One of the most common Taiwan street food stands is shaved ice. Shaved ice is literally a huge block of ice, shaved into tiny bits and flavored with a variety of goodies from red bean, mung bean, peanuts, taro, yams to fresh cut fruit. Due the humid and hot nature of Taiwan and the lack of cows, shaved ice is the staple cold dessert- on every Taiwan street food street is at least one if not two ice/ juice stands.
One of the most popular fruit flavors for shaved ice is Mango with condensed milk. Lucky for me, I happen to be in Taiwan for the beginning of Mango season. I was also fortunate enough to visit Tainan and Kaoshiung and took advantage of it by doing a side by side by side comparison of the different food styles of each city. One Taiwan street food that I knew would be easily found in each city was Mango Ice with condensed milk ( 芒果牛奶冰).
The first place I went to was Ice Monster (冰館) on Yong Kang Street (
永康街) in Taipei. Known for their mango ice, Ice Monster (冰館) usually has an outrageous line of people waiting for take out or dine in of their Mango ice. The sounds of Japanese indicated that this was a foodie destination. Dad and I opted for the Mango shaved ice with pudding and condensed milk (新鮮芒果酸冰). Within minutes, we had a gigantic bowl of Mango pudding ice before us.
The pudding was rich and creamy but the use of brown sugar water and condensed milk was a bit of overkill. The natural flavor of the mangos got lost underneath all that sugar. We tried our best to finish the bowl but alas, the amount of sugar on the dish won it's power and we gave up leaving a milky watery residue of sugar water behind.
One of the first things I got to eating while visiting Tainan (
台南) was to go to
Lily Sway Guo Dien (莉莉冰果店). This establishment has been around since 1947 and was popular to the kids even when my father was a child. We arrived to a line spilling out into the sidewalk. Also on the sidewalk were numerous street side tables and chairs set up- all filled with tourists and locals alike enjoying ice on another sweltering hot day in Tainan.
My uncle ordered two Mango shaved ice dishes. Two heaping plates arrived shortly despite the masses of people around. I found it interesting that with the ice came a lime wedge- a little acid to go with the sweet- genius!!! After a little drizzle of lime, we dug in. The mangos were full of flavor, sweet and the ice helped to cool off the stickiness from humidity of the day. This was delicious. I tried to gauge myself, not eating too much (becuase of all the eating that would be ensuing after this) but found myself staring at an empty plate of ice. Unlike the shaved ice at ice monster- this was not too sweet and the natural flavor of the mangos were only accented from the lime wedge. This was everything mango shaved ice is suppose to be.
On my quest for Mango shaved iced (it is mango season in Taiwan...), when arrived in Kaoshiung (高雄) I knew that I had to go to
A Po Ah Bing (阿婆仔冰) A Po Ah literally means old lady in Taiwanese. This establishment has been around since chinese calender 23 years ( I believe it's plus 11 for western calender so that would be 1934). This ice house was somewhere that holds fond memories for my father.
Hoping to capitalize on the trip to the store, I was hoping to also have some of their
mochi (麻糬) which they are also very famous for but alas, they only have mochi (麻糬) during the winter time. I settled on just the mango ice. Suprisingly not busy (mainly becuase they opened a much larger store just around the corner from the original one), I got my mango ice instantly. Condensed milk - check, black sugar water- check mangos- check. You would think that all these mango shaved ices taste the same but they don't. The mangos were cut into huge chunks- slightly unmanageable for me. The mangoes though fresh and had good flavor but were not as intense as the ones I had in Tainan. They were also cut a little but too close to the seed, leaving many stringy pieces attached. Still good- sweet but not too sweet, it lacked the kick that Lily's in Tainan gave with the extra bit of lime.
My clear winner in my Mango Shaved Ice (芒果牛奶冰) quest was definetly Lily's in Tainan.
Locations for Mango Shaved Ice with Condensed Milk (芒果牛奶冰) :
Ice Monster (冰館):
台北市永康街15號
(No.15 Yong Kang Street Taipei,Taiwan)
Tel:
(02)2394.8279
Lily Sway Guo Dien (莉莉冰果店):
台南市中西區府前路一段199號 (No.199, Fucian Road, Section 1, Tainan City, Taiwan)
Tel:
(06)213.7522
A Po Ah Bing (阿婆仔冰):
高雄市鹽埕區七賢三路150號 (No.150, Cisian 3rd Road, Kaoshiung City, Taiwan)
Tel:(0
7)551.3180
The original Churro was said to have been invented in the region of Castile (very grassy cow grazing land) with the churros curling to look like the horns of cows. For those of you who have tried to make churros at home, you will know that the long piece of dough instincively wants to curl resembling the horns of bulls. Typically a breakfast item, churros are sprinkled with sugar and dipped into a warm rich cup of hot chocolate.
The hot chocolate.. oh the hot chocolate! in Argentina, they drink real Leche. None of this non fat, 2% skim, watery, tasteless, hormone pumped milk that we get in the US. You don't have a choice in your leche in Argentina- you get what you get. What you get is a delicious, rich , thick, milk flavored, creamy well.. milk! At Cafe Tortoni the hot chocolate may be a little sweet but it's so chocolately , dark and rich that one can't help but to finish all of the hot chocolate they bring to your table. Real milk makes real hot chocolate. honestly.
Even though the churros and the Argentinian donut experience was mediocre at best, the hot chocolate and in dad's case cafe con leche made up for it. 
