The sunbrellas are out, the shorts are getting shorter, and boxes of yangmei are popping up at fruit shops across the city. Summer is here. And that means one thing. Time to hit the convenience store ice cream fridges for a roundup of the wackiest and tastiest treats Shanghai has to offer.
We got spicy ramen. We got carrots and eggplants and potatoes. We got eggs and beer and ketchup. We got guavas and peaches and pineapples. We got to hit the gym.
Ice Cream French Fries
Ice cream in the shape of French-fries. Basic concept, and has a nice interplay between the crispy shell-like outside of the fry and the soft inside. But then, that little red packet in the corner. It must be strawberry jam, I hoped. But no, ice-cold ketchup. Goes well with ice cream, said no one ever.
Spicy Korean Instant Noodle Ice Cream
I thought it was going to a be a joke, ice cream made to look like a block of instant noodles. But the ice cream fridge is not a joking matter. Actually spicy and salty. I finished it, so not disgusting, but would not recommend. Also, nothing to hold onto, your fingers will get covered in spicy orangeness.
Carrots
Will it taste like carrot? After the ramen, I was worried, but this is just standard milk ice cream. The actual "carrotness" of the treat, i.e., the orange cone, had a thin cardboard-like texture, like chewing on a manilla folder. Perfect for those who want to cosplay as a horse.
Potatoes
Another dive into the vegetable garden. The design is remarkably potato like. Did the little vegetable bar code on the packaging trick me into repeatedly scanning it at the register? Yes it did. The potato skin has the same cardboard texture as the carrot, surrounding basic vanilla ice cream (the cheese flavor on the label is nowhere to be found). Nothing to hold onto, so your fingers will get a nice chocolate dusting.
Eggplants
What's with all these vegetables? Ice cream designers need to take Homer Simpson's advice: you don't win friends with salad. This was the best of the veggies, with a chewy mochi-like outside texture, grape sorbet inside, and some crunchy "seeds" in the middle.
Beer
An Aldi special, beer-flavored ice cream in the shape of the German flag. Only the middle layer was beer flavored, the others had a vague tropical taste to them. The black coloring on top sticks to your lips and makes it look like you sucked on a piece of coal.
Egg Yolk
Vanilla ice cream with two-egg yolk flavored globes in the middle. Pretty tasty, the egg adds a nice salty underlayer to the vanilla.
Pineapple
Pineapple sorbet in the shape of a pineapple. Really pretty to look at, they nailed the shading on the pineapple skin. A slight sandiness to the bite that mimics the pineapple fibers.
Guava
Excellent, the best out of any of these. No gimmicks here, just a mix of tangy guava and strawberry flavor, and an appealing pink and green color.
Peach
Also great. The stone in the middle had me worried, it looked very much like an actual peach pit. But it was a very nice crunchy chocolate bite. Clean peachy flavor
