Dessert, which no one knew about six months ago, became a hit in New York restaurants

Less than a month after The Squid Game topped the Netflix world rankings, its dessert hit New York restaurants. New york eater... We are talking about dalgon lollipops, which are now offered in various forms in many restaurants in New York, and in some they even arrange competitions using this dessert.

Korean baked goods made with sugar and baking soda appear throughout New York in a variety of interpretations. As a latte topping, ice cream flavor, donut frosting. And, of course, as in the series, in the form of a fragile disc with various figures.

In the third episode of The Squid Game, players have 10 minutes to cut the cookie pattern. They must accurately cut a circle, triangle, star or umbrella from a fragile piece of dalgon lollipops and not damage the figurine itself, otherwise they will be killed. From the 1970s to the 1990s, dalgon biscuits were sold en masse on the streets of South Korea, with torus points near schools being especially popular.

The traditional name of the snack

In Korea, the biscuits were called ppopgi (Korean cut-out) and dalgon (sweet).

In the East Village, on Halloween night, restaurant staff dressed as Squid Game soldiers stood guard at tables with guests trying to carve Dalgon figurines. It was the second day of the Squid Game themed dinner at Nowon Restaurant. The dessert dish was developed in collaboration with Noona's ice cream... It's a dalgon lollipop sticking out of vanilla ice cream, dyed with squid ink. Its dark gray color "mimics dystopia" series, explains the author of the dessert.

$ 90 tickets and 50 failed attempts

The hype around the series has sparked the imagination of Nowon owner Jae Lee to organize specific events.

“I didn't want it to be just food,” he says. "We had to get into that spirit (of the show)."

And people really got into it. Nearly 140 guests bought tickets for $ 90 and filled a restaurant where employees dressed up as Squid Game guards and played music from the show.

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But the dalgona for the Nowon party wasn't cooked in Lee's kitchen. Although it only requires two ingredients - sugar and baking soda - dalgone requires delicate processing of sugar. And this job fell to the lot of pastry chef and Oddfellows alumnus Justin Chen. In September, he did not even know about the existence of these candies, and now he has a huge list of customers who want to buy them. His regular customers include Nowon restaurants, Kimbap Lab and the recently opened 8282.

“I've had at least 50 unsuccessful attempts,” says Chen. “Dalgona is finicky. The sugar is burnt. The cookies came out too fragile, the print of the picture was invisible ... But now everything is working out ”.

Such meticulous work is very expensive. One dalgon in Mochi mochi donut costs $ 13 and a set of five costs $ 65. But, apparently, the price is not scared off fans of the "Squid Game" ... Since the Dalgone debut in New York in mid-October, sales have remained steady at an average of 75 orders per week, according to Nicholas Jacobs, manager of the store's parent company.

Dalgona events are just getting started in New York

Simon Kim, owner of the Michelin-starred Cote Steakhouse, has taken this path before. He was selling jhapaguri whiskey, which became famous after the Oscar-winning Korean film "Parasite", 18 dollars per bottle.

Now Kim rejoices in the popularity of dalgon, and launches at the end of November "Week games into squid ". The sweets will have the Cote Steakhouse floral logo engraved on them. After dinner, each table can take part in the game and win a glass of first-class spirits.

“And if you don’t win, there will be dire consequences,” jokes Kim.

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Various versions of the dalgona are in demand by visitors, even if the chefs recreating the popular dessert deviated from the plot of the series. Mochi Mochi Donut supplemented its mochi donuts with dalgon crumbs in October, Jacobs said. They became instant bestsellers. On average, 200 orders per day in five stores in New York. And for all other tastes, the institution receives only 50-100 orders.

It's the same with Croffle House in Flushing and Noona's Ice Cream, which offered the Dalgon long before the Squid Game hype. But the show made these desserts hits. The bestsellers at Noona's are dalgone supplements. Croffle House has a popular frozen latte with dalgon.

“All the adults who come to my store - there are many older Koreans in my area - know what ppopgi is because they grew up eating it,” says William Hahn, co-founder of Croffle House.

Nostalgia is another factor in the popularity of candy. The memories of playing ppopgi have long been etched in the hearts of many Korean-American restaurateurs. And Squid Game finally gave them the collective license to immerse themselves in nostalgia.

“Going to school and running to the street vendor ppopgi was probably the most fun thing to do,” says Cote's Kim. He played this game when he was growing up in Seoul in the early 1990s.