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| - For a place to serve Xue Hua Bing (snow ice) open up in Pittsburgh was something that seriously came out of the blue. While few places in the US even serve this (mostly only available in large metropolitan cities, to my knowledge), I had to double check that Cool Ice Taipei actually served this Taiwanese dessert, and make sure that it wasn't the traditional shaved ice simply lost in translation.
I arrived at the restaurant to realize that it's actually a sitdown place. we were seated at one of the many just-a-tad-narrow 4-person tables and handed menus. There were only 3 other parties in the restaurant at the time on a Saturday afternoon, so service was fairly quick.
My two friends and I ordered a wasabi chicken appetizer to split. For entrees, one got pork chop over rice, while the two of us got beef noodle soup. for dessert, i ordered a snow ice japanese ba bao style for myself.
wasabi chicken appetizer - wasabi flavor was very subtle, could be accentuated a bit more. friend unfamiliar with taiwanese cuisine found it "wayy too salty", which i partially agree with. crust is not popcorn-chicken-like, more just a breading.
beef noodle soup - noodles were just a TAD overcooked, and a bit more broth would have been nice. would have been nice to have baby bok choy (like the way it should be), instead of the napa cabbage. temperature came out perfect, and it was served with the minced pickled stuff (its english name somehow escapes me atm), which was a good addition to add into the soup. broth certainly didn't taste as authentic as i wished; it was slightly watery, and didn't have the fragrant beefyness that i would have liked. i wouldn't go as far to say that it was taken from a can.
pork chop over rice - friend said the saltiness was still a little strong, but ended up liking it by the end, with the sides that came with the dish.
japanese ba bao style snow ice - ba bao means eight treasures in chinese; they typically refer to some dish that has 8 toppings. in this case, they just included 6 fruits, red bean, and taro, over a matcha (green tea) base. unlike the one i had in taipei, the green tea was certainly not as potent, but still good. some of the fruits went well with the ice, but i would recommend them take out the pineapple, and add in pudding or something else instead. the sourness of the pineapple just doesn't blend in well, and is certainly not japanese style either.
my friend also got a taro milk tea, which was not too sweet, which is a bit of a relief from those that are normally overly sweetened. when i asked the waitress whether they served tapioca (just out of curiosity), the waitress said "no we don't serve it because rose tea serves that". it's clear that from the menu choices, this restaurant was opened to be complementary and not competitive to Rose Tea Cafe, providing items that Rose Tea doesn't serve. i'm not sure who owns this place...
i'm looking forward to going back again!
all in all, i'm extremely grateful that a place like this has opened
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