Ice was the ancient version of having Drake sing at your birthday party. You had to be a true baller to even consider it an option. Could you imagine being a 7th-century landowner in Tang-dynasty China, and you go to some mega-rich cousin of the emperor’s Feast of the Hungry Ghost festival party, and in the middle of a muggy August night he has bowls of snow brought in? Snow covered in sugar and fruits that you can eat? It would blow your freaking mind.
Baobing is the modern descendant of that rare icy treat, now a specialty of Taiwan. In fact, Taiwanese desserts are some of the most popular in Asia. There are little Taiwanese shaved ice places up and down Spring Mountain Road. The ritziest, Meet Fresh (3930 Spring Mountain Road, 702-478-9188), has piles of fluffy snow, with toppings like herbal jelly, sweet almond cream, black sesame paste-filled mochi balls, custard cups, and more. The array of toppings is unique to Taiwanese desserts.
The second cousin to baobing is kakigori, which has roots in Taiwan but became mechanized in Japan. A block of ice spinning over a planer blade usually makes crunchy shards, but an Americanized version replaces the ice with frozen milk and agar-agar gelatin, creating feather-light ribbons of flavored cream. Milkywave (1) (5020 Spring Mountain #3, 702-333-2803) produces these special cups. The cottony ribbons get the froyo treatment with chopped fruit and cookie bits, but a simple taro snow with lychee will cool your sweaty self.
The texture of Hawaiian shaved ice is different than that of a snow cone. Hawaiian ice comes either in long, thin shards or shaved into the lightest snow. Oso Ono ice bus ( osoonolv.com) is likely your most authentic, with topping choices like salted dried plum powder (li hing mui), but a spot like Bahama Buck’s (2) (7345 Arroyo Crossing Parkway #105, bahamabucks.com) comes a close second.
Thailand has a street-stall dessert that’s getting a lot of buzz. Originally called stir-fried ice cream, we know it as rolled ice cream. A half dozen places have started making it, but Flavyours (3) (4480 Spring Mountain Road, flavyours.com) is about the best. Pouring the cream onto a -35C steel “anti-griddle,” they chop and scrape, sometimes incorporating fruit, creating little scrolls of ice cream. They pop these cigar-size rolls into a cup, then top with fruit, candy, and other bits. The cup is so light it feels empty, but it’s very satisfying.
No list of Asian ices is complete without the seemingly strange but addictive ice creams that are the rage among our Filipino population. Magnolia Ice Cream inside Seafood City (3890 Maryland Parkway, 702-862-8001) is the place to sample ice creams such as avocado, corn, cheese, cashew jackfruit, and ube, the beautiful purple stuff so popular in Filipino dessert.