2016/08/25
When speaking of sweet potato, Korea and Japan comes to mind. Cafe Bora specializes in purple sweet potato sweets. From bingsu, soft serve, to chips! They are fairly popular on Instagram, and even opened a store in Los Angeles.
One difference from other cafes, Bora chose a more traditional approach upon their desserts. Using ingredients such as gingseng, purple sweet potato, and red bean. Their banners also display children in hanboks enjoying bingsu. Thus in a way, this ties in perfectly with our traditional/cultural sightsee day in Seoul!
Decor
Make a slight turn and there is Cafe Bora. A small but cozy dessert shop. Very easy to locate.
Food
*There is a minimum purchase of at least two things on their menu.
If you don't speak or understand Korea, their menu includes pictures of all the items available, customer friendly for foreigners!
Apart from bingsu and ice cream, they also offer dessert porridge, tiramisu, and yam buns.
photo credits to the official Cafe Bora site
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*Every order of Bingsu is accompanied by complementary sweet potato chips and honey walnuts. (decorated in a flower design)!*
밀크팥빙수 Milk Bingsu
- Traditional Korean shaved ice made of homemade organic azuki bean and fresh milk.
The red bean topping actually came separate along with the sweet potato chips since it is technically a milk bingsu.
Just the plain bowl of shaved ice itself was beautiful enough for its own instagram picture lol. The red bean was prepared very well. The right tenderness and not overly sweet.
The sweet potato chips pairing offered by Cafe Bora was a great choice. You can enjoy tasting multiple textures at the same time making the whole experience even more interesting.
보라빙수 Bora Bingsu
- Feature shaved ice in Cafe Bora, made of 100% domestic purple sweet potato.
Purple sweet potato paste with bingsu was definitely a first for me. Indifferent from normal flavoured shaved ice, there was more of a depth to it. The paste is slightly sweet and the more you eat, you could feel the warm sweet potato flavour getting stronger in your mouth.
I don't think it's for everyone, but since this is a cafe specializing in purple sweet potato, give it try.
보라 아이스크림 Bora Ice Cream
- Homemade ice cream made of domestic sweet potato and fresh milk.
Lastly, the Bora ice cream all over their instagram wall, is here.
Since it is a soft serve it was sweeter than the bingsu version. Smooth and milky, a great choice if you're unsure but still want to try something purple. :)
*PS: As I have read on their website, the cute little flower Cafe Bora use to decorate their desserts are edible!
But there isn't any particular taste, only a bit bitter by the stem, so they do not recommend doing so since it is only for decoration purposes.
Verdict
Interested in purple sweet potatoes? or just want some beautiful but tasty desserts for your social media walls? well look no further, this is the place for you! LOL. If I have the opportunity to visit again, I will definitely try out the peanut ice cream and all the new items they came out with since my last trip ♪
카페 보라 Cafe Bora (Samcheong)
070-8613-5537
149-5 Sogyeok-dong Jongno-gu, Seoul
서울 종로구 율곡로3길 75-3
♥ If you have any suggestions, questions or comments please let me know in the box below thanks :)
