Café culture is a big deal in Korea. There are more than 12,000 cafes in Seoul, South Korea, alone. Many cafes are thematic: Harry Potter cafés, wedding cafés, kawaii cafés… And many offer an opportunity to interact with a specific type of animal, such as puppies, kittens, and even meerkats. But all of them have the same thing in common: They serve quality coffee and espresso drinks, as well as a selection of desserts.
Monica Lee plans to bring a similar concept to St. Louis. Her Korean-inspired dessert café, Spoonful, opens Thursday in Creve Coeur.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
Before launching the concept, Lee worked in public relations in Beijing and regularly traveled throughout Asia and Europe. In every city she visited, she would find a Korean-style café to enjoy bingsu, Korea’s national dessert. The pandemic brought Lee back to her hometown of St. Louis, but she was dismayed to find that no places served her favorite sweet treat.
Bingsu is made of shaved ice, and the texture is identical to freshly fallen snow. The only way to make it properly is with a bingsu-making machine. The traditional bingsu flavor “patbingsu” is comprised of ice and milk, and it’s topped with red bean paste.
At Spoonful, the menu includes bingsu that’s topped with such fruits as blueberry, strawberry, and mango. The cookies and cream bingsu and a playful Fruity Pebbles version are guaranteed crowd pleasers. The matcha bingsu (pictured at right), topped with sweet red bean paste, is complex, sophisticated, and not to be missed.
Other planned flavors include a Chocolate-banana bingsu and a Vietnamese coffee version. Although the dessert is always served with a side of sweetened condensed milk to pour on top, bingsu is not excessively sweet.
The café also serves taiyaki, arguably one of the world’s coolest-looking desserts. Always shaped like a fish, they are traditionally filled with red bean paste and served warm. Spoonful offers both the traditional variety and a Nutella-filled option. The café’s taiyaki are somewhat unusual in their texture and taste, with the crisp, golden brown exterior similar to a very eggy Belgian waffle.
Lee also partnered with Blueprint Coffee to offer “high-quality drinks.” Spoonful also offers a variety of bubble teas.
“In Korea, cafés are warm and welcoming spots with soft lighting and inviting decor,” says Lee. Spoonful captures that inviting feeling, with coral-hued walls and blonde wood accents.
There is seating for around 20 people along one wall. The counter takes up the other half of the space, where guests can order and watch the taiyaki being made fresh.
A slat-wood wall is Instagram-ready, unadorned except for a neon light of the illustrated symbol that Lee chose for her café, the ubiquitous Korean hand gesture that symbolizes love and peace.
For now, Spoonful will be open from noon–9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Lee plans on extending the hours during the summer. As she knows, nothing is more refreshing than an icy bingsu on a humid day—or an unseasonably warm evening in February.
