PrintSugar Rush: Patbingsu from Koryodang
Although I love Korean food, I had only ever eaten patbingsu, a popular shaved ice dessert in South Korea, twice in my life. And one of those times was in South Korea. The other time was in New York City at Koryodang in Koreatown, but if there was any justice in this world, fast food chains around 32nd Street would be serving this simple dessert like they do in South Korea.
But at least we have Koryodang, who so far make the best shaved ice I've had in the city (I'll have to get ice queen Kathy YL Chan's opinion on that). My group of five shared two kinds of patbingsu: fruit and red bean. Both bowls contained red bean and different kinds of chopped fruit, but the fruit bowl also had fruit syrup where he red bean bowl had condensed milk, and the fruit bowl used strawberry ice cream instead of the red bean bowl's vanilla. Both bowls were also topped with mochi (glutinous rice) balls and roasted soybean powder.
The best part about these bowls of shaved ice was that the ice was, for the first time in my life, uniformly finely shaved to be soft and fluffy, not irritatingly crunchy and icy like most others I've had. SCORE! Aside from that, the other ingredients mashed together alright. It all depends on whether or not you like the fruits they put in, have an aversion to red bean (I hope not!), or are lactose intolerant. The fruit bowl's overly sweet syrup was a bit of a turn off, so most of us gravited towards the red bean. My favorite toppings were the mochi and the roasted soybean powder that gives everything a slightly nutty flavor.
Is there any way we can stop the frozen yogurt craze and start a patbingsu one instead? Hell, all you'd really have to do is replace the froze yogurt machines with shaved ice machines.
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5 Comments:
I'm going to be a killjoy here and point out that this is a highly westernized version of the Korean treat. The tipoff, of course, is the ice cream. And like you said, the sweetness. The real Korean one is not so sweet.
Better than Koryodang, in this western style of patbingsu, is Bann, believe it or not. Very inventive and not so sweet.
42 and 9 at 2:18PM on 05/22/09
@42 and 9: I gotta say, I LOVE ice cream..so I think I would prefer the western version. ;_; But I assume the western version is pretty popular in Korea too..cos the one I had there had ice cream. (A smaller scoop, granted.)
As for Bann..could I go there just for dessert? ;)
roboppy at 2:27PM on 05/22/09
Yes, the western version is probably popular in Korea. But next time you're there, seek out the old school ice and bean version.
Not sure about Bann. If you're interested in going, I would suggest you go soon! I get the feeling the place won't last long.
42 and 9 at 4:49PM on 05/22/09
Apparently Ippudo has one too? Has anyone tried it?
Emily Koh at 9:21AM on 05/23/09
The traditional Korean version just don't cut it anymore in the new world of super sweetness and fatness. I welcomed the additional trappings of Western world.
dgl440 at 3:41PM on 05/23/09