This cafe contains two restaurants, owned by the same Korean lady.
THE CUPS opened in 2015 in Markham. It is a Korean restaurant focusing on Bingsu. It expanded to Steeles Ave and Finch Ave, and it soft-opened on 2023-08-19 at College St. They sell Bingsu (Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings), with 14 different toppings and 3 seasonal toppings.
STREET1988 is a Korean snack restaurant and is very popular in Korea with over 30 stores. It has opened in Singapore and Philippines. This location is the first in North America. They plan to expand into Las Vegas (USA). The franchise owner resides in Korea, and this location is owned by the same owner as THE CUPS.
STREET1988 sells croffles, cake slices, Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), Hodu-Gwaja (walnut pastry), Gyeran-Ppang (egg bread), Bungeo-Ppang (fish pastry), and drinks (latte, tea, coffee, Einspanner (Vietnamese coffee), real fruit drinks, slush/smoothie, and sparking ade).
I ordered the following:
1. Oreo Bingsu (large $15.00). Shaved ice, Oreo, Oreo powder, chocolate syrup, cheese cake, vanilla ice cream.
2. Blueberry Lemon Iced Tea ($6.00). Real blueberries and real lemons.
3. Original (Red Bean) Bungeo-Ppang ($3.00).
4. Custard Cream Bungeo-Ppang ($3.50).
5. Cheese Bacon Egg Bread ($4.99).
6. Buldak Mozza Egg Bread ($5.40).
7. Mix and Match Hodu-Gwaja ($7.99): Original (Red Bean), Custard Cream, and Cream Cheese.
After you order, you are given a pager, which will ring and buzz when your order is ready.
Asians don't like their desserts too sweet. The Oreo Bingsu was definitely not too sweet. I managed to eat the entire large bowl by myself! Yummy!
The same with the drink, not too sweet. It was fizzy.
I brought the savoury snacks home to eat.
They only accept cash or debit.
The interior is bright and clean. There are bench, table, and window counter seating. The bench seating has electrical outlets, including a USB-A and USB-C charge ports.
There is soft Korean pop music playing in the background.
There is free WiFi. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible. There is one gender-neutral washroom, which is also wheelchair accessible. There is paid neighbourhood street parking and free 1-hour neighbourhood street parking south of College St.
Review 2023-261 read more