Ice Monster (冰館)- The magical shaved ice fruit dessert
15 Yong Kang Jie, Cross street XinYi Lu
Taipei (Taiwan)
02-2394-8279
If you have some time to kill (ie you're waiting for a table at Ding Tai Feng) you can wander down YongKang Jie and wait in line at Ice Monster (冰館) which is the trendy spot for the ubiquitous shaved ice dessert. There's a really interesting phenomenon here in Taiwan, where one place will have a huge line of people waiting patiently and next door sells the same thing but no one goes there. I haven't got to the stage of trying the less busy spots but it's safe to say that people seem willing to wait for what they perceive to be the "better" product.
As you can see by the suitcases, there are some tourists sampling the "must visit" shaved ice fruit dessert. However I think there was a decent mix of locals also. Most of the topping options are chopped seasonal fruit over a mound of ice covered in condensed milk, fruit juice and syrup topped with sorbet or ice cream. The real trick is trying to figure out what flavors you want to sample. Coz there are so many options.
We got the mounded strawberry madness with passion fruit sorbet to share between the 3 of us since we needed to save space for the DTF xlb sampling. While you're waiting in line, you have to scout out the seats, so that by the time your dessert is ready, you have a place to sit. The seating style is communal- small benches and long tables that you share with other people enjoying their "healthy" fruit and frozen treats.
The people sitting opposite were having taro &red bean, and the mixed seasonal fruit. They seemed very friendly and were happy (ok maybe unaware) for me to snap a picture of their choices.
Most people seemed to be going for the fruits but every now and then someone walked by with an interesting flavor, this one is called "Job's tears". I think it might be stewed barley grains... but I'm not sure. of course there are smoothies too but they don't seem to be as popular.
Ice Monster has a philosophy of contrasting tastes and textures, so that you should taste both sweet & tart and the ice is cool slippery (not too crunchy- they have a special machine that grinds it) and the toppings are chunky and chewable.
Once you get your treat, you have to eat it quickly before it melts (altho it's not quite that hot yet- so what I really mean is before the people you're sharing with forget to share!) Ice Monster seemed quite crowded, regardless we managed to get in and out in about 30 minutes, just in time to walk back to DTF. Practically the most efficient use of waiting time ever.