Saturday, August 7, 2010

Mango shaved ice (思慕昔)

Mango shaved ice w/panna cotta

I have a long and sad history with mango flavored shaved ice, with most of them ending similar to this. Sparing you the full details, let's just say it's another one of my food related love-hate relationships. Fully aware of the consequences (which will never be the same, I might add), I couldn't help myself when I found a place that served mango shaved ice with panna cotta (not pudding!). Where? On 永康街, at a place called 思慕昔 (which has the phonetic equivalence of 'smoothie'). Dumb name? Certainly, but as far as the mango shaved ice... they don't dick around.

Now I'm sure that this isn't unique to this one shop, but if you have the balls to open a shaved ice place specializing in mango just down the street from the famous ice shop formerly known as 'Ice Monster,' then you're probably pretty good yourself. Or at least that was my train of thought. Mmm, actually I probably wasn't thinking, I was too intrigued by the concept already. Anyway, it was every bit as good as expected. Soft, yet resilient, panna cotta... heavy in dairy flavor and light in sweetness, capping a mound of traditional mango shaved ice (fresh mangoes in syrup + a healthy serving of condensed milk). Satisfactory across all components, their version can be said to be good, if not remarkable. For about half the price, Ice Monster can suck it.

Sherbet?

For one reason or another, they also gave a free cup of mango... um something, with every order that day... (most likely because it was their opening weekend). I think it was sherbet, it tasted kind of like the Italian ice from Rita's, but not exactly. Honestly, I don't remember that much about it. I was pretty damn stuffed from the massive bowl of shaved ice, but I guess it was okay? I don't think I'd spend money on it. To come full circle, I should probably mention whether or not I 'won the lottery' this time. Uh, let's not ruin a good thing by talking about my bathroom escapades, k?

3 comments:

Ms. Lam said...

Wow that looks really good, my all time favorite fruit with panna cotta. Very light too, which is always good with desserts!

camissonia (Arleen) said...

Mango shaved ice with panna cotta? Intriguingly modern. My memories of shaved ice in Taiwan gravitate around sweetened red beans, gelatinous tutti frutti party favors, condensed milk, and various tropical fruits du jour. My fav back in the day (i.e., a couple decades ago) was an inimitable shaved ice concoction from a vendor in the old Shilin night market made with diced fresh pineapple and sour plum. Sooo good! Btw, was Ice Monster's demise due to some kind of soap opera saga involving the owner's unamicable parting of ways with his spouse? What's good eats without some drama, eh?

Nicholas said...

lamchop - agreed. Mango is probably my favorite fruit too, and the addition of panna cotta is pretty incredible, buuutttt I think I'd still rather have traditional pudding on top!

camissonia - shaved ice has gone over a mini-revolution over the past 10 or so years! They'll put pretty much anything on it now (for better or for worse... eh, I don't know). I still love the red bean shaved ice the most, with tang yuan being as adventurous as I'd like to make it ;).

I think I actually know what you're talking about... 烏梅鳳梨冰. Did you get it at a place called 我家 (My House)? I think you and my mom are pretty much the same person if you did...

Btw, good guess on the split. Divorce spat, one got the storefront, one got the name, no clue why. I feel bad for the one who got the name, since business is poppin at the old store location!

Post a Comment

oh snap. I can control the text here?