy and I were in Chinatown area meeting my mum for lunch, we decided to explore the newly opened garden themed dessert cafe originally from South Korea; known as Banana Tree which is located at 26 Keong Saik Road. This cozy little cafe has a glass ceiling at the back that allows natural sunlight to warm up the dining area.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Banana Tree - Menu
Banana Tree offers a variety of pretty desserts such as Flower Paap (flower pot pudding), Pot Bingsu (shaved ice), Oreo Bomb and Som Som Latte (top with cotton candy floss) which I am sure you will find something that interest you.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Banana Tree - Menu

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Banana Tree - Espresso Flower Paap & Ice Mocha
This little pot of instagrammable Espresso Flower Paap (SG$6.50) comes with creamy pudding in it that taste quite similar to tiramisu perhaps due to it's intense coffee flavour. On the surface there are some crashed oreo together with a few colourful pebble candy to dress up like "soil" and "stones". Oh, the "shovel" spoons provided also act as an good props for photos too.

[Korean Dessert Cafe] Banana Tree - Mini Red Bean Bingsu
Gosh even their Mini Red Bean Bingsu (SG$8.50) is huge for one serving. Bottom layer is shaved ice (not as fine as the other two dessert cafes mentioned above) and the top is covered with a generous layer of sweeten cooked red bean, some sliced almond and soy bean powder plus a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Although the flower pot dessert is good to look at but basically there are not much surprised after a few spoonful especially when the shaved ice below is kind of rough and harden like ice cube.


BANANA TREE CAFE SINGAPORE
26 Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089133
Telephone: (65) 6221 5020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bananatreesg

Opening Hours:
11:00am - 9:00pm (Tue - Sat);
12:00pm - 7:00pm (Sunday);
Closed on Monday


HONEY CREME (313@somerset)
(Soft Serve Ice Cream)


[Korean Soft Serve Ice Cream] Honey Creme
Honey Creme is a Korean-style premium soft serve ice-cream brand from Taiwan that is known for its soft serve ice cream topped with organic honeycomb ranging from SG$5.90 per cup. Here we tried the soft serve with Honey Comb (SG$5.90) and Dark Chocolate (SG$5.50; where two premium dark chocolates are used for this soft serve ice-cream leaving it an explosive bitter sweet after taste) from their flagship shop at 313 @Somerset which is just outside the shopping mall's taxi stand beside 7-11 convenience store.

You can either mix the honeycomb with the ice cream or eat on its own. I love the sweet fragrant taste of the honeycomb when it melts in the mouth but their soft serve it rather light in taste as compared to those sold in MacDonald.

Above showcase some of the cute medium size macarons which you can add-on to your soft serve toppings. On top of that to celebrate Singapore 50th birthday, they are having 2 new flavours in store this June 2015 with Honey Creme Pandan Gula Melaka (comprising a pandan flavour soft serve layered with crunchy puffed rice, attap chee and coconut chips) and Honey Creme Cereal Milk that tops with crunchy cereal crumbs.


HONEY CREME SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM

313 @ Somerset Outlet
313 Orchard Road
#01-37
Singapore 238895
Telephone: (65) 6884 8468
Website: http://honeycreme-icecream.com/sg.html

JEM Outlet
50 Jurong Gateway
#B1-06
Singapore 608549

Operating Hours:
11:00am - 10:00pm (daily)



MILKCOW (THE CATHAY)
(Soft Serve Ice Cream)


[Korean Soft Serve Ice Cream] Milkcow @ The Cathay
Milkcow is a Korean Organic Soft Serve Ice-cream Cow chain which has 5 outlets located in different parts of Singapore. Their soft serve ice-cream is made from certified organic milk where you can enjoy it on its own or add-on with variety of toppings such as honeycomb, oreo cookies, kit kat, macarons and etc.

[Korean Soft Serve Ice Cream] Milkcow @ The Cathay

Each cup/cone of ice cream starts from SG$4.90 (plain - without any toppings) up to SG$6.50 with choices such as drizzled of flavored syrup like Pistachio or Affogato plus nuts and seeds. I tried their Milky Honey (SG$5.50) which comes with smooth and milky soft serve that pairs with generous amount of liquid honey which some might find it too sweet when comes to the end.

[Korean Soft Serve Ice-Cream] Milkcow @ The Cathay
Will drop by soon to try their "M3 - Milky Cube" organic natural honeycomb and "M9 - Samsam" Red Ginseng syrup with Almond Flakes.

Their outlets are at:
The Cathay #01-03;
Velocity Novena #01-19;
The Star Vista #B1-06;
Bugis Juntion #B1-K3; and
Tampines 1 #B1-K17


Ok that's all for this post. If you have any "must try" Korean dessert do drop me a message on the comment box below so that we could give it a try too. Meanwhile, have a great week ahead friends.

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