“Snow” at Shilin Night Market in Taipei

Contrary to the tile, it doesn’t snow in Taiwan. However, if you head over to the Shilin Night Market, you will find all kinds of “snow”. By “snow” I mean a particular type of shaved ice. I’m sure many people have either heard, seen or tasted shaved ice. If you are Asian or come from a tropical location, chances are, you’ve had it. “Snow” as I like to call it, is not just any type of shaved ice. I know we’ve all seen the ice-filled cones served with a healthy serving of food coloring and sugar syrup. Those are not what I mean. “Snow” is a velvety smooth and ribbon-like type of shaved ice served with traditional Taiwanese topics and what not. In my case, it was served with “red beans” and topped with condensed milk. My sister and her husband had “taro” on theirs.

Yummmm! Cool, smooth, melt-in-your mouth goodness. I miss it so!

I’m not huge on Taro personally…but the shaved ice is great!

A dude shaving some ice. Notice how the ice stacks into ribbon-like layers. Beautiful!

You can find many many establishments that serve this. The one we went to was the one my brother-in-law frequented back in his old college days, so it’s been around for some time. This was my first time having this type of shaved ice and I love it! No other kind of shaved ice compares. I would love to refer folks to this place, but after roaming the Shilin Night Market for about 30 minutes; taking shortcuts here and there; factor in the fact that I can’t read Mandarin, I couldn’t possibly tell you the name or the location of this place. The good news is that shave ice is very common in Taiwan so you won’t have a hard time find it. (I had again at the food court of the Hanshin department store in Kaohsiung.)

MAP IT

Best shaved ice ever
Not so sure about some of the toppings (like Taro)
Highly recommended if you never had it