Summer is in full swing and what better way to seek reprieve from the heat than an ice cold treat. After having dinner with friends and family at Kishimoto on Commercial Drive, we ventured to Icepik Shavery for some refreshing desserts. This was my first visit and I was eager to see how their treats compared to other popular dessert places like Icy Bar and Snowy Village.
Snow Cream
Located at 3377 Kingsway in the Renfrew-Collingwood area, Icepik Shavery has been open for over a year already. They set themselves apart for a regular shaved ice dessert like at Icy Bar by offering snow cream, which is something between shaved ice and ice cream. Snow cream has a lighter, fluffier snow-like texture and serves as the base of the dessert. Furthermore, the snow cream is flavoured which is a contrast from regular shaved ice. You can then customize with toppings and drizzles.
Icepik Shavery Menu
You can either choose all the ingredients for your dessert ($5 -$6) or go with one of their 5 combos ($6-$7). The sizes available are regular or large. Flavours for the snow cream include mango, taro, green tea, lychee and more. The variety of toppings range from fruit, pearl, mochi, jelly to name a few. The combos seem like a better deal overall since they include 4 or more toppings depending on which combo you get. If you choose the toppings individually, they would be $0.60 each. The menu is fully available online here.
They also offer a self-serve station of drizzles including condensed milk, chocolate and caramel. For all you condensed milk lovers, you can load up as much as you wish.
Clean & Spacious
We came in on a Sunday night around 8 pm and it wasn’t very busy. The interior is very spacious which I think is good for standing room I suppose. However, there are few dining tables inside, banquette seating, and some chairs outside as well.
What We Tried
Our friends had a regular-sized custom creation of green tea, red bean and lychee jelly. My husband, son and I shared a regular sized Combo #1 called “Let It Snow.” It had taro snow cream, almond jelly, plain mochi, oreo crumble and lychee jelly.
How did I love the dessert? Let me count the ways. First of all, the snowcream texture is just perfect. A smooth, melt-in-your-mouth consistency that makes me wonder why I ever settled for ice chunks. The taro flavour was good, though a bit artificial tasting but still very acceptable. As for the toppings – mochi, almond jelly, lychee jelly and oreo crumble – they were all delicious. The jellies had just the right amount of sweetness and were nicely chewy. The mochi was plain but had a nice soft chewy texture.
I sampled a bit of our friend’s green tea creation and I must say that the green tea flavour was not very good. It was very off in my opinion and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Overall Impression of Icepik Shavery
I quite enjoyed the smooth texture of Icepik’s snow cream and the fact that it comes flavoured. It wasn’t busy that evening so it was nice to be able to sit down in a non-crowded environment and enjoy the dessert with good company. If you’re tired of lining up and general chaos at Snowy Village and Icy Bar, give Icepik a try. Rating: 4/5
Website: http://www.icepikshavery.com/
Nosh and Nibble
Monday 8th of August 2016
Really not sure how I can ever go back to Icy Bar on Kingsway for shaved ice knowing that Icepik is just down the street