Snowy Dessert

Bingsu is a popular Korean dessert that mixes ice shavings with condensed milk and then tops with fruit like strawberries, kiwis, and bananas. It’s even sometimes topped with cereal and rice cake. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t also top it with exorbitant amounts of cheesecake bits, chocolate chunks, and Oreo cookie crumbs. That’s exactly what you get at Whyte Avenue’s Snowy Dessert.

Popping up right next to Dorinku Japanese street food restaurant at the bottom level of the Station on Whyte condo building, Snowy Dessert is a bright-lit beacon for delicious treats in the Strathcona neighbourhood, serving up ten different flavour combination of Bingsu along with a few other Korean favourites like Taiyaki, a fish shaped cake filled with red bean paste, chocolate, custard, cheese, or sweet potato.

The texture of Bingsu is the most interesting part. When you take a spoonful, it enters your mouth immediately feeling like a shaved ice snow cone. But, once it melts, the condensed milk takes charge leaving it tasting like ice cream. It needs to be experienced first-hand to fully understand and appreciate, but once you do you’ll be craving it every time you’re disappointed with a bowl of plain boring ice cream.

My personal favourite of Snowy Dessert’s Bingsu selection is the Oreo Bingsu. Oreo crumbs cover the massive bowl of Bingsu and it’s topped with whipped cream and a whole Oreo, standing proud like a climber who just conquered a mountain. Be warned, the serving sizes are also huge. My wife and I ordered a small size of the Oreo Bingsu and the two of us were barely able to finish it.

Snowy Dessert is bringing a really interesting twist to Whyte Avenue. And it looks like Bingsu is here to stay in Edmonton. Snow Bear Dessert Café popped up in the Mayfair South building on 109 Street downtown, serving up its own take on Bingsu. I have to wonder if this is the new frozen yogurt. If so, it’s more than welcome and I look forward to more Korean dessert shops popping up around the city.