[TAIWAN] Snow King: Tastes Like Chicken

When I heard about Snow King, I knew it would be a place I had to visit. This legendary ice cream shop sells over 73 flavors of homemade ice cream, ranging from the ordinary to the way-out obscure.

(73 flavors!)

I made the pilgrimage to this tiny store and perused the menu. Flavor headings included nuts and pulses, “healing” herbal flavors, fruit, alcohol, vegetables and teas, among others. The family went with more orthodox offerings, such as the creamy coconut ice cream (NT60), a perfumed almond flavor (NT65) and a sweet, fresh strawberry (NT55).

(Sesame oil chicken: no joke)

Wanting to take advantage of the quirky flavors, I pendulum-ed between the pig’s trotter flavor (NT110) and the sesame oil chicken (NT110), eventually deciding on the latter. Snow King doesn’t like—my ice cream sphere smelt exactly like sesame oil chicken and tasted that way too. The first bite was hilarious. But somewhere between bites four and five, the sesame oil became way too pungent… it should be no surprise the sesame oil and dairy doesn’t exactly mix well… not to mention the little bits of hardened ginger salt flecked in the ice cream. To be honest, it was pretty damn gross. But hey—it touts itself as being sesame oil chicken flavored and, without a doubt, that’s what it delivered. So kudos to that.

The uber friendly store owner assured me that the sesame oil chicken flavor is fortifying for the body (because of the ginger, she says). I’ll take her word for it. But the novelty aside, Snow King does do some quality ice cream. And if you're not ready to plunge into the chicken/curry/pork floss flavors yet, there's still a myriad of interesting options for you to sample.

FOOD: 4/5 (an extra point for originality)
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 2/5

SNOW KING /雪王 ($)
No. 65, Wuchang Street, Sec 1
Taipei City, Taiwan
02-2331-8415