Snow Dragon Shavery

I'm completely ignorant of shaved snow, a Taiwanese dessert available at Snow Dragon Shavery next door to the Wiener Circle. In fact, I went in there tonight expecting shave ice, another frozen dessert I've never had before. I was hoping to come here and add a sentence or two to an existing thread that included some helpful info, but alas it appears to have gone under the radar here. Hopefully, some people who actually know what they're talking about will add some meat to this thread to put this place in proper perspective. All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed my first Snow Dragon experience.

The basics: you order one of about 20 flavors of shaved snow. There are pre-flavored disks of frozen snow (ice? milky ice?) and yours will get loaded into the shaving machine which dumps out something that looks like a big plop of soft serve ice cream but is actually far, far lighter. If you get a small ($4.99) or a medium ($6.99), you get your choice of two toppings and one "drizzle." The toppings range from a collection of candies to canned fruit to various "jellies" to mini mochi. The jellies seem to have a similar texture to tapioca balls and are in a thick sauce. Okay, that sounds gross, but it's really not.

I opted for lychee shaved snow topped with mango jellies and the little mochi along with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk (apparently the traditional drizzle). The combination of the incredibly light shaved snow, the mildly chewy jellies and the more chewy mochi made for a fantastic flavor and textural combination. Both my dining companion and I were already plotting our return before either of us finished our food.

Macaron ice cream sandwiches, self-serve frozen yogurt (at least a dozen flavors), and bubble tea are also available.

Snow Dragon Shavery
2618 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60614
773-281-9866
Website

I echo the thought: whatever it lacks in looks, the shaved ice more than makes up for in taste and texture. Be careful of the toppings, though: since they're the same as those for the frozen yogurt, one could easily go off the rails with various candies and the like. Best to stick with fruits and pearls and the like.

Found the bubble tea to be overly sweet and the frozen yogurt--which I presume is not made in house--to be on par with the kind of dreck of this new era of froyo (e.g., Forever Yogurt and the like). Stick with the shaved ice, I say.