It’s 2 in the afternoon on Sunday and the packed H Mart food court is starting to empty out. There are people of all ages; families, couples, employees. Most of the customers are eating traditional Korean rice or noodle dishes, but there is a handful of people eating a tasty dessert called bingsu.

Bingsu is a shaved milk ice dessert from Korea that can have a variety of sweet toppings, but the traditional ones are red bean, rice cake, and misu-garu (powdered dried beans).

There is only one bingsu shop in H Mart and it is called 설빙, which translates to “snow.”

If you turn around, there is a display of some of their most popular items. These look very real, but they are just 3D figures to show how the food actually looks.

The menu consists of 20 different kinds of bingsu, Korean style toast/bread, coffee and tea, and smoothies and slushes. These are the perfect foods to eat while you sit down and talk with friends or family. The menu has some options that are fresh and healthy, such as bingsu and toasts with fresh strawberries and different types of fruit, and organic variety tea.

The food is ordered and paid for at the counter, and then you are given a restaurant pager so that you can pick up your food once it is ready. While you wait, you can sit at one of the many food court tables or you can stroll through the mart.

I ordered a large size – recommended for 2-3 people to share on the menu – Red Bean Injeolmi bingsu, which is the traditional Korean order. It comes on a tray with napkins, spoons, and a tiny pitcher of condensed milk to pour over the bingsu.

The dessert is cold and sweet, but not too sweet that it makes you feel sick. Most of the sweet flavour comes from the red bean paste and the milk ice that has been sweetened by the condensed milk. Since the bingsu is piled pretty high, you have to eat some of it before you can mix it. You may think that mixing it will jumble up the flavours and make a messy, ugly sight, however it actually tastes better once it is mixed! This dessert doesn’t even melt that quickly. It’s only when you get close to the bottom of the bowl that you can see it melting.

After finishing the bingsu, I decided to order another treat; Honey Butter Bread. Just like the previous dessert, this one did not disappoint. Three slices of warm white bread are stacked on top of each other and cut into bite-sized squares. The bread is moist with honey and melted butter, but it is not mushy. To top it off, caramel and chocolate syrup are drizzled over a mountain of whipped cream, along with a sprinkle of sliced almonds. Of course, this dish is not the best thing to eat in order to obtain a “summer body,” however your taste buds will thank you. It is sweet because of the honey and whipped cream, but you can also taste the savoury butter. Mixing sweet and savoury flavours may seem odd, but they compliment each other well in this dish.

These desserts took a while to eat because I was talking to my friend the whole time, but that’s what makes the whole experience even greater. Sharing good food and conversation with a good friend is the perfect way to spend your day.