[HIGH TO LOW] Does Seoul's best bingsu have to come with a big price tag?

Food & Travel

Published: 10 Jun. 2023, 09:00

[HIGH TO LOW] Does Seoul's best bingsu have to come with a big price tag?

Seoul is a city where you can find top-tier street food as well as world-class premium dining experiences. In this series, the Korea JoongAng Daily interviews chefs and cooks across the city, to introduce two restaurants offering the same dish at vastly different price points.

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

Apple mango bingsu (shaved ice with toppings) at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul [PARK SANG-MOON]

How pricey can some shaved ice and fruit be?

At Seoul’s five-star hotels, no amount of upscaling is too much for bingsu — or shaved ice with toppings that is traditionally a humble summer snack.

This year, the most expensive bingsu can be found at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul.

Its apple mango bingsu is priced at a whopping 126,000 won or $96.

Atop creamy, cloud-like shavings of milk lie dozens of juicy mango cubes, passion fruit pâte and vanilla marshmallow, lime and coconut jelly, and mango compote. It is topped with crispy tuile, edible flowers and herbs and served with a scoop of mango sorbet, a bowl of white chocolate pearls and some extra mango and coconut sauce on the side to add to one’s liking.

It's a lot of components but Jimmy Boulay, the hotel's head pastry chef, said that his biggest focus for this year’s bingsu was maintaining the dessert’s essence and balance of taste.

“Customers will find simplicity at the core,” he said.

Jimmy Boulay, head pastry chef at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, talks to the Korea JoongAng Daily at the hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 22. [PARK SANG-MOON]

What justifies the bingsu’s price isn’t just the number of ingredients or the stunning presentation but also its quality and quantity, Boulay pointed out.

The bingsu is served in a large, donut-shaped bowl, easily enough for three or four adults.

“We also source the best and most expensive mangoes, straight from Jeju Island, and about two whole large mangoes go inside each bingsu,” he said, “and of course, other premium ingredients like organic milk and honey are included as well.”

Boulay and his team begin planning for bingsu as soon as the previous bingsu season concludes. This year, the mango bingsu is available through Sept. 30. Maru bingsu (78,000 won) and berries and granola bingsu (86,000 won) are also currently offered at the Four Seasons’ Maru Lounge on the first floor.

“I genuinely look forward to hotel bingsu season because I understand its importance in modern Korean culture,” said Boulay who is always pleasantly surprised by the small queues that form by the Maru Lounge on weekend afternoons.

Jimmy Boulay, head pastry chef at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, poses with his apple mango bingsu at the hotel in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 22. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Boulay assumed his current post last year, after having worked in places like Conrad Osaka, Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, sketch London, Fauchon Paris and Hôtel Le Meurice.

One of his first tasks on the job in Seoul was creating the hotel’s bingsu.

“It was challenging because I actually had never tasted bingsu before and wasn’t aware of the country’s luxury dessert trend,” said Boulay. “But I embraced the opportunity to contribute my unique perspective to the world of bingsu. One of the reasons I chose to work abroad was to continually adapt myself and develop these kinds of new skills.”

Traveling and experiencing different cultures is an important part of Boulay’s life today, but such a lifestyle was unimaginable for the small-town French boy with a sweet tooth.

“My love for dessert-making began when I used to help my mother bake cakes at home, then when I turned 13, I had the opportunity to participate in a baking program at school.”

He quickly became enamored with the world of baking, spending so much time practicing in the kitchen that he surprised even his family.

“A memorable cake that I made as a child was croquembouche that ended up being very, very crooked!”

He continued, “Learning pastry in my small town, I never imagined traveling around the world was even a possibility. Like any Parisien, I thought that Paris was the best place to work as a pastry chef.

“But now, I don’t picture myself ever going back there to work. Paris is a beautiful city but the world is so much bigger.”

(02) 6388-5000
@fsseoul
Gwanghwamun Station, exit no. 7 or City Hall Station exit no. 3

Coffee Happy

Coffee bingsu at coffeehouse and roastery Coffee Happy in Bundang District of Seongnam, Gyeonggi [PARK SANG-MOON]

Every year or so, a new bingsu craze pops up in Seoul. Pat (red bean) to fruit, shaved ice to frozen milk, big to small and cheap to expensive — the seasonal dessert whizzes through a dizzying cycle.

Coffee Happy, an independent coffeehouse and roastery in a quiet residential neighborhood in Bundang District of Seongnam, Gyeonggi, is a place that doesn't care for trends.

Its signature coffee bingsu (15,000 won or around $12) is a traditional-style bingsu, using only shaved ice instead of frozen milk or milk powder. It then gets a splash of fresh espresso and is topped with scoops of coffee ice cream and almond slices. Those in the know add pat for an extra 5,000 won.

It’s simple yet special.

The sentiment runs through the entire menu of Coffee Happy which includes pat bingsu with pat made in house, green tea bingsu, waffles with yogurt ice cream made in house, toast with cheese that is also made in house, and, of course, coffee.

Owner and coffee aficionado Yang Chul-ahn had one principle when it came to the cafe’s menu: It must “taste good” to him.

But to an epicurean who has been cupping coffee for nearly two decades, “good” is measured on a much finer scale. Yang is the third person in Korea to obtain a Q (quality) Grader license, an internationally-recognized status granted by the Coffee Quality Institute, which deems him capable of scoring the quality of roasted coffee.

Yang Chul-ahn, coffee aficionado and owner of Coffee Happy, at the coffeehouse in Bundang, Gyeonggi, on June 1. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Crafting a “good” bingsu meant searching for the right ice-shaving machine and hand-picking the best and most delicious ingredients.

He settled on an ice-shaving machine from Japan, organic red beans from South Jeolla, coffee ice cream from Häagen-Dazs and aesthetic ceramic bowls that he learned were efficient at retaining low temperatures for a long time.

"The thing that is really special about our coffee bingsu is the way the espresso seeps into the shaved ice and coats the entire bingsu," said Yang. "We have some people who come just for the bingsu in the summertime!

"It took me a while to find the right machinery and the ingredients, but after I had, I haven't changed a thing."

Coffee Happy has been selling the same bingsu for some 10 years.

For his coffee, Yang roasts his own beans in the cafe which has a catalog of some 30 different beans, also available through delivery.

He has an impressive collection of vintage cups because coffee tastes different depending on what one drinks from, according to Yang.

“I do all that I do because the most important thing is that everyone who comes to Coffee Happy enjoys [the food and drinks],” he said. “For our dessert dishes like bingsu, I feel like that is possible to some extent, but for coffee, satisfying everyone with just a few options can be more tricky because people often have very split preferences. Some strongly like the same cup of coffee that others strongly dislike.”

So Yang made tables and charts as a guide for customers to find their perfect cup of coffee. He has also extensively outlined the exact way to brew and drink his coffee, and even suggests coffee pot brands for those who get Coffee Happy’s roasted and ground coffee delivered to their homes.

Ppat bingsu (shaved ice with red bean) at Coffee Happy in Bundang, Gyeonggi [PARK SANG-MOON]

Studying coffee preferences was also a way for Yang to understand people.

“To me, knowing a person’s coffee preference is like knowing their MBTI [Myers–Briggs Type Indicator],” he said.

But Yang hasn't always loved coffee.

“The first one I tried was like instant coffee and I thought it was terrible,” he said. But his family members who were already in the coffee business, introduced him to specialty coffee and its unfathomably cosmic world swept Yang off his feet.

“When I first began roasting beans, I thought that if I worked hard, I could be perfect at it, but I’ve come to realize that in the coffee world, every day is different,” he said. “Now, it is why I love coffee. After 20 years in this business, I am still learning something new every day!”

(031) 703-6880

@coffeehappy.co.kr
The nearest station is Seohyeon Station, exit no. 2

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]