Tag: bingsu

Categories
Asian Fusion Dessert Thai

Mango Coco – Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

One of our Asian friends had reached her mid thirties without ever having bingsoo, and it was our solemn duty as friends and colleagues to correct this. Mango Coco, located within a particularly Thai part of Pitt St, was the chosen destination for this Korean shaved ice dessert.

The Mango Bingsoo was pretty good, but not really a standout from other similar bingsoos. The addition of dry ice was pure superficial presentation, and no additional mastery demonstrated in the design or construction of the dish.

The Egg on Nest was really quite good. It consisted of black mochi balls filled with salted egg yolk filling, atop a bed of thinly julienned sweet potato strips and fruit. The mochi balls which were bursting with golden sweet and umami filling were the star of the show.

At my insistence the squad agreed to order the Matcha Churros Parfait. The matcha sauce was unsweetened and quite strong – great for us, though many may not be as appreciative. The ratio of churro to matcha dirt and sticky ice cream and matcha sauce was adequately matched so that no dirt remained unstuck and no churro undirted by the end of the meal.

VERDICT
Would I go back? Probably. Whilst our meal was dessert focused (our colleagues had already had dinner) there are quite a few Thai fusion savory dishes on their menu that I wouldn’t mind trying if I were in the area.

Categories
Bakery Café Korean

LAB Bakery – Strathfield NSW Cafe Review

My partner’s recent obsession with bingsu took us to Strathfield’s LAB Bakery for our fourth snowy treat in as many weeks.

Unfortunately LAB Bakery’s freaky looking Oreo Bingsu was the worst that we’ve had in recent memory. Visually it was quite striking, but not in a good way. The dish essentially consists of a bowl of milky shaved ice with layers of oreo crumb and chocolate sauce, topped with an additional layer of the same. Above this there is a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the choice use of mini oreos and chocolate sauce to make a spooky looking face.

Despite its nightmarish appearance, this bingsu’s edibility is its biggest problem. Crumbs of oreo do not, in fact, mix well with milk snow, nor do they mix well with the back of the throat. Each mouthful was like choking on a glass of sandy unmixed Milo, and unlike Milo there was no flavour hit to numb the pain.

As hinted to in their name, LAB Bakery does not only do bingsu, but also does breads. We indulged in two of their cream puffs ($1) each, which were room temperature pastry balls filled with a vanilla custard cream. These are a bit larger than the puffs at Emperor’s Garden, and their filling is cold, not warm. They are tasty and priced at just the right price point for a small afternoon snack.

VERDICT
Do not get LAB’s Oreo Bingsu. Just don’t do it. Get anything but it. Get some of their breads instead.

SUBSEQUENT THOUGHTS, 2023

Korean Garlic Bread is great.

Whatever this thing was, slightly chocolate, was not.

LAB Bakery
4 The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW 2135
0450 593 522

Categories
Café Dessert Korean

Cafe Crop – Strathfield NSW Restaurant Review

Teeming with high school kids on a weekday afternoon, Cafe Crop in Strathfield provides quite good quality, bat-adjacent bingsoo,

We had a mini mixed fruit bingsu ($11.50), with our mini size served within a plastic container while larger sizes are served in Pyrex measuring cups. The shaved ice had a nice creamy taste to it, and we really enjoyed the assortment of fruits – strawberry, melon, grape, mango, (and unfortunately seemingly canned pineapple) – that was included. The addition of some mochi (rice cake) and what I’m pretty sure is Milo cereal also added a nice variation in textures and flavours. The squeezy container of condensed milk was left essentially unused, as the dessert was tasty and sweet enough without it.

On a subsequent visit we had a small mixed fruit bingsoo ($21), a larger, pyrex cup variety of the same one that we had the first time. The scoop of ice cream in the medium size is decorated with milo cereal to form a spooky but cute pig face.

While I thought the bingsoos were good and good value, the pomegranatade coming in at $7.50 I thought was much worse value. While I don’t know the intricacies that go into it – perhaps they have a staff member squeezing the juice out of each pomegranate pip in painstaking fashion – what it tasted like was cordial and in my opinion not worth the price.

VERDICT

Bingsoo good. Pomegranateade bad.

Can recommend.

Categories
Bakery Café Dessert Korean

La Vigne – Eastwood NSW Cafe Review

La Vigne, with a name you probably shouldn’t say in front of your mother, is one of Eastwood’s many places to get a bingsu on a hot Summer’s day. The surprisingly large cafe features two internal dining areas separated by a sun-drenched courtyard (very warm).

I enjoyed the mango bingsu with flavoured ice, mango, mango sauce and cake blocks. My partner, the driving force behind our recent bingsu binges, was less pleased with the artificial taste of the mango sauce, though this didn’t stop us from finishing the whole thing.

The citron pastry was not very good.

The chocolate cream puff was quite good, though I didn’t expect it to have chocolate filling.

During a subsequenttrip to La Vigne with colleagues KSEL, ACHT, KS, MJC we had the mixed fruit and red bean bingsu ($25). I think it was better than just plain mango, and despite it having red bean my partner might have liked it more.

Overall I can recommend a quick visit to La Vigne to a friend or colleague.

La Vigne
82 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122
(02) 9858 3005