Bingsu (Korean shaved ice dessert) Venues in Jeonju Hanok Village

It’s natural to crave bingsu (Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings) when walking around Jeonju Hanok Village in this hot weather. Today, I visited four venues famous for bingsu!

Gu Café

‘Gu Café’ is conveniently located near the entrance of Jeonju Hanok Village. The café is a traditional Korean hanok building. Many were ordering cold beverage take-outs from the street side.

The menu is quite long. I guess more elderly people will love misootgaru (traditional roasted grain powder beverage, served cold), ssanghwacha tea (traditional medicinal beverage), and rice cakes. But there were also rather exotic beverages, such as date smoothie and green tea and sweet red bean smoothie.

But one cannot pass a Korean summer without bingsu! Gu Café has interesting bingsu menus, such as omong bingsu (orange and grapefruit topping), pat bingsu (sweet red bean topping), and hukimja bingsu (black sesame topping). If a whole bingsu is too big, there’s also smaller ‘cup bingsu’ too.

The interior was overall nice. Many patrons were wearing hanbok (Korean traditional costume) and taking photos inside the café.

I had the usual pat bingsu. The finely ground ice was topped with lots of bean powder and sweet red bean. It wasn’t too sweet, and the nuts gave crunchy texture. The mugwort rice cake was also nice. It’s possible to order the rice cake separately.

​Gu Café
Address: Taejoro 54, Wansangu, Jeonju
Contact: 0507-1498-9993
Opening hours: 10:00~22:00 every day

Kkotgama

The second bingsu venue is ‘Kkotgama’.

The menu here includes traditional beverages, coffee, smoothies, injeolmi (glutinous rice cake) toast, and ice cream. There were two bingsu: kkotgama bingsu (with mango topping) and pat bingsu (sweet red bean topping). The photo on the menu helped placing order.

Kkotgama is also a hanok building. The courtyard has garden with greens.

There are plenty of seats in the wide interior. The floor seats and the seats in separate rooms seemed very interesting. The place seemed like a good place to take photos in hanbok. I’m sure the owner puts lots of effort in taking care of the venue.

I ordered kkotgama bingsu and coffee. The snack that comes with coffee was nice too. Kkotgama bingsu has mango and mango syrup toppings. The sweet and sour flavor seems just right for the hot summer. I was told that pat bingsu has ice cream, red bean, and glutinous rice cake topping.

​Kkotgama
Address: Gyeonggijeongil 167, Wansangu, Jeonju
Contact: 063-285-6375
Opening hours: 9:00~21:30 (weekdays) / 9:00~22:00 (weekend)

Oehalmoni Somssi

‘Oehalmoni Somssi’ (literally translated, ‘maternal grandma’s skills’) is a renowned bingsu venue. I visited during weekdays, but still had to wait for a table. I couldn’t’ take the photo of the whole interior due to the people, but the whole atmosphere was pleasant. There are both indoor and terrace seats with tables in different sizes. There were also two floor seats for the patrons with children.

The menu, including sweet red bean porridge and black sesame porridge, seemed to cater to more ‘adult palate’. Also, the ice cream menu, such as kongtteok (bean rice cake) ice cream, seemed quite interesting.

I ordered hongsi bosungi (sweet ripe persimmon sorbet) and hukimja pat bingsu (black sesame, sweet red bean, and rice cake topping). I loved that hongsi bonsungi wasn’t too sweet. Also, the texture of the rice cake topping on the bingsu was chewy and pleasant.

​Oehalmoni Somssi
Address: Omokdaegil 81-8, Wansangu, Jeonju
Contact: 063-232-5804
Opening hours: 11:00~22:00 every day

Café Dalgom

The last venue is ‘Café Dalgom’.

Here, I loved the croffle (croissant waffle) and croissant on display. Sikhye (Korean traditional sweet rice beverage) smoothie and yuja (citron) smoothie sounded very interesting.

The interior is hanok style and white-toned. Each table has transparent partition. The window seats were quite popular.

Café Dalgom serves its bingu in a clay pot. There are injeolmi bingsu, fruit bingsu, and green tea bingsu. I ordered injeolmi bingsu, which is ground milk ice topped with cereals, nuts, red bean, and injeolmi rice cake. The ground milk ice was so soft, and the textures and flavors of the toppings were very pleasant.

Café Dalgom
Address: Eunhaengro 71, Wansangu, Jeonju
Opening hours: 11:00~22:00 every day

Today, I introduced four bingsu venues in Jeonju Hanok Village that you might want to take shelter from the hot weather and enjoy delicious bingsu. All four venues were interesting in their own right.