Thursday, January 21, 2016

Waiola Shave Ice (Ward)

Waiola Shave Ice now has three locations on Oahu. This blog post is for their newest spot at Ward Warehouse.

The Ward spot displays the photos of their two prior locations. The original store remains on Waiola Street (hence, the name of the place) and is where Alice Kimura started selling shave ice back in the 1970s. Waiola's second spot is in Kapahulu on Mokihana Street and used to be a 3-bedroom house. I have been to both of those stores as well, and you can check the website for more info.


As always, Waiola's syrups are homemade. President Barack Obama now even has a rainbow flavor named after him.



However, I came for Waiola's "milk ice," a creamier version of their famous shave ice only found at their Ward location. It's made with cane sugar, milk, and concentrated syrup containing real fruit juice. After mixing the liquids, the shave ice is added in. The three flavors currently offered are strawberry, mango, and chocolate. It only comes in one size (basically a large) for $5.




I got the Strawberry Milk Ice, topped with strawberries and condensed milk. An amazing, refreshing dessert or snack. To me, it's a hybrid of sorbet and sherbet; the powerful fruity punch of sorbet but with dairy added for creaminess and melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Again, it's not found at Waiola's two other spots as of now.


Apparently Andrew Zimmern has caught wind of this place. Back in October 2015, a segment was filmed for "Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations." It will likely air sometime in 2016.

Waiola Rainbow Shave Ice
Waiola's remains the gold standard for my shave ice experience. The ice is pretty much ground down to a delicate snowy powder. It literally melts in your mouth. Glad to see that the superb quality has remained with an additional location. 9.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment