Korea Trending: 韓流甜品瘋, 爆谷變身高檔食物！
A new trend is re-shaping the dessert market in Korea, and those in the spotlight are popcorns and ice creams. Popcorns are becoming high-end goods; heading away from the easily consumable movie snacks, to luxury products that can be found at department stores.
一股新潮流正在重新塑造韓國甜品市場，而主角竟然是爆谷與雪糕，爆谷正成為高檔食物，逐漸遠離戲院，一下子變成百貨公司的名貴產品。
Gourmet Popcorn
Photo courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
First runner up is Cream Pop. This store is only a month old with its grand opening on October 4th. Cream Pop features gourmet popcorns in various flavors, such as plain, sweet kettle, sweet onion, chili onion, cheddar cheese, caramel, oreo, strawberry cinnamon, fancy nuts, and Cream Pop mix of cheddar and caramel. Cream Pop first went viral on Instagram, and now the business is blooming with its hot location in the heart of Seoul’s trending fashion mecca, Garosu-gil.
Photos courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
首先是第二位的Cream Pop。在10月4日才正式開業。它提供了不同口味的爆谷，包括原味、甜麥片味、甜洋蔥味、辣洋蔥味、車打奶酪味、焦糖味、OREO味、草莓肉桂味、腰果味以及車打焦糖味。Cream Pop從Instagram受到關注，直到現在座落首爾的時尚心臟地帶——街路樹街。
Photos courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
The popcorn bags follow the high-end trend with simple popcorn illustrations on its paper bag. The package is even more gentrified in KuKuRuZa’s stores, mainly found at department stores. Their popcorns are a bit sweeter than the ones in Cream Pop, but their packages come in different shapes and materials that would totally make them giftworthy. After all, it’s a department store brand.
爆谷袋貫徹了其高檔風格，印有簡單的爆谷圖案。同樣可以在百貨公司找到的KuKuRuZa，包裝更是華麗。他們的爆谷比起Cream Pop甜一些，但包裝有著不同形狀與物料，用來送禮亦不失禮，不過都是因為它是百貨公司的品牌。
‘Dry Ice’ Ice cream
Photo by Jisu J
Likewise, ice creams are coming out in eye-catching looks. Located in the heart of Itaewon, the largest foreign-clustered district in Seoul, a newly opened ice cream shop Bastille steals the hearts of passengers nearby first with their exotic interior, then with their unique ice creams.
同樣地，雪糕亦以著搶眼的形象登場。在首爾最大的外國人聚集地區—梨泰院的心臟地帶，一所新開張的雪糕Bastille成功以其充滿異國風情的裝潢和獨特的雪糕擄走不少人的心。
Photo by Jisu J
Bastille offers three different flavors of ice creams in dry ice, with the most popular one as Choco Chex ice cream with French breakfast toppings. Other flavors include cinnamon toast crunch and Kellogg’s cornflakes. The ice creams live up to their names, tasting exactly the same. Bastille features their ice creams in two layers of plastic cups with dry ice in between, making the ice cream look as if it’s diffusing smoke. Definitely a must-try!
它提供了三種不同口味的乾冰雪糕，最受歡迎的是巧克力脆脆雪糕配法式Toppings ，而另一款口味則是肉桂脆吐司和玉米片，同樣不負眾望，一樣好吃。Bastille的雪糕杯是兩層的，底層加了乾冰，在煙霧瀰漫下，雪糕就有如在仙境般，絕對是必試之選。
Macaroon Ice Cream
Photo by Jisu J
Another trend sweeping the dessert market is macaroon ice cream. This trend has even been picked up by a local major retailer, Paris Baguette, for commercialisation. The original store for these macaroon ice creams is Penguin Macaron in Daehakro. At 5 p.m. on weekdays and 4 p.m. on weekends, the store starts selling 300 macaroon ice creams daily. A big line forms almost all the time, and the macaroons are sold out in less than two hours. The sweetness of ice creams is enhanced by extra sweet macaroon covers.
而另一款橫掃甜品界的就是馬卡龍雪糕，而這個口味已被一些本地連鎖店如Paris Baguette商業化，不過最先發明馬卡龍雪糕的商店其實是在首爾大學路的Penguin Macaron。平日在下午5時開門，週未則是下午4時，每日只賣300客馬卡龍雪糕，每次都是大排長龍，不足2小時便完全售罄。甜甜的馬卡龍更是提升了雪糕本來的甜味。
Photo courtesy of blogger Nadrimi
Popcorn + Ice cream
Photo courtesy of blogger Yhjung1
Before you hit the exit button, however, take a look at this hybrid. Located near Penguin Macaron, the ice cream store Flip Pop features caramel corn pop, an ice cream with caramel flavored popcorns decorating layers of towered ice cream. This store even offers a chance to create your own 7-seconds long flip book.
先別趕著走！在Penguin Macaron附近還有一間名為Flip Pop的混合雪糕店，在雪糕上灑了一層焦糖味爆谷，你還有機會在這裡做一本7秒的手翻書。
Amid the approaching cold weather, Koreans are still reaching out for these unique desserts. What do you think will come next?
在這麼冷的天氣下，韓國人還是吃這樣特別的甜品，下一次又會給我們帶來什麼新創意呢？
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