Fantastic Traditional Taiwanese Ice Cream in Zhongxiao Dunhua

北門鳳李冰 is a popular spot in Zhongxiao Dunhua that serves up fantastic home-made, traditional Taiwanese ice cream. It’s the kind of place that is so successful and so well-known that it consistently pulls in diverse crowds of people, most of whom are return customers. Taiwanese ice cream is completely different to Western ice cream in that it’s not made with dairy (and is therefore completely vegan), and has a different consistency which is more flaky and crumbly than creamy, much more similar to a sorbet than what comes to mind when we think of ice cream. 北門鳳李冰 keeps their flavours traditional too, with options like longan, salty plum, lychee, and pineapple, to name but a few. Since we’re suckers for ice cream in any shape or form (and loved the Taiwanese ice cream flavours at Snow King), we’d been dying to visit for ages, and were excited to finally get the chance when we were in the area to try the ramen at Soba Shinn.

The first thing we ordered was a combination of taro and peanut ice cream ($45). One bite in, we were in love. The taro was rich and creamy, and had this beautiful shine to it. We’re not big fans of taro normally, but this was a great flavour that managed to be both flavourful and mild at the same time. We also enjoyed the peanut — far less creamy, with an almost flaky, crumbly texture, but still very good. The peanut taste was strong but not overpowering, and the two worked together well. We would order both again.

Our next order was the pineapple and salty plum ice cream ($45). This was also a good choice, though we ended up getting the salty plum by accident, and were pretty weirded out by it (we thought it was longan) until we realized what we were eating. If you’ve ever had a salted plum drink, you’ll know that it has a distinctive, almost smoky flavour that you might love or hate. The ice cream was pretty similar in that the flavour was on the more interesting side, and we couldn’t decide how much we liked it. The pineapple, on the other hand, we immediately decided we liked. It was light, sweet, and refreshing; the perfect summer flavour. We would get it again.

Although we were seriously in love with (almost) everything we had ordered so far, the real showstopper of the night was the lychee ice cream ($45), which is available in a small size only due to its popularity. We seriously can’t overemphasize how good this was. We had originally only ordered the two ice creams above, but after casually browsing reviews on Google, we realized that the lychee flavour was by far the most recommended. We hesitated for about four seconds before dashing off for one, and were completely satisfied with our choice to do so the moment we tasted it. It had a strong lychee taste that wasn’t artificial in any way — quite sweet, very refreshing. It really was like a sorbet, and made another great summer choice, as it didn’t make us feel thirsty at all.

Check out their full menu here:

Overall, we thought 北門鳳李冰 was a fantastic spot for ice cream. It’s true that it’s completely unlike Western ice cream, so if that’s what you’ve got your heart set on, this isn’t the place for you. Apart from the taro flavour, all of the ice creams were light and crumbly, and very refreshing in the hot weather. The taro was the exception to the rule in that it was much more creamy, but it really wasn’t heavy at all. If you’re interested in trying traditional Taiwanese ice cream, we’re confident that this is the place you should come to experiment. The flavours are all Taiwanese, mostly fantastic (depending on your preference), and extremely easy on the wallet. What’s not to love?

What’s the vibe?

Traditional ice cream spot in Zhongxiao Dunhua that’s massively popular with locals. Lots of people of all ages and backgrounds were stopping by here for an after-dinner sweet treat.

Worth it?

Yes! It’s cheap, it’s different, it’s delicious.

Would you go back?

You bet! This is an awesome summer spot, and a fantastic place to take out-of-towners. And even if it wasn’t, we’d still go back for that lychee ice cream.

Last visited August 2019. 

北門鳳李冰

Hours: 12pm – 9:30pm

Phone: 02 2711 8862

English Address: No. 9, Alley 33, Lane 216, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Road, Da’an District, Taipei City

Chinese Address: 台北市大安區忠孝東路四段216巷33弄9號