Paju café with my sister: ₩28,000 unfrozen mango bingsu, Fruit Forest

Where is Fruit Forest near Simhaksan in Paju, and when is it open?

Fruit Forest Paju Direct Store (과일의숲 파주직영점) is a mango bingsu café on Dolgoji-gil near Simhaksan in Paju, 10 minutes by car from Unjeongjungang Station and 4 minutes from Paju Book City. It is open from 10 AM to 10 PM. I went to this Simhaksan café piled high with unfrozen fresh mango, and it has become my number one mango bingsu place ever.

My sister from Anyang has started to have trouble with near vision, so we came to Paju to get her glasses made. Her eyeglass-shop appointment left a big gap in the middle, and while wondering where to go, we ended up at this Simhaksan mango bingsu spot, Fruit Forest.

Simhaksan is full of old-timer restaurants so established that they say they don't care about rank or reputation. And in the middle of it, a newly opened "holy land of mango bingsu", Fruit Forest. It uses a whole building, and a huge sign at the entrance says "holy land of mango bingsu". At that point my expectations were just, hmm, they must be decent. At that point!!!

Inside Fruit Forest Paju: interior and seating

The inside of Fruit Forest is L-shaped, with tidy, roomy furniture placement and big windows open on all sides that make it feel airy.

We came at an in-between time on a weekday, neither lunch nor dinner, so I expected it to be calm, but there were more customers than I thought and it kind of caught us off guard.

The mid-century interior isn't the soft, dreamy style that's trendy these days, but it's more than cool enough for this hot, humid season. The plush sofa seats are roomy too, so it seemed perfect for resting quietly.

Bright sun through big windows, a fluffy sofa in a blasting air-conditioned room, an iced Americano and a book. That is the ultimate healing for me.

There are also outdoor seats shaded by green trees. They say the weather in Korea has recently turned into dry European weather because of climate change, so aren't outdoor seats like this a blessing at a time like this?

We're extreme introvert (I-type) sisters who sit in the farthest corner wherever we go, so we picked the very farthest corner again and went off to order.

What is on the Fruit Forest menu besides bingsu?

At the very top of the Fruit Forest menu are photos of bingsu, and there are also juices made with fresh fruit and desserts made to order. The "holy land of bingsu" claim doesn't seem exaggerated, as the photos at the top of the menu proved. And like the name suggests, they seem serious about fruit, and the juices made with fresh fruit were impressive too.

The desserts made right when you order looked tempting too.

Churros and banana brûlée.

There are assorted croffles (croissant waffles) and even seasoned corn, so it looks good for group outings or coming with family.

There's also a today-only discount menu, so going for that seems like a good strategy.

The fresh fruit display at the counter and the fruit refrigerators

In front of the Fruit Forest counter, fresh fruit is lined up in abundance, and they say the fruit with price tags in the two big refrigerators is also sold separately. The reason I thought "this place is the real deal!!!" even before eating was that fruit crowded in front of the counter.

So what does this much fresh fruit mean? They don't use frozen! And what does not using frozen mean? That they won't cheaply cover things with sweet syrups or preserves, but compete on the fruit's own flavor and quality, right? Seeing this, my expectations started turning into a pounding excitement!

A note saying the fruit is ripening nicely adds even more certainty to my trust.

I was once so hooked on mango bingsu that I visited everywhere famous, starting with the Shilla Hotel. So would this place write a new history, or would it just leave me with a memory of having been there?

The two big refrigerators held a variety of fruit, and the ones with price tags are for sale. It was enough to make me wonder whether someone in the owner's family is a wholesaler.

How is the iced Americano at Fruit Forest?

The iced Americano at Fruit Forest had no sourness, a heavy body and a refreshing, crisp finish, a textbook iced Americano ("ah-ah" in Korean slang). I ordered it first. Before coming here I'd had absurdly bad cold brew at a brunch buffet in Ilsan, so my mouth felt awful, but after one sip of this, the chaos in my mouth was sorted out in one shot, one kill.

Is the ₩28,000 fresh mango bingsu expensive?

The fresh mango bingsu at Fruit Forest costs ₩28,000 and comes in a big brass bowl, packed tight with unfrozen fresh mango without a gap. Before eating I wondered if it was pricey, but after eating, I completely changed my mind.

And everyone! It's finally here!!! A sight that made even my sister, who normally shows no emotion, nearly collapse.

In a fancy, huge brass bowl, mango mango ("maenggo") packed so tightly there wasn't a gap in sight. Out of habit I tried to grab the bowl and spin it 360 degrees, but it was so big and heavy that it made my arm do the 360 instead. What a monstrous sight.

Forget those half-hearted bingsu with a few frozen pieces and a squirt of condensed milk. This is the dignity of the real thing.

It was so pretty and gorgeous that I hated to put a spoon in it and hesitated a long time, then scooped just a little from the top. Please, just go here! Before eating I wondered if ₩28,000 was expensive, but my sister, the coldest person in the world, said that if a hotel sold this they could charge ₩100,000...

The taste of fresh mango and milk snow ice

First, the properly ripened fresh fruit is incredible. One big bite and it's like, wait, is this Thailand? The Philippines? It gives you the illusion of being in Southeast Asia. And the texture of the delicately shaved milk snow ice, with nothing rough about it, slaps Sulbing (a famous bingsu chain) on both cheeks.

It isn't a crude imitation with all kinds of syrups; the mango's fresh, tangy sweetness is maximized, and the milk's nuttiness and softness back it up. We both ended up praising this as the top mango bingsu place we've had in our lives.

The passion fruit purée served alongside

The fresh mango bingsu at Fruit Forest comes with a bright yellow purée, and it was not mango but a passion fruit purée. And that was a masterstroke. If the mango is the gentlest, kindest sweetness, the purée with passion fruit is pure bubbly energy.

Halfway through, I drizzled the tangy purée all over, and it changed completely, like a pitcher who only throws fastballs suddenly throwing a breaking ball.

Is Fruit Forest's fresh mango bingsu worth going back for?

I came with no expectations, was amazed by the huge size filled with tightly packed fresh fruit, and fell over at the quality: Fruit Forest, the Simhaksan café.

From the day after I went, I showed photos to coworkers and friends and made a fuss telling them to go. I was so, so satisfied. It was the top mango bingsu place in Paju.

I came as a sponsored reviewer, so you may trust this post less, but I was so impressed that I plan to go back soon on my own dime to prove that trust.