Today is a Mall day. After lunch at the SM Megamall we’ve landed in another mall closer to Christel’s house to walk around and check out some shops. Christel is still re-familiarizing herself with Manilla and I’m a great guest to just wander around with so we roam until we find some BingSu and decide it’s time for dessert.
LOCATION: Missouri St. San Juan, 1502 Metro Manila Philippines
The first time I had BingSu was when I went to LA with Christel about a year ago. Her little brother took us to Sul & Beans for dessert and I had my first BingSu experience although I didn’t realize it was called BingSu at that time. To me it’s just shaved ice but BingSu is a Korean style shaved ice that’s much more dense than American shaved ice.
K BingSu Cafe is right in the middle of (one of?) this mall’s food courts and it’s tucked away near a darker corner. It’s bright lights draw you in right away and it’s a super cute little cafe that’s one room and an open entrance. Christel says it’s a place where a lot of high schoolers hang out and as if to confirm this is still the place to meet up, the table next to us had a group of three girls that came in a little later than we did followed by three boys that showed up to meet them for a group date. Awkward budding romance right in front of our very eyes.
K BingSu has about 15 different flavors of BingSu give or take and it was very very difficult to chose. They have a key of some of their popular flavors and since I’m not a chocolate fan that helped narrow our choices down a little bit. Christel let me pick and it was a rough decision that I narrowed down to their popular very berry or their mango cheese. Other contenders were the Buko, Injeolmi, or Strawberry but while we were in LA we had an Injeolmi (which is a nutty flavor) and Strawberry Cheese so those were knocked out. We like coconut but we weren’t sure we wanted a whole desert that was ONLY buko flavored so also knocked that one out. The choice was between the berry or mango and neither of us could decide but when we went up to the counter they said their Very Berry was sold out so the BingSu gods looked down on us and told us our dessert fate.
It sounds odd when you have dessert flavors as Mango Cheese but I’ve figured out that Asians don’t really mean cheese they mean cheesecake so it’s actually a very good addition. We’re not terribly hungry right now after lunch so we decide to share a regular at P260 which comes out to be about $5. Not a bad price for a shared dessert this big.
The mango is a great choice and Christel lets me have the whipped cream because she’s not a huge fan. The cheesecake with mango is delicious and I’m so surprised I haven’t had this combination before. I suppose mangos aren’t in such a high supply in America but this rivals strawberry cheesecake for me easily. I’m just a fan of cheesecake and fruit.
Between the two of us we finish just about all of it and are stuffed after. Good thing we’re in a mall and can walk it off. I enjoy BingSu. It melts in your mouth very quickly but since its so dense and packed it sits well and it actually ends up filling you up nicely. It’s also not overly creamy which I appreciate. It’s a nice cooling dessert that’s not too sweet and not too heavy, though I can’t say I’d kick American Ice Cream out of the game.