Best shaved ice desserts in KL

This Korean dessert chain claims to serve the ‘best bingsu in town’. Intrigued? On the menu you’ll find the popular snow ice dessert alongside hot options like Korean snacks and stir-fried rice cakes. The fresh fluffy bingsu come in fun flavours like Blueberry Cheese Snow Ice (with bits of cheesecake) and Oreo Snow Ice (a mountain of milky shaved ice covered in Oreo powder and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream). For a more traditional flavour, the Injeolmi Snow Ice comes with almonds and bits of chewy Korean rice cake.

One of Korea’s biggest coffee chains is where you can go for coffee and bingsu. Try the popular favourites – Coffee bingsu, the signature Green Tea option with strong hints of green tea, and the sweet Cookies and Cream. Or, go back to basics and go with a simple patbingsu – shaved ice topped with Korean rice cake, nuts and red bean paste.

MyKōri is all about the Japanese desserts such as taiyaki, Shibuya toast and the all-time favourite kakigōri. There’s an array of fun flavours including Chocolate Banoffee, Thai Tea and Milo, which are great options after a meal. Try the fruit kakigori range for a very refreshing treat – options include watermelon and strawberry or mango served with a sweet syrup.

This Taiwanese dessert café sources natural ingredients both locally and from overseas, bringing them together in its kitchens and then handmaking the toppings and even the ice that go into its range of shaved ice options. Go for the classic favourite, the Double Black – cold grass jelly, addictive chew taro balls and two scoops of grass jelly sorbet, served with a shot of cream on the side. For the adventurous, take your pick from the menu and customise your own dessert.

Kakigōri serves handcrafted Japanese shaved ice and other desserts using only natural ingredients as well as imported matcha from Kyoto. Their kakigōri is a tall mound of ice typically flavoured with fresh fruit, syrups and purées. The traditional flavours are the Uji Matcha, Japanese Pumpkin and Hojicha kakigōri while other unique flavours include Avocado with Pistachio Nuts and Guava with Jelly and Plum Salt. Try adding on their house-made warabi mochi and kinako milk for more sweetness.

Miru Dessert Café was one the first cafés serving only desserts when it opened, and serves an array of sweet Japanese desserts. Though specialising in the popular Shibuya honey toasts, Miru also offers kakigori, and its Strawberry Cheesecake option – homemade strawberry sauce drizzled over a huge mound of fluffy shaved ice – is a pretty dessert worthy of a picture (or three, from various angles). More recently, it jumped on the bubble tea wagon and now includes a Brown Sugar Fresh Milk kakigori on the menu as well.

We can’t have a shaved ice dessert feature and not include our city’s OG ais kacang. One of the best places to have a cold one is Kwong Wah in Happy Mansion – this humble space serves ais kacang and cendol with recipes that have been perfected over 60 years. If you’re feeling peckish there’s also a small selection of buns and kuih. But really, you come here for the cold bowl of shaved ice topped with generous amounts of ingredients and drizzled with pure gula Melaka and fresh santan.