Eating Out -- Ice Monster

So this is the first Eating Out post. 'Ice Monster' (冰館) is a very famous place with shaved ice. The most famous plate is the Mango Ice, with piles of mango, a scoop of mango sorbet, condensed milk and syrup on shaved ice. Shave ice in Taiwan are usually served on a plate with fruits and tapioca (tons of different kinds). Ice Monster apparently has been around for a long time but they got lots of press after I moved away so I've never even heard of them before. I finally had a chance yesterday to try it out. Excellent after a whole day of faculty meeting...

It is really a street stand, with some design.

The famous Mango Ice was sold out (probably also off season and my brother's experience was that it's not worth it if it were off season). So I had the strawberry milk shaved ice, also strongly recommended by my friend Taka. It is basically Mango Ice with everything mango substituted as strawberry. In Taiwan, it is at the tail end of strawberry season and strawberrys are never as good as the good ones in the US (although we also don't have the giant rubber tasteless ones either). The famous Stawberry Ice was to me, therefore, too sweetened. While the initial taste was wonderful with the condensed milk and strawberry and ice, the sweetened milk and syrup soon saturates your senses and make real strawberry bites really sour, and harsh tasting. I think if without the sorbet and with less condensed milk (drizzled, rather than drenched) and more ice, the plate would be more sophisticated and inspiring.


Location: No.15, Yongkang St., Da-an District, Taipei City
Type: Street stand, clean
Taste: *** out of *****
Price: 160 NTD (~5 USD), expansive for street stand/snack food

On a side note, Yongkang St. is a famous street in Taipei full of famous restaurants, such as the original DinTaiFung (鼎泰豐). More reports from there to look forward to!