Well, earlier this week, that interview took place.
Hallasul is a small business in Shin Jeju that operates out of a dilapidated office block. It’s an offshoot of a business that had its origins in producing a Jeju tourism brochure. Headquartered in Seoul, Jeju is managed through a local branch office.
The story of the ice cream was somewhat disappointing as there’s not much of it that’s produced here. The ingredients are shipped from overseas ready made. Only flavouring is added here (of course Tangerine flavour is on that list) before being packaged up for distribution.
A visit to the production room proved to the most interesting part of the interview- its bright, clean, stainless steel interior was a stark contrast to the surrounding, messy and darkened areas. Here I met the man in charge of producing the ice cream. A man who seemed to just link the automated production processes and press a lot of different coloured buttons on machines. The romantic and optimistic notions of an ice cream produced by Jeju had been dispelled.
So where can you buy this ice cream? Well, with its target audience being visiting tourists from the mainland, it is available at many major tourist destinations on the island. Including the aforementioned Africa Museum and also Ilchuland. Look out for a small orange tub in a refrigerator. However as the year progresses this older packaging will phased out in favour of a more ‘premium’ design (pictured).
