Actual post date: 4/03/08

Shaved ice.

If the image of a soggy, wet paper cone dripping with red and blue sticky syrup comes to mind, banish the thought.

Instead imagine a glass of fresh fruit: kiwi, mango, lychee, and watermelon on a bed of ice, topped with a scoop of rich green tea ice cream and graced with a sprinkling of perfectly chewy tapioca. This is shaved ice as it was meant to be: a harmony of light, refreshing delicate flavors with a natural aesthetic, and not an amalgam of clashing primary colors that tastes nauseatingly and artificially sweet.

This perfect balance of fruit, ice, cream and tapioca is better known as Korean shaved ice, and can be experienced at Cafe Java Bru in Buena Park. This place in particular serves one of the best made versions because of they use fresh fruit versus canned fruit cocktail, often the ingredient of choice at other places.

If you happen to be visiting this plaza and are craving something savory, check out Yoko, a Korean owned Japanese food restaurant that specializes in donkatsu- a traditional Japanese dish of delicately deep fried pork cutlet, and udon. Prices are decent for the amount of food that you get (12 dollars for donkatsu, soup, side dishes and udon or a cut roll).

I personally love a culturally influenced take on another culture's food. So, there are little tinges of Korean influences in dishes served at this Japanese restaurant, such as kimchi udon, or pickled turnip served as a side dish with the donkatsu. And as mentioned, the food is excellent, a perfect balance of heavy with light, such as minced cabbage paired with the heavier donkatsu. Not to mention that word on the street is that if you order to go, the food comes in adorable little bento boxes.

It's all about balance. For a something light to end the heavy work week head on over to Java Bru for some Korean shaved ice. And if you wish, pair it with a visit to Yoko. You will be pleasantly surprised.


Cafe Java Bru
4560 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90621
Phone: (714) 670-1571

Yoko
4566 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90621
(714) 739-4353

Labels: good eats, ice, ShoutsOfAdoration