Hot Summer Treats I

When you think of hot summer treats only one thing comes to mind, at least for me anyways, and that's ice cream. Over the time that I have been here, I have had on occasion tried out some of the different ice cream bars and popsicles (if there is such a thing as "popsicles" here). Most of them are very, very, good to superb. Some, like the "wafer" enclosed ice cream bars, are just absolutely gross. They are ok if you remove the cardboard-like outer "wafer" coating, but to eat it as is is disgusting. So, herewith is a short rundown of some of the ice cream bars that I have tried lately (not including the gross wafer covered ones):

"BB Bean" (above) is a red bean ice cream (?) bar. Red bean? That's a very Asian thing as it's simply red beans cooked in raw sugar until the beans are soft and almost melting. About 4 hours usually slow cooked the way mom used to make it. You can add other ingredients to the mix, but the main flavor is still going to be the red beans. This might sound gross to some people, but it is a very, very, sweet, tasty and refreshing treat. You have to try it to appreciate it. Can be had hot and/or cold. The ice cream bar tastes exactly the way red beans should taste, it's just frozen on a stick. Very yummy.

Although, depending on how the stick was made, the taste of the stick can be a bit overpowering! Try not to lick the stick. It's one of the more gross aspects of eating ice cream bars. Hey, I have gourmet tastes! Every aspect of a food has some flavor added to the final taste; good, or bad. Even improperly dried dishes have odors that detract from the actual taste of the food.

Anyways, the BB Bean bar can be found at most/all corner convenience stores. Only W700 (that's about US $0.50).

Highly Recommended

This ice cream bar is my all time favorite so far. This is made by Paris Baguette and can only be found there. But, this chain is ubiquitous in South Korea and is on almost every major block. I used to love Hagen Daz ice cream bars and bought them by the box load back in Canada. They were the best ice cream bars I had until I tried these ones. Wow! Talk about a subtle rich, flavorful taste explosion of rich chocolate and hazelnuts all smothered in a creamy mocha ice cream that is just the right amount of sweetness. There is also a vanilla almond bar that is not as good. How can I ever go back to Hagen Daz again! I won't have to, at least for now.

As I have said before, North American flavors are either too salty, too sweet, or too sour. European flavors are just the right amount of salty and sweet without it being so overpowering as to kill all the other tastes. There's rarely a sour in European foods. Hagen Daz is Polish. Paris Baguette is French. Need I say more?

Found only at Paris Baguette. Only W1500 (about US $1.20 and is "expensive" relative to other ice cream bars, but really, really, cheap vs Canadian prices at almost $5.00 per Hagen Daz bar!!! That's Canada for you!!!).

Extremely Highly Recommended.

This is not ice cream, but sherbet. It's an orange flavored outer coating of sherbet that's grey in color (?!) enclosing a rich inner center of strawberry sherbet. Very refreshing and very tasty, especially the orange flavor. When I first opened this one and saw the grey color I originally thought that there was something wrong with it. But, licking proved otherwise. See the little pic of the shark? I guess it was all in the marketing. It's even pointed at the top end like a sharks head, too. And, it has "gills" molded into the sides as well. Silly things. I would have preferred an orange colored outer coating, but that's just me. Sorry no pic of the thing itself. I ate it before I got home.

The "Orange Juice" sharksicle can be found at most/all corner convenience stores. Only W700 (that's about US $0.50).

Highly Recommended.

I have eaten other ice cream bars, too. But, at that time, I never thought I would be eating so many of them as to be doing reviews on them. I'll gather up some more wrappers as time goes on and do another review later.

Enjoy your hot summer treats!