Spoonful, a Korean dessert cafe, has opened in St. Louis County

Spoonful, a new dessert cafe, opened Feb. 17 at 12943 Olive Blvd. in the Olive Arcade Plaza in unincorporated St. Louis County, as reported by St. Louis Magazine. The cafe specializes in bingsu, a flavored shaved ice dessert from Korea, which is made to order.

Prior to opening Spoonful, owner Monica Lee, who was born and raised in St. Louis, worked in public relations in China. While abroad, she could easily find bingsu – her favorite dessert. But during visits back home, she noticed the lack of bingsu in the St. Louis area.

“I would travel throughout East Asia [and] Southeast Asia,” Lee said. “Everywhere I went, I could always find a cafe that [sold] bingsu. I thought it would be great if I could offer the same bingsu cafe setting here in St. Louis.”

Spoonful serves an assortment of bingsu flavors, such as Strawberry Station, Mango Tango, Blueberry Fields and Fruity Pebbles. Customers can choose from Asian-inspired flavors too, namely Matcha-matic and Injeolmi, mochi covered in a roasted soybean powder.

“[Bingsu] absorbs any type of flavor super well,” Lee said. “There is a base flavor: It’s like if you melted a rich vanilla ice cream and ran it through a snow machine. But you can add sauces to change the flavor. … The possibilities are endless.”

Alongside bingsu, Spoonful brings another Asian dessert to the table: taiyaki. This fish-shaped pastry originated from Japan, but was introduced to Korea during the 20th century. On the outside, taiyaki has a waffle-like exterior made of dough, while the inside is stuffed with a red bean filling. “It’s kind of chewy and doughy on the inside,” she said. “I have two flavors, sweet red bean and Nutella, which [have] been selling crazy fast. I make the dough to the quality I like. I knew a family friend who sold taiyaki, and I trained with them and [learned] the science behind it.”

Additionally, customers have a multitude of beverages to choose from. Lee spent the past year curating a bubble tea selection, including taro, mango and green apple flavors, to name a few. The bubble teas can be customized to customers’ liking by adjusting sweetness levels or adding lychee jelly or cream caps (which add a richness to beverages similar to cold foam at Starbucks), in addition to the standard boba pearls. Spoonful also partnered with Blueprint Coffee to bring various coffee drinks and lattes to the menu.

The 1,000-square-foot cafe seats roughly 20 people, but will increase seating in April or May once the weather gets warmer, adding about 16 more outdoor seats in front of the cafe. Hours of operation are noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, but Lee is hoping to expand hours to transform Spoonful into a morning cafe as well.

“Once we get more of our coffee gear installed, I hope to open earlier in the morning,” Lee said. “I want [Spoonful] to be warm and inviting for everyone, not intimidating, not pretentious.”