snow shaved ice » Jinxi Eats

Snowflake ice at Yogurt Swirl

Jan 252013

Ever since I had snowflake ice at Class 302 in Irvine, I’ve been craving good snowflake ice. Then, when I saw Kirbie‘s posts about Yogurt Swirl, the weather was getting too cold for frozen treats (at least according to S… I’m always up for ice cream). Finally, after lunch at Original Sab-E-Lee in Rancho Penasquitos with some lovely bloggers, I suggested Yogurt Swirl, and the others jumped on board (after expressing surprise that I haven’t been there yet.. haha).

I finally remembered to take a photo of the outside! Haha. It’s a terrible photo though :P

It’s tucked away in the plaza across the street from Lucky Seafood, on Black Mountain Rd. I would not have expected that this place would serve good snow ice (let alone snow ice at all) – too many froyo places popping up everywhere but don’t serve good froyo (insert sigh). Anyway, I am glad that Kirbie found this place :)

There are two types of “shaved ice” treats – Hawaiian shaved ice and shaved snow. Be sure to get the right one! (By right one, I mean shaved snow which equals snowflake ice.)

It took us quite a while to decide on the flavors. In the end, we went with a large order with taro and sesame. CC says that the small is served in a cup, which doesn’t look as pretty. And of course, we wanted it to look pretty!

Here is the shop owner (who was super nice!) shaving the block of taro ice. I’ve never seen the snowflake ice machine in action so it was quite exciting for me.

This is what the final plate looked like (it includes 2 free toppings that you can choose from the froyo toppings bar. We picked strawberries and mochi):

01/25/2013
Posted by Jinxi on 01/25/2013
6 Responses
Asian, Dessert
Tagged with: San Diego, snow shaved ice, Yogurt Swirl

[Irvine] Snowflake ice at Class 302

Dec 122012

I recently visited Boiling Point in Irvine with some friends for Taiwanese hot pot. And since we were already there… of course we had to go to Class 302 for snowflake ice! I didn’t get the snowflake ice last time I visited Class 302, and I was determined to make up for it this time.

We arrived around 9pm, and there was still quite a line for dine-in – we waited about half an hour for a table of five. By then, we had already decided what we wanted to order. The five of us decided to share two orders of snowflake ice, since we were actually pretty full from hot pot. (But we always manage to make some room for dessert. I love my friends.)

Super cute apple-shaped bowls

I’ve only had snowflake ice once before, at Liang’s Kitchen. According to local snowflake ice expert Kirbie, the version at Liang’s Kitchen pales in comparison with the ice at Class 302, which tops her rankings. I was super excited.

There were quite a few varieties, and it was hard to choose, but in the end, we decided on the green tea snow and peanut snow.

Green Tea Azuki Bean: green tea snow, azuki beans, mochi, milk pudding, condensed milk

When this arrived, I realized immediately why this is good snowflake ice – look at those thin, loose layers! It was very fluffy and soft, definitely reminded me of catching snowflakes on my tongue when I was little. I loved the texture and the green tea flavor. However, I’m not a big fan of azuki beans, so I didn’t eat too much of this one (although I did work hard to dig for the pudding hidden inside).

Peanut Mochi: roasted peanut snow, mochi, honey boba (served separately), brown sugar syrup, condensed milk

All of us actually liked the Peanut & Mochi snow better. As you might have noticed, the snowflake is shaved into thin, flat layers, whereas the green tea snow was shaved into longer pieces. The flat layers lingered a bit longer on your tongue, so you get a slightly stronger flavor. I loved the peanut flavor, intensified by the peanut powder sprinkled on top. I was also very impressed with the mochi in both of the snowflake ice’s – despite being served with such a cold dessert, it remained chewy and soft. It was really good with the peanut snow.

I was very happy with the snowflake ice experience at Class 302 – it was just as good as I had expected. If only there were one in San Diego! Thankfully, other friends and bloggers have recommended some good snowflake ice places in San Diego, so hopefully I’ll get to check those out soon.

Class 302 (Irvine location)18090 Culver Dr., Irvine, CA

Hours: Sun-Thu 11am-12am; Fri-Sat 11am-1am

12/12/2012
Posted by Jinxi on 12/12/2012
5 Responses
Asian, Dessert, Taiwanese
Tagged with: Class 302, Irvine, snow shaved ice

Liang’s Kitchen and snow shaved ice

Oct 022012

Every once in a while, S and I crave Liang’s Kitchen. I learned something interesting about the cuisine style recently: it is called “juan cun” (眷村), which refers to the villages that housed Chinese Nationalist soldiers during the Chinese Civil War. So “juan cun” cuisine started with the food served in these villages, with all sorts of mainland Chinese cooking styles. Over time, the dishes were incorporated with Taiwanese flavors, and now “juan cun” is sort of a Chinese-Taiwanese fusion. In particular, there are many flour/noodle-based dishes, which are traditionally northern Chinese. Interesting tidbit.

Anyway, it has been a while since we last visited. They seem to be offering some new specials now:

The first thing that I noticed from this sign was the 雪花冰 – they translated it to shaved ice, but the Chinese actually means “snow shaved ice,” which is a totally different experience. I was pretty stoked to try out the snow ice here.

But dinner first…

Complimentary app: spicy pickled cucumber

We were given a complimentary small dish of spicy pickled cucumbers. The cucumbers were nice and crisp, tossed in a vinegar/sesame oil/chili oil sauce. Nice and refreshing.

Stewed beef luncheon box 紅燴牛肉飯便當

S picked one of the “luncheon box” meals: rice, “main” dish, a couple of side items. The beef stew was pretty standard in flavor. The side veggies were not bad but not too memorable, either.