I like the slogan, “Taste the Rainbow.” Unlike M&Ms’ “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” it’s not overly practical. “Hungry? Why Wait?” doesn’t necessarily encourage someone to eat a Snickers bar, but rather anything that’s lying around nearby, which could be a Twinkie, for all we know. And slogans like “Two for me, none for you” and “Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger” are just greedy.

“Taste the rainbow” is great. Rainbows are fleeting rarities. You can’t even touch a rainbow; to taste one would be a crazy magical experience. However, Skittles, as fun as they may be, are too hard and chewy to really fit the bill.

Taiwanese shaved ice, or chua bing, is more deserving. In the States chances are that the phrase “shaved ice” conjures up images of a snow cone with flavoured syrup, but it’s on quite a different wavelength in Asia. Asian countries offer all sorts of shaved ice: kakigori topped with green tea syrup and azuki beans in Japan, patbingsu topped with cereal and frozen yogurt in South Korea, ice kacang with corn in Singapore/Malaysia or halo halo in the Philippines.

In Taiwan there are many variations on the shaved ice theme, and mango shaved ice really deserves Skittles’ slogan. Golden cubes of fresh mango, fresh, sweet, and juicy, sit on top of a mountain of fluffy light ice, then is doused with rivers of condensed milk. The ice is more finely shaved than that of a snow cone — think of the difference between freshly fallen snow (fluffy) and snow that’s been sitting for too long on the sidewalk (not fluffy). If you go for the trinity of mango, strawberry and kiwi, you’re in for an intensely fresh treat. Unlike in other countries, the fruit on Taiwanese shaved ice is not canned (one of the benefits of being on a tropical island). Stone-cold sober, you’re confronted with a kaleidoscope of colour and intense flavours.

An extremely popular destination for shaved ice in Taipei is Ice Monster on Yong Kang Street, but I prefer Tai Yi Milk King, which is close to National Taiwan University. Because it’s closer to a student population, the shaved ice here is cheaper, more generous with its fruit and very fresh because of the fast turnover. The store also offers traditional Taiwanese shaved ice, with the option of adding red bean, grass jelly, ai yu (lemon jelly) and taro balls. I think they make all of its ingredients on-site: the taro balls are chewy, the red bean are sweet and well cooked, and they’re very generous with the condensed milk.

Tai Yi Milk King is also representative of the Taiwanese approach to service.

Living in Beijing, I’ve grown accustomed to not asking for changes to my order:
“Can I have pearls in my green tea?”
“No.”
“But you have pearl milk tea. I can give you some more money, and you can put the pearls in the green tea?”
“Pearls are for the pearl tea. No pearls in green tea.”
“Okay.” (I slink away. The pearl tea here isn’t that great anyway.)

In contrast, the choices at Tai Yi Milk King are dazzling, and like in most other food places in Taiwan, the employees are flexible. If you want rice balls with your kiwi ice, they’ll oblige. If you want one-half red bean, one-fourth green bean and only a bit of condensed milk, you’ll get it with no questions asked. Certain combination requests – like lemon jelly with mango cubes – will be met with a raised eyebrow, but only for a fraction of a second before the jelly and mango are scooped onto your ice mountain and pushed on the tray.

Then, off you go with your own little piece of the rainbow. Cheesy, but what’s dessert if not an extra dose of sweetness?

Tai Yi Milk King
82, Xin Sheng S. Road, Section 3
Taipei, Taiwan
(02) 2362 3712

Share this story. Stay hungry.

• 

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 3:53 am and is filed under Taipei, travel.