Cafe Insadong @ South Bridge Road

With the bingsu craze storming the island, many Korean dessert cafes such as Cafe Insadong has been opened in the little red dot. Located at South Bridge Road, Cafe Insadong is actually quite a small cafe with limited sitting space.

Red Bean Patbingsu 3/5

The signature item at Cafe Insadong has to be their patbingsu. The Red Bean Patbingsu ($8.50) comes with a a scoop of ice cream and generous topping of red beans, almond and even mochi. While the topping was a lot, the shaved ice came across bland and coarse. It lacked the sweetness of the milk and the melted in the mouth, snow-flake like texture.

Green Tea Patbingsu 3.5/5

Faring better is the Green Tea Patbingsu ($9.50) with green tea ice cream, red beans, almond, mochi and green tea infused shaved ice. Like the earlier bingsu, the ice is bland and coarse. Compared to other Korean dessert cafes such as Nunsongyee and O'ma Spoon, it came across as a disappointment.

Injeolmi Toast with Salted Caramel Ice Cream 3.5/5

Having tried a couple of Korean dessert cafe, I would say the Injeolmi Toast with Salted Caramel Ice Cream ($7.80) is more generous in its ingredients compare with the others. The injeolmi sandwiched by the lightly toasted bread and dusted with an abundance of kinako is both nutty and chewy enjoyment.

Cafe Insadong pricing is very competitive compare to the other Korean dessert cafe. They are also very generous in their ingredients and toppings. However the bingsu ice needs much improvement to be considered as one of the best bingsu in Singapore.


Cafe Insadong
279 South Bridge Road
Singapore 058828
Tel: +65 85332003
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Chinatown (NE Line, DT Line), Telok Ayer (DT Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu: 12pm - 930pm
Fri-Sat: 12pm - 1130pm
(Closed on Sun)

Direction:
1) Alight at Chinatown MRT. Take Exit A. Walk down Pagoda Street towards South Bridge Road. Turn right on South Bridge Road. Cross the road and walk to destination. Journey time about 10 minutes. [Map]

2) Alight at Telok Ayer MRT station. Take Exit A. Walk down Cross Street towards Club Street. Turn left onto Club Street and walk to the end. At the end of Cross Street, turn right onto Ann Siang Road and walk towards South Bridge Road. At South Bridge Road, turn left and walk to destination. Journey time about 12 minutes. [Map]

O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe @ 313 Somerset

Started with the first outlet at Marina Square in March 2015, O'ma Korean Dessert Cafe soon opened its second outlet in June 2015 at 313 Somerset. The current Bingsu craze has seen many of such cafe opened around the island. My favourite has been Nunsongyee and I am wondering how O'ma Spoon compares to it.

Green Tea Bingsu 4.5/5

After browsing through the menu, we ordered the Green Tea Bingsu ($13.90) to start with. The finely shaved, snow like bingsu generously topped with ice cream, green beans, cashew nuts, almond and green tea powder. For a full enjoyment of the milk flavoured bingsu ice, green tea powder is layered underneath the pile of shaved ice to give a consistent enjoyment from the top to bottom.

Chocolate Brownie Bingsu 3.5/5

Even more majestic than the green tea bingsu is the Chocolate Brownie Bingsu ($18.90). Topped with chocolate ice cream, brownie, whipped cream, almond, cashew nuts, oreo cookies crumble, banana and drizzled with chocolate sauce, this was unfortunately not as sweet as it looks. It pales in taste and sweetness compared to the green tea bingsu.

Chocolate Strawberry Honey Butter Bread 3/5

A signature at O'ma Spoon is the 2 inch oven baked thick toast directly imported from Korean. The Chocolate Strawberry Honey Butter Bread ($14.90) is covered with butter and Korean honey, slathered with nutella and topped with strawberries and vanilla ice cream. To be frank, I think my palate was more distracted by the butter and honey, instead of the chocolate and strawberries.

Injeolmi Cheese Toast 3/5

Next we have the Injeomli Cheese Toast ($9.90) that has chewy injeolmi rice cakes sandwiched two lightly toasted bread. I have tasted more chewy injeolmi toast so would have preferred more of it as well as the kinako.

O'ma Spoon did come in close to my favourite bingsu from Nunsongyee. It currently is probably my second choice for bingsu until I find another to dethrone it. Bingsu huge servicing is usually good for 2-3 pax but at O'ma Spoon it has the unique Petite Bingsu that is good for one.


O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe
313 @ Somerset
313 Orchard Road
#04-20/32
Singapore 238895
Tel: +65 63330995
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Somerset (NS Line)

Opening Hours:
Sun-Thu: 1130am - 10pm
Fri-Sat: 1130am - 12midnight

Direction:
1) Alight at Somerset MRT station. Take Exit B. Walk to destination. Journey time about 3 minutes. [Map]