A Black Bingsu

Sesame and milk never tasted so good

It’s weird to think my first semester here at Korea University has finally come to an end. The farewell party for KUBA may have been a bit of a bore; the memories I made with them most definitely not. Apart from the papers I still have to do for KU and for my home university, my summer holidays are truly starting now. And in summer, what better to eat than bingsu?

Bingsu (빙수) is a Korean concoction normally made of shaved ice and various toppings and is, by far, the dish that I eat the most of here in Korea. It’s generally not expensive and is light and fresh and simply all-round amazing. The bingsu pictured here is the one I ate here to celebrate the end of semester with my friends; a deliciously savoury black sesame nun-kkot bingsu (흑임자눈꽃빙수). The difference between this kind of bingsu and the normal kind lies in the ice flakes — nun-kkot bingsu is actually made from milk ice flakes and not water ice flakes. This is the new ‘thing’ in Korea at the moment and a lot of cafes you go to will not only sell bingsu, but sell nun-kkot bingsu.

This bingsu that I ate was bought from my usual bingsu shop, Solkyung (설경) in Anam. Not only is it cheap (5,900 won for any bingsu at the moment!), it’s pretty damn good and every single bingsu there looks so so so good. To find this cafe, go to Anam station on line 6 and go out exit number 3. Keep walking straight until you find the road which is opposite from Ministop and has Youngchul Burgers on one side and then turn right down that street — it’s a few shops down on the left hand side and opposite The 1st Penguin Café (which is a great study cafe if expensive!). They now have coupon cards there as well, which get you a free juice every 5 purchases and a free bingsu every 10! Add to that the free fruit loops and cake and it becomes one of the best-kept secrets of Anam, especially considering a Solbing (a popular nun-kkot bingsu chain) opened up on the main road. The one drawback about this place is that the toilet stinks because there’s a urinal in there too. Guys, seriously, why does your toilet stink so much? The smell doesn’t leak out into the rest of the place but it makes me really reluctant to go to the toilet there.

I’ve eaten so much good bingsu at this place — I recommend this one as well as the chocolate bingsu (초코눈꽃빙수) in particular. It makes me sad that I’m not going to be able to go here as much as I’ll want to during the summer because I’ve moved neighbourhoods temporarily but I’m sure I’ll find some place to frequent nearby.

I’d probably better.