xue hua bing: Taiwanese shaved ice dessert

[AsahinaKimi]

As you can see in the photo above, the snow ice comes off the blocks in thin, curvy ripples, and they're paired with fresh fruits and fruit purees.



A block of strawberry-flavored ice is being mounted onto a shave ice machine



Pink Lady, a strawberry-flavored shave ice topped with strawberry syrup, strawberry, litchi coco, passion fruit, popping boba and rainbow sprinkles.


Janice Kuo, owner of Snowflake Cafe and Dessert, shaves a block of mango-flavored shaved ice onto a plate at their store in Pleasanton, Calif.



Tropic Mango, a mango-flavored shave ice topped with mango, litchi coco, yogurt popping boba, mango sauce and rainbow sprinkles.

Flavorings such as green tea or chocolate are mixed into a base of milk and water, then frozen into cylindrical blocks that look like giant candles. The blocks are mounted onto an ice shaver, which slices it off in sheets - thin enough that they melt in the mouth, much like cotton candy. It's very low-calorie and low in sugar.

[RandySF]

1. Where in San Francisco can I find this??

I have not had this since I visited Shanghai in 2003.

[AsahinaKimi]

2. Here

Fluffy Snow: 1314 Noriega St. (near 20th Avenue), San Francisco; [phone].

37 Degrees Dessert Cafe: 1155 Taraval St. (near 21st Avenue), San Francisco; [phone].

100% Sweet Cafe: 2512 Clement St. (near 27th Avenue), San Francisco; [phone]. Also, 3288 Pierce St. (near Central Avenue), Richmond.

Snowflake: 4288 Dublin Blvd., Suite 105 (near Tassajara Road), Dublin; [phone]. www.snowflakecafedessert.com.

Snowice: 3561 El Camino Real, Suite 99 (near Lawrence Expressway), Santa Clara; [phone].

[RandySF]

3. I'll try Fluffy this week.

Ok, one more food item: I also tried something a friend described as "Hong Kong style iced tea". It looked like regular iced tea, only it had a very strong lemon taste to it. Does that sound familiar to you?

[AsahinaKimi]

4. I prefer Thai Tea

Much sweeter. There is also a Chinese tea that is cold, which has little balls of tapioca in them. Bobobli or Bubble tea.