Ice Monster 冰馆

Article By Sima Monina

Northeast corner, B1, Gpark, Xing Huo Road.
星火路老城根Gpark负一层东北角篮球场旁
(029) 8635 4975
10:30am -10:30pm

Average Price per Person /人均消费: 50RMB

PROS: Tasty desserts, affordable prices
CONS: Busy weekends

While being slowly simmered by Xi’an’s heat, we’re all becoming pretty adept at coming up with ways to keep cool. For some of us, eating icy desserts happens to be a favourite. If you are a member of the sweet tooth society, then a newly opened Ice Monster shop is worthy of your attention.

Ice Monster came to us from Taiwan and its concept was allegedly inspired by the different kinds of ice desserts around Asia. Think about all this yumminess: Fillipino halo-halo, Japanese kakigory, Thai Nam Kan Sai, Malaysian kachang…Not many of these are world renown. Ice Monster, on the other hand, got in the CNN top 10 of Best Desserts in the World with its Mango Avalanche and was further mentioned in Travel + Leisure Magazine.

IM’s Xi’an location is at the G-Park shopping mall—a bit off the beaten track, in the north-west of the city. It’s easy to find just next to the basketball court on the underground floor. The shop isn’t very big and is busy most days. Beware of going there on weekends, when crowd lines up outside of the shop. The interior is very clean, bright and tidy. There is a small, cute outside sitting area as well.

IM’s menu offers a selection of shaved ice coming in defferent tastes with a variety of toppings: from Fresh Mango Sensation, my personal favourite, and other fruit, tea & coffee flavoured variations to more Asian tastes like red bean.  The brand is distinctly known for the quality of its ice, the smooth, almost velvety and pristinely white mass. You get a scoop of sorbet and some extra topping with this delicious ice montain. Then there are Avalanches – on the heavier side of spectrum, a lesser amount of shaved ice piled with beans or cubes of fresh fruit, covered with condensed milk and finished up with a scoop of sorbet.  Do not think you can order one per person—these are made to share. The portion size is huge. If you are more into European style desserts, there is a small selection of Belgian waffles with toppings and ice-cream, as well as some cakes. To drink, you can choose from teas, yogurts and juices.

The priciest item on the menu is close to 80 kuai, which seems reasonable enough when you see the size of it.
I’ll definitely be going back there to work my way through the remaining flavours. Keep cool, Xi’an!

Sima is an expatriate from Kazakhstan who has stayed in Xi’an for too long. She can be reached at reviews@xianease.com

9-1