Daegu café for old-style patbingsu and an ice cream latte: Hands

My two middle schoolers, kids No. 1 and No. 2, were in the middle of midterms, while my youngest, kid No. 3, still an elementary schooler, was on vacation for the weekend. To let No. 1 and No. 2 study in peace, I quietly slipped out of the house with No. 3.

We didn't really have a plan, so after some thought about where to go, we ended up at Hands Coffee, a café at Dongchon Resort.

• 5-6 Hyodong-ro 6-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu
• Daily 10:00–23:00
• Open year-round

What kind of café is Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch?

Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch takes up floors 2 through 4, excluding the ground floor,

and it's popular because you can see Haemaji Bridge and the lush green Kumho River view through the floor-to-ceiling windows on any floor.

Where do you park at Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch?

There's a very large dedicated parking lot, but since this is such a big café, it wasn't easy to find an open spot.

Instead, we parked along the roadside in front of the building. There was no enforcement that day, but since there might be another time, it's probably safer to use a nearby public lot. On top of that, cars parked on both sides of the street made the road narrow, so passing oncoming cars felt a bit nerve-wracking.

Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch has an elevator, so wheelchair and stroller access is easy, and there are accessible parking spaces in the lot as well.

Ordering on the 2nd floor by kiosk

Go up to the 2nd floor and you'll find the ordering area. You can order at a kiosk too, which was fast and convenient.

Wow... such tempting desserts!

There were too many people to take a photo of the menu board, so I'm using a photo from Naver Place instead.

Brunch at Hands Coffee: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

At Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch, brunch is available daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The brunch menu includes

• Hands House Brunch ₩17,300
• Classic Ham Cheese Sandwich ₩14,800
• Soft Jambon-Beurre ₩13,800
• Chicken Granola Salad ₩14,300
• Creamy Mushroom Pasta ₩14,800
• Truffle Mushroom Soup ₩12,800

among others, and there's also a double tray set combining two brunch dishes — and this double tray set is only available here at the Dongchon Resort branch.

Finding a 3rd-floor window seat on a weekend afternoon

After ordering the bingsu (shaved ice dessert) and ice cream latte on the 2nd floor, we headed up to the 3rd floor.

It was a weekend afternoon so there were a ridiculous number of people, and there were barely any open seats, so I hardly managed to take any indoor photos.

The only seats left were bar-table spots like this one... Since we planned to stay a while, we did a bit of seat-hunting and finally claimed a window seat on our third try.

Originally we sat in this spot. The sofa chairs were comfortable, and there were outlets, which is great for laptop use, but the table was a bit narrow.

Old-style patbingsu, about 1.5 times the size of a Sulbing bingsu

The buzzer went off and we picked up the drinks we'd ordered on the 2nd floor — old-style patbingsu and an ice cream latte.

Kid No. 3 was the one who ordered it, but I was genuinely surprised by how generous the portion was. It's about 1.5 times the size of Sulbing's! So of course I ended up eating some too, haha.

There's chewy rice cake, along with almonds and walnuts that add both texture and flavor, plus a generous helping of whole red beans that aren't too sweet, which I liked even more.

Since it's the old-style patbingsu, the ice isn't milk ice but plain, roughly shaved ice, which has its own charm — and I actually preferred it that way.

My kid doesn't really like red beans and usually orders bingsu with the beans left out, so I was skeptical when she ordered the old-style version this time. But she ended up eating even more than me. She said she finally understood the true flavor of red beans, and declared she'd start putting beans in her bingsu from now on, haha.

Is the ice cream latte strong on coffee flavor?

This one's mine — an ice cream latte made with Sunghah Organic ice cream. Lattes with Sunghah Organic ice cream can be found at a lot of coffee shops these days, but maybe because Hands Coffee's coffee is so good, the coffee flavor came through much more richly than at other places.

Nice touch — they even give you a spoon for scooping up the ice cream!

On a hot summer day, I highly recommend Hands Coffee's old-style bingsu and ice cream latte.

After a relaxing time healing while taking in the beautiful views at Hands Coffee Dongchon Resort Branch, I think I'll come back next time for brunch.