Lifestyle – Koreans, The World’s Best Bakers?

All photos of this article are from Google.

Hey lovelies, it’s a time to back to blogger worlds after a long, long, really long gap.

During the time that I was away from blogging (almost 9 months), I learned French (not fluency but still intermediate.), I dyed my hair in darker brown and fell in love with a boy with green eyes!

I decide to start my blog again with a sweet post after a while, and what can be sweeter than talking about sweets? Hmm… A Korean sweet?!

 1. Koreans in France:

“If you want a fresh crusty baguette, Paris would be the obvious place to shop; but the winners of the world’s premier baking competition… come from a country usually associated more with fermented cabbage than bread.”

So proclaimed the BBC is reporting that a team of bakers from Korea had taken first place at the “2016 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie”, the world’s most prestigious baking competition.

Lee Chang Min, Kim Jong Ho, and Park Yong Joo beat the teams from 11 other regions, including France, the United States, China, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. They won over the judges with a sculpture representing the Korean sport horseback archery; one that integrated, among other elements, mini burgers and salted viennoiseries. They also prepared “Challah”, an Israeli bread, and “Kanellbulle”, a Swedish style cinnamon bun.

2. Café Ogada (오가다) Opens in the United States:

Starbucks might be bringing the American style coffee house scene to Korea, but Ogada is bringing Korean traditional tea to the United States.

The Korean traditional tea café Ogada opens its first U.S. branch in the southern California city of Fullerton in July 2016. Ogada CEO Choi Seung Yoon expects big things from the branch. On its opening, he told newspapers, “Since the United States, and southern California, in particular, is a place where several cultures coexist, I expect Ogada’s menu, which harmoniously blends Korean and modern elements, will receive a warm reception.”

Ogada was founded in 2009 as the world’s first takeout café that specialized in Korean medicinal teas (항방차). It's signature “Korean blending tea” line consists of tasty and healthy concoctions made with ingredients like ginseng, ginger, and jujube. It now has 140 shops in Korea, as well as overseas branches in China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam and now, the United States.

3. Cold Desserts Get Hot in Canada

“Snowy Village” is a Korean dessert café specializing in shaved ice (빙수) and fish-shaped pastries (붕어빵), filled with red bean, sweet potato, Injeolmi rice cakes (인절미) or custard and prepared with croissant dough.

It is a foodie favorite in Vancouver, where the café opened a branch in the suburb of Richmond in 2015. Its picturesque, Instagram-friendly creations proved such a massive hit that the café is perpetually packed.

In 2016, the company opened two more branches in the Vancouver area, including one on Robson Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver. It also expanded to the United States, opening three locations in the Los Angeles area and another in Dallas, Texas.

4. Fish Bread Gets Luxury Makeover in Britain

The Goldfish Bread (붕어빵), is an age-old wintertime favorite in Korea.

Introduced to Korea in the early 20^th century, the pastry is made by pouring batter into a cast-iron mold shaped like a crucian carp. The red-bean paste is added to the batter to make the filling. The batter is then baked like a waffle.

In Korea, the treat is very cheap. Just 1.000 KRW (1$) is usually sufficient to buy a bag of three or four.

Overseas, however, it’s a different story. Bibigo is an international Korean restaurant chain run by conglomerate CJ. Bibigo’s Soho, London, branch offers its exclusive Bibigo Goldfish, a creative take on the 붕어빵. The carp-shaped waffle, filled with red-bean paste, is picturesquely presented with almond crumble, blueberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It sells for GBP 5, or roughly 9.000 KRW. Despite the price, the restaurant sells over 20 servings a day.

Bibigo Soho also serves a Hotteok (호떡), a sweet pancake served with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. It too sells for GBH 5. In Korea, you can buy one for 1.000 KRW (1$), albeit without the ice cream or the maple syrup.

Did my post make you hungry? So me either! Let’s go for some freshly baked loaves of bread right now.

But before that, don’t forget to leave a comment.

1- KOREA monthly magazine of tourism & the cultural organization, February 2017

Xoxo,

PrincessGilda