Taiwan shaved ice dessert - Mud volcanic ice (芋泥火山冰)

Looks can be really deceiving especially when searching for those delicious shaved ice desserts in Taiwan.  In a hidden corner of the city, lies a restaurant where locals can be seen lining up outside the store.  I know that there must be something tasty here (if I'm not mistaken) so I joined the queue, ate inside and went home thinking to come back.

At first glance, this dessert looks like a cake.

How do they shape the shaved ice into something like a cake? They just place a bowl on the shredded ice to create that cylindrical form.

I don't know how to describe properly this food.  An oozing lake of chocolate-looking liquid placed on a top of a shaved ice shaped like a cake.  It is amazing how such a dessert can attract so many customers even on a busy weekday night.  C'mon Taiwanese patrons of  Liushun bean flower (六順豆花) restaurant, give the international tourists a chance to taste this delicacy.  The line is very long every night and the store is not big enough to accommodate a large number of people.  Haha!

The menu of the restaurant

To order, just encircle the name of mud volcanic ice (right side) plus the for different kinds of filling (left side) that you want.

If falling in line feels like standing for a decade, then think again. Dios mio!  The menu is in Chinese only.  While in the queue,  I was given a laminated paper  (the menu) plus a pencil so I can encircle the kind of dessert that I want and the fillings that I was craving for.  Chinese characters.  Sigh! Hmmm... Which one is it?  The featured food in this episode of the My Beloved Taipei travel series.  I was quick to ask one of the waitresses and she was kind enough to help me select my order.

Yù níhuǒshān bīng or mud volcanic ice (芋泥火山冰).  The best-seller of the restaurant plus four different kinds of filling for the dessert.  Be it a jelly, nuts, or beans, the main ingredient that makes this food special is that viscous red bean paste.  Its the one that gives the “kick” that will send you to the limits of outer space.  A tasty lava on a crater of goodness.  It is justing waiting to erupt!

Adding more fun in eating the food is when you destroy one side of the crater.  Let your creative juices flow as the liquid slowly oozes out of its cage.  Watch as it devours any ice crystals that blocks its path.  With one scoop of a spoon, you put it in your mouth and then it explodes.  Boom!  The sweetness was just right enough.  Depending on what kind of nuts or jellies that was put inside, it will create a unique taste for every combination.  Eat the ice together with the red bean paste and it will change the way you look at Taiwan summer desserts.  It's not all about mango shaved ice after all. 

There also others dessert available for customers to choose from.   Why not try the milk snowflake.  With tapioca pearls and read bean glutinous balls,  it will act as your barometer in assessing the taste of the ice volcano.   I'm sure the Níhuǒshān bīng will be the winner even if you return to the restaurant for another taste test of the mud volcanic ice.

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Liushun bean flower (六順豆花) restaurant
address: No. 1-1, Lane 26, Xindong Street, Songshan District, Taipei City, 105
[Google Map]

open: Tuesday - Saturday, 1:00 pm to 10:30 pm
           Sunday, 3:30 pm to 10:30 pm

My order:

Mud volcanic ice (芋泥火山冰): NTD 75
(4 out of 5 luomujie stars)

Rapsa is a slang for the Filipino word "sarap" which means delicious. Delicious -> sarap -> "rapsa" (inverted syllable order). The Rapsa Edition of the "My Beloved Taipei" Travel Series will take readers to the tastiest and yummiest foods in Taipei. Get to know the best desserts and local delicacies that Taiwan's capital has to offer, through this subprogram of the luomujie blog.

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