My various pages

Pages about various interests:

Currently Here

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Best shaved ice in Taipei: Shin Fa Ting

12/05/2010 , , , , 4 comments

This will make your taste buds explode. Seriously.


Let me introduce you one of Taiwan's most delicious desserts, at least according to my taste buds. Some time ago, while walking around the Shilin Night Market, my girlfriend and I wanted to have something sweet. We found a nice ice cream shop somewhere hidden in a small lane and it turned out that the place is quite famous. It's called Shin Fa Ting (also Xin Fa Ting or 辛發亭冰品店). Their ice cream is special, because they use a machine that makes shaved ice or 雪片冰 in Chinese (xuě piàn bīng, literally snow slice ice) or very thinly sliced flakes of either ice or ice cream, topped (in our case) with mango, but they have many other flavors. This was really delicious and I recommend everyone to try this, if you come to Taipei's famous Shilin Night Market. Only the pao pao ice at Miaokou Night Market in Keelung is comparable to this one, because it's really tasty as well. If you go to Shin Fa Ting, you can expect a big portion of delicious Taiwanese shaved ice, but modest prices (at least if you compare to the prices in Europe, most dishes will cost you between 1.5 - 2 euros). Let me show you some photos from the restaurant:

The place is small, but usually full of people.

On the right is the machine, that makes the shaved ice, but I forgot to capture it.

The menu. Sorry, it's in Chinese. But hey, it's in Taiwan. Duh!

This was our mango flavored shaved ice. Big and tasty.

Look at those heavenly chunks of mango.

Isn't it mouthwatering?

See the flakes? They're so thin and make the ice cream melt in your mouth instantly.

Isn't it flaketastic? x_x

If you want to find Shin Fa Ting, first take the subway to Jiantan MRT and then walk north. Here's a map for you, that will show you in which lane you can find the restaurant. You can also watch a video made by a Taiwanese show, that introduces the restaurant. Even, if you don't speak Chinese, you'll get a good idea about how the whole shaved ice looks like.

4 COMMENTS:

I love anything mango. And I find that Taiwan and Hong Kong make great ice desserts out of these!

Does that equate an opportunity in Singapore?

@Shingo: It certainly does :) A pity we didn't go to this place, when we met in Shilin.

Ahh you're making me drool like no other!! I've been to Shi Lin market before.. but I don't remember seeing Xin Fa Ting :( I did try shaved ice at another place at the night market and it was goood.. I haven't found a place here that has shaved ice and I miss it a lot.

@Karen: Next time you come to Taipei, you'll be my VIP, I'll bring you to all these awesome places. Be ready to gain a lot of weight :P

Post a Comment