Mango shaved ice (思慕昔)

I have a long and sad history with mango flavored shaved ice, with most of them ending similar to this. Sparing you the full details, let's just say it's another one of my food related love-hate relationships. Fully aware of the consequences (which will never be the same, I might add), I couldn't help myself when I found a place that served mango shaved ice with panna cotta (not pudding!). Where? On 永康街, at a place called 思慕昔 (which has the phonetic equivalence of 'smoothie'). Dumb name? Certainly, but as far as the mango shaved ice... they don't dick around.

Now I'm sure that this isn't unique to this one shop, but if you have the balls to open a shaved ice place specializing in mango just down the street from the famous ice shop formerly known as 'Ice Monster,' then you're probably pretty good yourself. Or at least that was my train of thought. Mmm, actually I probably wasn't thinking, I was too intrigued by the concept already. Anyway, it was every bit as good as expected. Soft, yet resilient, panna cotta... heavy in dairy flavor and light in sweetness, capping a mound of traditional mango shaved ice (fresh mangoes in syrup + a healthy serving of condensed milk). Satisfactory across all components, their version can be said to be good, if not remarkable. For about half the price, Ice Monster can suck it.



For one reason or another, they also gave a free cup of mango... um something, with every order that day... (most likely because it was their opening weekend). I think it was sherbet, it tasted kind of like the Italian ice from Rita's, but not exactly. Honestly, I don't remember that much about it. I was pretty damn stuffed from the massive bowl of shaved ice, but I guess it was okay? I don't think I'd spend money on it. To come full circle, I should probably mention whether or not I 'won the lottery' this time. Uh, let's not ruin a good thing by talking about my bathroom escapades, k?