Mealtop

Mealtop café is the original maker of the milk bingsu (Korean traditional shaved ice) variety that can be commonly found nowadays. Since opening of Apgujeong Hyundai Department Store in 1985, their first café was launched and 30 years have passed. Mealtop sells coffee and sweet red bean porridge, but the milk bingsu is still their bestseller. It consists of finely shaved milk ice flakes topped with sweetened red bean, and 2 pieces of rice cake. The reason behind why this simple bingsu is so delicious, without any of the elaborate toppings that many other kinds of bingsu have, is simple: High quality ingredients, and a chef who fully grasps the qualities of these ingredients with exacting skill. The division of labor in the kitchen is quite rigid. Each year domestically produced red beans are brought in and cooked by a red bean specialist. Every morning rice cakes are made from a dedicated mill, sliced into bite-size portions, and dipped in honey. And despite its expansion from their original Apgujeong location, they stubbornly insist on a manual process instead of automation. The chief of the branch, ranking in line to a master chef, has overseen the branch for decades and maintained the flavor of food and service quality. To stay competitive against the innumerable bingsu cafés that open up every year, Mealtop is introducing new menus with variations like bingsu topped with powdered grains and mugwort mochi waffles. But we still think you can't go wrong with their classic milk bingsu.