Everyday Eats: Hawaiian Shave Ice at Ice Blast
Erin Jackson
If you’re looking to cool your internal temperature by a good 10 degrees while simultaneously getting a sugar high roughly as powerful as chugging a quadruple espresso, look no further than Ice Blast, a new Hawaiian shave ice shop in Kearny Mesa. There, you can create a sugar-soaked treat of fluffy shaved ice drizzled with some 26 different flavor syrups, including kiwi, boysenberry, pink lemonade and passionfruit.
Prices start at $2.75 for a “tiny” and go up to $4.00 for the largest size, which is probably enough for a party of four. You can choose up to three flavors in one cup, then dress it up with free add-ons like condensed milk, sour spray, ling hing mui (salty dried plum) powder, or Hawaiian salt. For 50 cents extra, you can go even further, adding ice cream, red bean, mochi, or gummy bears, but my pick would be the mango jelly.
One word of advice: since the soft, snowy ice is packed to such a tall peak, a small ($3.00, pictured above) will definitely do ya, especially if you’re tackling it alone. Besides, the most sugar-saturated bites are waiting at the bottom of the cup, where the syrups swirl together into a slurry so electrifyingly sweet, I felt like doing cartwheels all the way back to my car (your experience may vary).
Everyday Eats: Hawaiian Shave Ice at Ice Blast
Erin Jackson
My cup included a mix of classic and tropical flavors (blue raspberry, mango, and passionfruit), and while all three were tasty, the best flavor was the lychee. It mimicks its tropical fruit origin, but isn’t quite as perfumey or floral. And, since it’s clear, it has another major benefit: not staining your tongue.
Ice Blast is located at 4206 Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa (map). The shop is open from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Monday to Saturday, and from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday.
