MoMo & Coco

NYC’s Best Shaved Ice

Introduction

Every summer since we moved to NYC, we have tracked down the best ice cream to be had.  2017 was the summer of ice cream bubble egg waffles, 2018 birthed an exponential opening of soft serve purveyors and some very oddball icecream creations, 2019 saw the growing prominence of global flavours, 2020’s pandemic was all about ice cream deliveries, and 2021 was the summer of frozen sweet treats other than ice cream.  This year of 2022 — our sixth summer (!) — we celebrate this last month of summer with the best shaved ice in the city! 

*Updated May 2024.

The lightest shaved ice

  • 1st dessert destination:  Little One, Lower East Side, Manhattan.
  • Best for:  Pineapple Kakigori ($7).  Little One’s shaved ice is super light and crystalline, but do note that it is little, and we do mean, little.  One is enough for one.
  • 2nd dessert destination: Tonchin, Midtown Manhattan, NewYork.
  • Best for:  Mango Kakigori ($16).  Order a steaming bowl of ramen noodles, drip with sweat, and then chill down with Tonchin’s giant bowl of ice.   

Milky dense shaved ice

  • 1st dessert destination: Sweet Moment, Chinatown, Manhattan. 
  • Best for: Super dense patbingsoo ($16).  Sweet Moment’s shaved ice is not as milky as Grace Street’s, but it is still very dense.  The Christmas-coloured “Matcha Strawberry” is the most photogenic, but the “Mango Cheesecake” is our favourite.  Sweet Moment adds a generous amount of toppings too, such as mochi morsels and orbs of ice cream. 

  • 2nd dessert destination:  Grace Street, Koreatown, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Ultra-creamy patbingsoo ($16).  Grace Street’s shaved ice is the creamiest of the shaved ice on this list.  Although it isn’t the largest pyramid of ice, its high cream content means that we have never been able to finish, even when shared between two persons.  Go for the black sesame if you are after something a little savoury, or the strawberry volcano with lychee jelly for something sweeter.

Giant shaved ice

  • 1st dessert destination: Cafe Auburndale, Flushing, Queens.
  • Best for: Injeolmi shaved ice ($16.50). Of five flavours on offer, get the injeolmi with its dusting of soybean powder, lacings of condensed milk and dollops of red bean paste. Bring at least three friends.
  • 2nd dessert destination: Cocohodo, Murray Hill, Queens.
  • Best for: Strawberry shaved ice ($16.50). Roughly the same size of the giant bowl of shaved ice at Cafe Auburndale, Cocohodo shines with fruit and mochi toppings generously showered on the ice base. Also bring at least three friends.

Portable shaved ice

  • 1st dessert destination: Lazy Sundaes, Soho / Chinatown, Manhattan.  
  • Best for: Original ($10). For when you want to walk around with shaved ice, rather than sit down, Lazy Sundae comes to the rescue.  Our favourite was the original, laced with red bean, mochi and soy bean, but the hojicha is a close second.
  • 2nd dessert destination: Semi Colon Cafe, Murray Hill, Manhattan.   
  • Best for: Matcha ($10). Semi Colon is the newest shaved ice shop on this list.  The scoop of mascarpone is unnecessary, but the matcha layered with red bean and crunchy cereal is a refreshing treat while trotting through Manhattan. 
 
  • 3rd dessert destination: TT Ice Handmade, Columbus Circle/Upper West Side, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Mango. If you are enroute off the train, to shopping at Columbus Circle or to Central Park, make sure you stop by the TT Ice Handmade at the underground Turnstyle Market. The shaved ice here is a very sweet and pretty semi-slushie, and makes for a perfect afternoon pick-me-up.

Restaurant shaved ice 

  • 1st dessert destination: Oiji Mi, Flatiron, Manhattan. 
  • Best for: $$$. Oiji Mi is one of the most beautiful restaurants in NYC, and a place we would not hesitate to return especially for special date nights or to bring our parents. If you want shaved ice fit for a king in a luxe setting, look no further. It is available as part of the tasting menu, or order it a la carte from the front bar.
  • 2nd dessert destination:  Lobster Club, Midtown, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Giant kakigori ($23). If you want to impress someone with shaved ice, the very swanky underground, modern-Japanese/American-accented Lobster Club may just be the place to do that. The shaved ice here is fit for a table of 4, and flavours rotate seasonally. Below is the rainbow sherbet version, with a jam filling and key lime cream mousse on top.

For when you want shaved ice and other desserts 

  • 1st dessert destination: Spot Dessert Bar, East Village, Manhattan. 
  • Best for: Lychee Ume shaved ice ($14) and other seasonal desserts.  Spot Dessert Bar is one of our long-time favourite dessert spots in the city for reliable, universally-appealing desserts at a reasonable price.  See here for a previous review.  Desserts change by season, and one of our favourite seasonal desserts is the tower of heavenly lychee granita, drizzled with slightly salty ume plum sauce.  It’s a perfectly balanced, sweet-salty summer treat.
  • 2nd dessert destination:  Sweets Laboratory, Koreatown, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Earl Grey shaved ice ($16) and croffles.  Hanamizuki Cafe was once-upon-a-time our secret escape from the cacophony of Midtown Manhattan.  It has since been taken over by Sweets Laboratory, a pink-hued dessert-focused cafe.  Served in a photogenic tall martini-like glass, the shaved ice here is refreshingly light, and layered on top of milk tea pudding and colourful fruit jelly. Visit for the croffles too.
 
  • 3rd dessert destination: Meet Fresh, East Village, Manhattan. 
  • Best for: Caramel and almond pudding shaved ice ($17), and dessert soups.  For cold sweet soups layered with sago, red bean, grass jelly, mango etc, Meet Fresh is one of our favourite frozen treat spots.  Aside from sweet soups, don’t miss its range of shaved ice.  The bubble tea version may be the most instagrammable, but it is the most dangerously diabetes-inducing.  Instead, go for the one bejewelled with caramel flan, almond pudding, taro balls, chewy mochi, melon jelly and just lightly sweet, milky shaved ice.  Summer dreaming right here.
  • 4th dessert destination: Heuk Hwa Dang, Koreatown, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Giant shaved ice ($18) and croffles. Further down the street from Grace Street, HHD is shaping up to be a strong competitor. Being far less heavy in texture than the Grace Street version, HHD’s shaved ice is easier to finish. It also comes with generous toppings of mango and strawberry, and bowls of jelly if you are an ultra-sweet tooth. Visit for the croffles too.
 
  • 5th dessert destination: Matcha Maiko, Soho, Manhattan. 
  • Best for: Green tea kakigori ($10), and matcha lattes, and soft serve ice cream.  If you love matcha, Matcha Maiko is the place in NYC for it. You can get a range of matcha lattes, teas, frappes, and our favourite, the tower of coarse shaved ice topped with a spiral of green tea soft serve ice cream, and dotted with red bean paste and mochi bowls. Be forewarned that the matcha flavours are very strong here.
  • 6th dessert destination: Cha An, East Village, Manhattan.
  • Best for: Matcha or hojicha kakigori ($20), and other traditional Japanese desserts. Long-time readers of this NYC dessert blog will know that Cha An is one of our favourite dessert spots in NYC. Aside from offering a range of mochi-based desserts and an exquisitely-crafted high tea, we try to visit Cha An most summers for their kakigori. Slightly sweet, the matcha kakigori is their signature, but look out also for the hojicha flavour too, which is our absolute favourite.

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