Sul & Beans

I had mistaken it for the popular chain in Korea I believe romanized as: Sul Bing. Since I assume they are targeting this chain then I’ll post my review in comparison between the two:
The shaved ice is almost half the content of milk normally used. so it was more water than milk. The shaved ice had hard pieces of ice chunks which ruined the melt-​in-​your-​mouth experience of having shaved ice
The bean powder is a very light dusting. It typically is a fairly large heaping amount put on the shaved ice. Somehow when ordering original, it comes with hardly any
For some reason the sweet bean is sold separately. Normally if you order original in most stores with that particular shaved ice, it comes with the bean and condensed milk. Dislike the the nickel and dime they’re pulling here. Taste is solid however
Duk is used instead of the chewy soft sweet Mochi that is normally used. It should normally be very chewy, soft, and nearly flavorless. The ones that came in our order were the same kind of Duk you would get at the supermarket for frying. It’s also the salty variation

This place is SO good. Okrumong is good but Sul & Beans is even better!
Park in the structure and Sul & Beans will validate your parking ticket for one hour. Came here on a Friday night and it was PACKED. There was a waitlist but we got seated fairly quickly.
Had the Strawberry Cheese Cake Bingsoo (shaved ice). It’s just the right amount of sweet and refreshing. The ice is more of a milk base rather than only water. It came with tiny sides of condensed milk and «pat» (red beans) that they make fresh in this café. The pictures definitely does not do justice to how good this dessert is! I can’t wait to come back and try a different flavor next time. Its really light and a small is perfect for two people to share. They also have free fruit flavored water near the trash can.

My first time having bingsoo was in Davis (I go to school at UC Davis) and I LOVED it. I go there often because I crave it so much. SO, I was pretty excited to try out Sul & Beans because it’s in Koreatown in LA, meaning it should be PRETTY LEGIT. We ordered the mango bingsoo (what I usually get in Davis) priced at $ 10.95. Kinda steep, but whatever, if it was gonna be good then maybe it would be worth it. We got our bingsoo and took a bite… BLAND. Mangos were not sweet and juicy like the Davis place and the ice was flavorless and too fine in my opinion. Overall this bingsoo was not sweet or flavorful enough for me and I was extremely disappointed in Sul & Beans.

Summer weather calls for some cold dessert
This place is popular for their shaved ice. They have many flavors to choose from.
They have an interesting system for being seated. First, place your name on the sign in sheet. When they call you in, they will seat you. After you get seated, then you walk up to the counter to order your food.
My friend and I shared the green tea bingsoo (shaved ice). It was $ 10, and can be shared between two people. Whole bowl was covered in green tea powder, condensed milk, red beans, and almonds. Instead of ice, it was more like shaved snow that taste like milk flavor.
Definitely yummy, and would come back to try the other flavors!

4.5 stars! Sul & Beans is sooo good. However, extremely pricey! The shaved ice options run from $ 8 – 10. If you really look at the ingredients it takes to make, this is seriously a very very overpriced dessert (ice and some fruit…)
F O O D O R D E R E D
1. Strawberry Shaved Ice (⁴⁄₅ stars): Yum! They place a whole bunch of thinly sliced strawberries throughout the entire bowl of shaved ice, so you don’t have to worry about ending up with mostly ice. Drizzled with delicious condensed milk on top, and the «ice» is soft and poofy.
2. Green Tea Shaved Ice (⁴⁄₅ stars): More like green tea powder, but it’s still really good. The green tea flavor is legit and not weirdly artificial. There is also red bean and some square mochi’s on top, which pair perfectly together. Their red beans aren’t as good as Okrumong’s homemade red beans, but still good.
3. Mango Shaved Ice (³⁄₅ stars): Pretty good but nothing too special. Just mangos and ice.
4. Injeolmi toast (⁴⁄₅ stars): TASTY! The bread is soft, and the flavor is so unique. Love it.
O V E R A L L
Great dessert spot to go after a meal in Ktown. I’ve taken several friends here before and they’ve all been pretty impressed. Pricey, but good. I’ll be back!

I think I came here at a good time, because it was not busy at all. It was about 4 in the afternoon though, so it was a bit of an odd time.
This was definitely some of the best bing soo I have ever had. This might be because I’m in Illinois and there aren’t great places here.
Their coffee here is pretty decent if you like sweet lattes. I also got a bing soo to shae, definitely enough for two people. I got the strawberry bing soo. So pretty! The strawberries were layered and perfectly fresh and sweet, the mochi was cute and the ice was milk crushed ice. It was not just ice with milk poured over it, it was really milk ice which was awesome. Also came with a tiny cup of condensed milk, which was really cute.
Really nice atmosphere too, pretty chill.

The bowl size is good for a party of 2. It’s about $ 10/​bowl, 65% of ice, not worth. They’re pretty stingy on the condense milk; given a small cup on the side, probably less than an ounce… jeezus. I need my condense milk for extra extra flavor. Maybe I could’ve asked for more, but I was too lazy to get up and the guy wasn’t friendly at the counter. So I didn’t even bother.
I’ll try the fruit ones next time, looks like they pack it more.

There is something beautiful in simple, milk bingsoo. Since returning to the U. S from South Korea, there has been a search for truly delicious Classic Milk Bingsoo and this one is pretty close to it. The ice is light and fluffy, the red bean complements the milk ice and the rice cakes have a great consistency and flavor. They are generous with the sizing, giving you a huge portion of ice, and red bean. They also provide extra milk sauce to add to your bingsoo.
Why is this not a perfect five? The serving size is rather large, but they also give a ton of red beans which became more overwhelming as you get further down. The ice also doesn’t have that light, sweet milky taste I love from my favorite spot in Daegu. The extra milk sauce helps with this, but its still lacking. I definitely recommend this place because its great for the price.
Try the original before getting some of the other stuff!

Packed with so many people but was seated fairly quickly despite having a party of 7.
Shared the mango bingsoo and the rice punch slushy. The rice punch was good but sooooo sweet. Made the mango bingsoo taste tart. Probably prefer it to be a little more watered down.
Only downside was their seating/​ordering system. Apparently you can’t order until you are seated. And you are seated by first putting your name down on a waiting list. After which can you proceed to order at the counter cafeteria style where the only menu is located. There’s gotta be a better way to do it…

When I’m not in LA, multiple people have asked me if I’ve been to Sul & Beans when I say that I live in LA! And as their name goes far, their shaved ice is pretty good! Definitely come with friends to share, as one bowl can serve 2 – 3 people.
We were just on a misutgaru (roasted grains powder) love and had the injulmi toast and the bingsoo! Within the injulmi toast there’s the super chewy rice cake with the misutgaru powder. The flavor is good and the shaved ice (or more like milk) is nice and fluffy.
And the service is nice :) even if there’s a lot of people, you get your bingsoo pretty quick.

wow! I cannot get enough of this place. I came here twice in my short stay in LA. I am obsessed with their bingsu especially bc the shaved ice is milky and sweet! It also came with a small cup of condensed milk for added sweetness. So delicious and refreshing on a hot day! I got the mango and injeolmi (rice cake) bingsu with a separate side of red bean ($ 1 extra). It’s more worth it to get it this way to get more delicious snow ice :)
The place was so busy but service was quick. Staff was so friendly. Craving this again already!

Came here on a weekday around 9 PM. The place was packed and there was a waiting list. Even so, we were seated within minutes. We got the Mango Bingsoo, and it was delicious. Fresh, sweet mango with slightly sweet milk ice was a refreshing combination.
Food — ⁴⁄₅
Ambiance — ⁴⁄₅
Service — ⁴⁄₅
Overall — ⁴⁄₅

I’ve had shaved ice at many other Ktown establishments (Anko, IOTA, Concerto, SnowLA, Bene, Yellow House — I have a «tiny» sweet tooth…) and Sul & Beans is is definitely one of the better ones!
Reasonable price, good flavor and texture, plenty of seating — we didn’t encounter any lines on a Friday evening even though the place was definitely crowded.
Had the green tea bingsoo and the sweetness is just right. I also like that the condensed milk is served on the side so you can adjust based on personal preference.
Blockheads is still my no 1 fav but in Ktown Sul & Beans is the place to go.

It’s located on the second floor of a busy plaza in ktown. We ordered the mango one and it took a while to get our order because they were so busy. The size is pretty small for the price, but the shaved ice is really soft and fluffy. They also aren’t cheap with the mango, and there are chunks of mangoes throughout the entire dessert. You can also ask for more condensed milk if you want it sweeter.

Keep your eyes peeled when you’re looking for this place, I had to loop around 2 times before finding it. It’s located in the same plaza as Hmart, Curry House, etc. on the second floor. You can park in the parking structure, free with validation. Been hearing a lot of great things about both the toast and bingsoo so we decided to try one of each. We went with the Green Tea Bingsoo and Injeolmi Toast, both great choices.
Green Tea Bingsoo: Serves 2 – 3 people easily. Toppings include: matcha powder, red beans, mochi, almonds, and condensed milk. Probably one of the best shaved snows I’ve had, it wasn’t too sweet, different flavors and textures from every bite. I couldn’t stop eating it.
Injeolmi Toast: Comes with 8 pieces, I think it was toast with mochi and cheese in the middle, but I’m not really too sure. Regardless, it was delicious again, I asked for a side of condensed milk to drizzle on top which I thought made the toast even better. Perfectly toasted on the outside, sweet and chewy on the inside. Really good to complement with the bingsoo.
I heard rumors that they are opening a location in Buena Park which is 5 minutes from my house, so I’m pretty excited. Will be back to try the other menu items!

2016 Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE — ⁰¹⁵⁄₁₀₀
3.5 stars, but rounding up to 4 for good measure :)
I recently went on a trip to Seoul, Korea and was having major food withdrawals. I randomly decided to take a visit to Koreatown to get some of my cravings satisfied. Sul & Beans seemed like one of the best patbingsu places, so I decided to check it out!
It’s located in this H Mart Plaza with a bunch of stores on several different floors. There’s a parking structure, with free 2 hour parking WITH validation. DO NOT FORGET TO VALIDATE, as it’s a steep $ 1.50 per every 15 minutes if you don’t! YIKES!
Sul & Beans is located on the second level. I came on a Friday night around 10pm and the place was packed, but the wait wasn’t long. There are a lot of tables/​seating.
I ended up getting the taro bingsu, which had some sort of crunchy topping (not sure what it was exactly), red bean, and 4 large pieces of rice cake. Took about 5 – 10 minutes to prepare. I think all of the patbingsus were around $ 10. It was a decent size and would probably be perfect to share between two people. I got one for myself because I hadn’t had dinner and was starving: P
As far as flavorwise goes, it was sprinkled with some sort of taro powder, so the shaved ice itself wasn’t actually flavored. The red bean was pretty fresh and they had a vat of red bean brewing towards the front of the store! The cubes of rice cake on top were pretty good too, although not the best I’ve had. The dish also came with a small cup of condensed milk, which came in handy once I got through the top layer of shaved ice/​taro powder and it was less flavorful underneath.
Overall, I thought it was pretty decent, although I think the patbingsu I had in Korea was a bit better than this. I am interested in visiting Sul & Beans again in the future to try more of their flavors. It seemed like the strawberry might be the most popular flavor. Will return again to try it!

Where doth thy time go at Sul & Beans? Mostly on a waiting list wherein you, like many others, heard the major hype revolving around this legendary shaved ice place.
So, of all shaved ice places, why here? Well… It’s very nice and simple, no extravagant toppings or hipster flavors, just good shaved ice. After all, a good shaved ice shouldn’t need more than condensed milk and a few toppings. So in case you haven’t inferred, I have enthusiastically displayed my fancy with their shaved ice; it’s delicious.
Now, what confuses me is how they seat people: you write your name on a waiting list and once they seat you… You go order at the front; no waiters and no menus (except at the front), you order and pick up at the front. What if I decided to sit at my table for 2 hours before ordering just because I like to wait? For me, it seems like an inefficient way to control traffic but that’s just my two cents… that ultimately made me give this place 3 instead of 5 stars.
Still, Sul & Beans is worth trying at least once out of the many shaved ice places out in ktown.

After a dinner of Korean bbq, we walked over to Sul & Beans to satisfy my sweet tooth.
Sul & Beans was located on an upper level of the mini-​mall Madang Courtyard. At 8:15pm on a weekend night, there was already a wait, so we added our name to the waitlist posted out front and were given a table after 15 minutes.
A buzzer was provided once we placed our order at the counter. It happily buzzed less than 10 minutes later, so I went to pick up our order.
The 3 of us shared an order of the black sesame bingsoo $ 8.95 which was an impressive bowl of shaved ice topped with black sesame, sliced almonds, a generous dollop of red bean, several large chunks of soft mochi, and drizzled with condensed milk, with a small cup of additional condensed milk on the side to be added to taste. When we tucked in, we found that the mound of soft delicate shaved ice to be layered with additional black sesame and condensed milk tastily throughout. It was a delicious, light, yummy treat, and was worth the reasonable wait!

They serve bingsoo here, which is a Korean dessert that’s made from shaved ice. Fluffy ice is used as a base and condensed milk, red beans, mochi, and other ingredients are topped on to make something delicious. It is very similar to Taiwanese shaved snow.
I got the matcha bingsoo and fell in love. It came with little mochi chunks to add some additional texture. The atmosphere is pretty nice too and the orders come in cute trays. The portions are huge, though, so be prepared to share with someone else or come on a cheat day.
My only complaint is that my table was sticky and a little gross (no doubt from the condensed milk and sugar). I got some gunk on my sleeves when I rested my hands on the table and my phone had some stuff stuck on the back after I laid on the table.

I wanted to try the more popular version of «OKbingsul» in Fullerton and since I was in the area, I decided to drop by. It’s on the second floor of a hidden Korean shopping plaza in K-​town.
No one was in the front to help us but I saw a sign-​in sheet so I put my name down. Then people started to just walk in… I was confused. After a few people got in… A worker turned them away, saying you had to get a table before ordering. OK. Now I know how it works.
Note: sign in and wait to be called for a table
When we called in, our table was stuffed between 2 overcrowded tables, one with an extra chair (one of our chairs, most likely, bc we were missing ¼)… And a table with a stroller. Needless to say, we couldn’t get into our table. AND the table wasn’t cleaned either… Why did you seat us if the table wasn’t 1) cleaned and 2) habitable for 4 people???
So… We had to ask the extra person to move so my sister and I could get into the seats lining the wall… And now, we were stuck.
Turns out, we had to go order at the counter… UMMMM… Well, darn. My sister asked her BF to order and hmm… Yeah… I had to end up getting out again to change the order… Also, the «self-​serve water» came in little Dixie shot cups… We ended up using 10 cups… Isn’t that more of a waste than giving us ONE regular sized cup??? Cmon…
Also, we got NO service after being seated. Don’t expect it.
The food.
We got the classic toast. It was really toasted, I mean really crunchy but the mochi in the middle wasn’t melted enough… And it lacked a sweetness. It was very very mild. No ice cream, whipped cream, condensed milk or anything. Just some soy bean dust (I think that’s what it was.) ³⁄₅ meh.
We got the classic with mochi and the black sesame with red bean. Apparently, the red bean is imported from Korea so I was wondering if it tastes different. It does. It tasted more like cooked, slightly mashed beans… Not very sweet… And it had some really hard parts in there… Unexpected and it hurt my teeth. There were only 5 cubes of mochi… Very little for how much shaved ice there was. We had to ask for 3 refills of the «condensed milk» …which wasn’t really condensed milk. They definitely watered it down to ¹⁄₈ of the sweetness with milk. It wasn’t thick at all, only slightly sweet…
Overall, this place had 1) bad service, 2) no AC, 3) no proper seating arrangements, and 4) mediocre desert. $ 28 for 2 shaved ice dishes and a toast. NO.
The only thing they did that I liked was that they layered the toppings in the dessert. You could see them alternating. Other than that, nothing. I won’t be back. I’ll just go to Okbingul and avoid this place all together.