Shaved Ice

My Frosty, Korean Dessert Cafe

My Frosty’s bingsoo has very high quality in terms of flavour and insulation of the shaved ice. A lot of the other bingsoo I have tried elsewhere have the ice melting as soon as it’s made. My Frosty’s shaved ice retained its form. It took me 12 minutes to finish my bingsoo, and the shaved ice remained reasonable flakiness until the end. A large bingsoo cost $14, and I would recommend this to everyone. Just make sure you don’t come here when they’re busy.

Maiko Japanese Matcha Café in Richmond

I was very excited to see another premium matcha themed Japanese dessert franchise opening up in metro Vancouver. The quality and pricing are both standing in the mid range of the parfait places we have tried. Loopy soft-served ice cream is a sign of poor quality for me. Poorly layered parfait and filler toppings also forced them down the ranking ladder. The parfait here is $13.50 after tax, which is on part to Tsujiri’s $14 parfait with much higher quality topping. The parfait here is still a good dessert. It’s just not worth it when compared with other Japanese matcha dessert locations.

Myst Asian Fusion, Taiwanese Restaurant in Burnaby

MYST has a pretty high price point at $20 per person. Their food is quite authentic, and the speed of bringing the orders to the table is very fast. All the dishes I have ordered have a good portion. I would definitely recommend MYST if you have not tried it yet.

BlackBall, Taiwanese Dessert in Richmond

The first thing I noticed was the droopy grass jelly covering the crushed ice. They are black and shiny like a mirror. It is the most jiggly grass jelly I have seen in Vancouver. When eating, the grass jelly has a noticeable herbal taste. The soft texture makes it the highlight of this dish. The crushed ice is course but not sharp. They are soft to the bite. Unlike Icy Bar’s Razor Sharp Ice, there is no unpleasant texture. There are condensed milk and brown sugar added to the crushed ice. I could taste a strong flavour of cane sugar, which is also quite pleasant. Taro Balls and Yam Balls are being called “TaroQ” and “YamQ” at BlackBall. To be honest, I am a little disappointed in these. The bite to them has no bounce. I understand this means that there is not much starch powder added, but it is not the texture I was looking for. Flavour-wise, they are not really sweet but has a good natural flavour of taro and yam. All these beans are perfectly cooked. Adzuki bean and Mung beans are cooked until their skin starts to peel. This made the interior very starchy. Sugar was added to the cooking process and very noticeable. The Kidney Beans are larger beans. The structure is more intact. I could still feel the pop when I bite into them.

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