BingSummer: A Hobing Review

It’s that time of the year again when warm water comes out of the shower even with the heater turned off, and I’m drenched in sweat as soon as I step out o the house in the morning. Oh yes, there’s no denying that summer is here, and with it comes the delightful excuse to have some chilled dessert every now and then in order to cool down.

Ice cream is one of the first things that would come to mind when talking about cold desserts. Recently though, the focus of my obsession has been the bingsu – a popular Korean dessert composed primarily of ice shavings, topped or mixed with various ingredients such as fruits, beans, milk, and nuts. Think of a Korean version our well-loved Pinoy Halo-halo.

The first bingsu I’ve tried is from Hobing – a Korean snack establishment located at Bonifacio Stopover, BGC. It’s a nice place to hang-out during afternoons, as the place doesn’t get too crowdy and the desserts are pretty good. Here are the ones that we’ve tried so far:

Strawberry Bingsu -  Php 215.00 (R) and Php 330.00 (L)

The Strawberry Bingsu is one of the prettiest in Hobing’s menu so your eyes would most likely gravitate towards this beauty.

Finely shaved ice is topped with sliced strawberries, drizzled with syrup, and you’d then have the option to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. We’re glad that we chose ice cream for our order as its sweetness complemented that slight sourness of the strawberries.

The snow ice itself is shaved so finely that it looked like desiccated coconut, and it had a creaminess in it that made me think that this may actually be shaved (frozen) milk.

Mango Cheese Bingsu - Php 195.00 (R) and Php 310.00 (L)

You can also have ice cream or whipped cream to go with you Mango Cheese Bingsu, although we suggest that you with the whipped cream as the mangoes and cheesecake chunks are already sweet enough. The cheesecakes were also pretty good too, which is probably why Hobing also offers a Cheese Bingsu variety.

Choco Cookie Bingsu - Php 165.00 (R) and Php 240.00 (L)

The Choco Cookie Bingsu is as simple as its name suggests – shaved ice is topped with cookie crumbs, and crowned with chocolate ice cream and even more cookies.

What’s different about this bingsu is that the shaved ice is also chocolate (I’m guessing milk chocolate), making the whole treat truly decadent. I’m a huge fan of chocolates although this time, I prefer the fruit-based bingsus rather than this choco-cookie version.

Injeolme Bingsu - Php 175.00 (R) and Php 250.00 (L)

Injeolme is a popular Korean snack made from glutinous rice flour, similar to the Japanese’ mochi cake or the Chinese’ tikoy.  Hobing’s Injeolme Bingsu has several of these goodies buried among snow ice, nuts, and what I believe to be finely ground bread crumbs.

The Injeolme Bingsu is one of the lighter varieties offered by Hobing, with the sweetness coming primarily from the injeolme pieces that you have to dig out from the heap.

These are the bingsus we have tried from Hobing so far. I’m looking forward to trying the Choco Brownie Bingsu, as sadly it wasn’t available during our visit. Other than these shaved ice desserts, Hobing also serves teas, and different kinds of toasts and breads, so this may be a good alternative if you’re looking for something different from the usual merienda.

Hobing

3rd Floor, Bonifacio Stopover,
31st Street Rizal Dr, Taguig City

0977 627 8124