Korean vs Canadian Desserts

by thedemuremuse on June 8, 2011

If there’s one thing that I was super excited about before starting this 4 week trip in Asia, it would be the desserts. OH MY GOSH, I can’t even begin to explain how excited I got when I saw an ad for a traditional Korean dessert called Patbingsu. One of my friends had hyped this stuff up to me since the start of our planning days (we’re both huge dessert fiends) and she told me we would try it out in Korea no matter how long it would take to find a dessert shop. It took us almost five full days of looking around Seoul before finding a shop that didn’t top their desserts with almonds (yay for food allergies and language barriers!) or charge a ridiculous amount since we were in a more touristy area.

traditional patbingsu

Patbingsu (팥빙수): red bean shaved ice desert!! It’s exactly what it sounds like. Take a bowl, fill it with shaved ice, and pour a mountain of sweetened red bean sauce on top. Add a couple of fruit toppings, fresh mochi, and condensed milk and you’re ready to dig in!

eating a fruity patbingsu

Aside from the traditional fruit-topped patbingsu, we also tried the newer flavoured desserts that can be found at franchised snack shops. We went to Mister Donut to try the green tea shaved ice. Instead of fruits, we got fresh green tea mochi and the ice was smothered in a green tea sauce.

Green tea shaved ice dessert

Green tea shaved ice dessert

This is a little embarrassing to admit – and I don’t really know why I’m sharing this, but I will anyway – I had an entire bowl of this stuff to myself. Both times. Some of my friends split their patbingsu with someone else and I still managed to beat two of them to finishing the dessert. I don’t know what it is, but I swear I have a dessert stomach reserved for sweet treats only. If I like something, you’ll know because I stop talking and start shoveling food. I think I love patbingsu.

Krispy Kreme: NY cheesecake

Krispy Kreme: NY cheesecake

Another interesting thing that I noticed in Korea is the fact that their donuts don’t taste like Canadian donuts. I’m not sure if Tim Hortons just puts too much sugar in their icing glaze, but my teeth always hurt a little after eating the honey crullers (my favourite of the batch). The donuts in Korea tasted a bit more like bread and less like a dessert. Even the NY cheesecake donut from Krispy Kreme (pictured above) was a lot less sweet than I was expecting it to be. The custard filling was just the perfect amount of sweet to balance out the bread shell.

Mmm… I can’t wait for the next post! Hint: It’s also food related and might even have something to do with my all-time favourite restaurant. hehe

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Pin It

Tagged as: asia trip, desserts, korea, Seoul

  • http://eyeheartit.blogspot.com/ Larie

    So jealous! My favorite part about Korea is the foooooooood. Street food is the best. And I love patbingsu, too! And in general, Korean treats aren’t as sweet – I think they have much less tolerance for overly sweet foods than other cultures. Their traditional desserts are usually only subtly sweet, as well.

  • http://www.atasteoft.com Tanya

    I’ve yet to have Korean dessert but I want both.

    Shabby Apple Giveaway

  • http://teatimewithdinosaurs.blogspot.com Cindy

    I love sweet red bean desserts. My mouth is watering looking at those pictures. Those bowls are pretty huge, but if it were me, I’d probably eat the whole thing myself as well.

  • http://classicnoise.blogspot.com Sorren

    You and me both – I can eat loads of sweets and not stop until it’s all finished. Those desserts look amazing, seriously amazing. I want to track some down reallll bad. I cannot CANNOT wait until your next food related post…

  • Elisa

    Those looks AWESOME! You’re making me drool with all the pictures.

    And really, who *shares* dessert? I would totally finish one of those bowls too, in fact I’ll race you to finish one if only we can find patbingsu in Toronto :P

  • http://woodycakes.livejournal.com Patty

    DESSERTS FTW!!!
    i think shaved ice anything is popular in asia just cause it’s ‘hot’ in a lot of the countries here. but that looks amazing :D

    and i guess big brands like krispy kreme definitely regionalize their tastes. yay for less sweetness though. that’s a good thing, right? haha.

  • http://www.trystbykerry.com Kerry

    Oooh, I’ve never been to Korea before but it looks like you had a blast!!! Not going to lie, I’ve ordered cake for dinner before – I’m not ashamed! LOL

    I imagine American donuts are even sweeter than Canadian ones!

  • http://thedemuremuse.com thedemuremuse

    Elisa – YESSSS!! Let me know when you’re in Toronto. Apparently there are places in Koreatown that have patbingsu!

  • http://whatmakesmehappybyyeri.blogspot.com Yeri

    My sister and I kept reminding ourselves that we needed to go eat patbingsu and we never got a chance. I am VERY sad right now. And jealous. And hungry.

    WAH.

Previous post:

Next post: