Paju café near Ilsan: sunset mango snow bingsu for 3, Fruit Forest

Why I went to Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store for mango bingsu

Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store (과일의숲 파주직영점) is a fresh-fruit bingsu (Korean shaved-ice dessert) café on Dolgoji-gil in the Simhaksan food alley in Paju. What says summer? Juicy, sweet fruit! 🍑🍈🍋🍇🍉🥭🫐 I love watermelon, peaches, strawberries and melon, but I think the king of summer fruit is mango🥭🥭💛

Lots of good mango bingsu places are popping up everywhere lately, and today I visited Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store, a mango bingsu spot in Paju.

Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store hours, location and parking

• ⏰ Hours: 09:00 - 20:30
• 📍 On Dolgoji-gil in the Simhaksan food alley
• 🅿️ Dedicated parking available

I went on a weekday around 7:30 pm, I think? I'd had a pretty heavy dinner (Puri Chicken and cheese balls, haha;), so I wanted something cold, fresh and sweet to finish.

A showcase like a fruit shop: what fruit do they use?

When you walk into the 2nd-floor café, seasonal fruit is lined up in a showcase, and I honestly thought it was a premium fruit shop! They say they buy top-grade fruit at the first auction at the wholesale market every dawn, and maybe that's why it looks so good, right?!

Gold mangoes, apple mangoes, black watermelon, pineapple, grapes, melon, plums and more, all seasonal fruit that's at its tastiest right now.

Many fruit cafes these days quietly make desserts with fruit that's not good enough to sell uncut, but Fruit Forest is really serious about top-grade fruit, so they say they "use fruit that could be sold uncut"!

Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store bingsu menu and prices

Top-grade fruit bingsu, from fresh mango snow bingsu to melon bingsu, at a reasonable price

Most fruit bingsu at Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store is ₩28,000, and the mixed fruit bingsu is ₩32,000. It's a place that's serious about high-sugar fruit, so I was really looking forward to the fresh fruit bingsu!

• Fresh mango snow bingsu ₩28,000
• Peach snow bingsu ₩28,000
• Melon snow bingsu ₩28,000
• 10-fruit mixed bingsu ₩32,000
• Injeolmi (roasted rice-cake powder) red bean bingsu ₩25,000

Besides fresh fruit bingsu, they also sell hwachae (Korean fruit punch) and whole fruit! There's fresh juice made from freshly blended fruit too, so you can pick by taste. They even have sweet treats like croffles, cakes and churros, so it's a fruit café that's perfect for group get-togethers.

Sunset through floor-to-ceiling windows and a pet-friendly terrace: how's the atmosphere?

A spacious, comfortable café with a terrace too

Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store is spacious and comfortable with floor-to-ceiling windows, so if you go around sunset you can see the sunset so beautifully. It was breezy and lovely, and there's a terrace too, and the terrace even allows pets, which is great.

Fresh mango snow bingsu (serves 2–3) for ₩28,000: what does it look like?

Fruit Forest's fresh mango snow bingsu is ₩28,000 for 2–3 people, and they take the high-quality, high-sugar fruit from the showcase and cut it as soon as you order.

I could actually see them pulling out two mangoes and prepping them right there.

Soft snow bingsu that melts in your mouth is piled with fresh mango, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with mango purée. Mango sauce comes separately too, and drizzling it on later was delicious.

Is it enough for three people?

One fresh mango snow bingsu was plenty for three of us to stuff ourselves. Three of us in total, counting me, and we couldn't help gasping when we saw how the fresh mango snow bingsu looked. It's said to be for 2–3 people, and it's definitely enough to get full.

Eating it, I felt like one side had apple mango and the other had gold mango, but maybe that's just a feeling, haha.

How does Fruit Forest's fresh mango snow bingsu taste?

The mango in Fruit Forest's fresh mango snow bingsu was sweet and perfectly ripened. First, the most important thing, the mango flavor!!!!!! I could understand their pride in using top-quality fresh fruit, and it was so tender you could eat it with just your gums, no teeth needed. The soft, melting snow bingsu went well with it too.

Oh!! And the cheese cubes on top are a kick too. There's mango sauce? purée? inside the snow bingsu as well, so you can enjoy it to the end. I've had a lot of mango bingsu lately, but on fruit quality it already feels like game over..! The whole time I just kept repeating, "Wow, why is this mango so sweet?" 😂

The ice is milk ice, maybe that's why, so no water pooled to the end and it stayed thick and rich, which I loved even more! Adding the mango sauce now and then gives it a different taste, so there's no time to get tired of it!

Looking for mango bingsu in Ilsan or Paju? Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store

When the fruit itself is this good, you kind of feel healthier (?), you know that feeling, haha. A less guilty dessert…! If you're looking for properly cool, proper fruit bingsu in Paju, I really recommend Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store 👍

Next time I want to try the peach or melon bingsu!! If you're after a mango bingsu spot in Paju or Ilsan near Simhaksan, I recommend Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store.