SnoCream Company — Restaurant in Annandale

"Sno" having grown up in the DC area, there hasn't been a wealth of Asian dessert options aside from Korean bakeries like Shilla's and Breeze. Therefore, while the concept of sno (which is something in between a snow cone and ice cream) may be in abundance on the West Coast and in Asia, there's not a lot of this stuff in DC. Hence, my excitement that SnoCream has exploded recently.

I was first able to try this frozen Taiwanese dessert during a Yelp party last summer. The texture of the snocream is crinkly, folded ribbon-like layers and looks almost soft and fluffy. It's unlike anything here in the area. It was a serendipitous find during the party and as soon as I found out they would have a SnoCream bus in the late summer, I started following them on their social media platforms.

On both Twitter and Instagram, they announce where they'll be in the area. Usually, it's behind the Kmart in Annandale (the Kmart is across the street from Shilla's). There, the SnoBus parks and neon lights illuminate the interior. They've installed aluminum flooring and a few modern white cube ottomans.

Now, the ordering. Regular is $5 and large is $7. I personally think the regular size is already pretty large and I would be able to share the regular with a date/friend, no problem. They are quite generous with all the flavors and toppings.

First, you order the sno flavor (milk tea, black sesame, green tea, vanilla, mango, honeydew, taro, Thai tea, coffee, or almond).

Then, pick your toppings. For the regular, you get two toppings and for the large, you get three. They have everything from your typical bobas (including flavored bobas like strawberry, yogurt, lychee, passion fruit, etc.); red bean; mochi (including green tea, strawberry, mango, etc.); cereal (Captain Crunch, Cocoa Puff, Fruitty Pebbles, etc.); fresh strawberries or pineapple; Oreos, M&Ms, Kit Kats, Twix, chocolate chip cookies, wafers, pocky sticks, etc.; jellies (mango, green apple, coffee, lychee, etc.); and nuts. Add $0.50 for additional toppings.

Finally, you can choose a drizzle. They have condensed milk, caramel, white chocolate, chocolate, and peanut butter.

They even sell macarons for $2 each. Flavors include green tea, taro, Fruitty Pebbles, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I'm told macarons sell out pretty quickly, especially the nutella teddy bear macaron you may have seen on their Instagram.

Follow them on Twitter or Instagram to find out where the SnoBus will be. Typically, it's somewhere in the 5-10pm range on weeknights and then they may do 12-4pm and 6-10pm on weekends. Be prepared to wait during the later hours! I went around 9pm and it was super crowded on the SnoBus. There's not a lot of standing/sitting room with the influx of people purchasing and people waiting for their sno. Even so, it's becoming quite the hip place. Who would have thought sno would bring me back onto an old-school bus?...

SnoCream is a "foodtruck" in the form of a repurposed bus that sells shaved ice cream desserts and drinks. The SnoCream bus is located on the side of a shopping strip mall in the parking lot. It's not particularly easy to spot from the street and there is no signage. But, it is there. The bus is small but it's only purpose is to take and deliver orders. There is a makeshift tent with temporary seating at the front of the bus for those who want to relax. However, there isn't a lot of room so you should expect to sit in your car during busy times.

SnoCream offers a "sno" dessert that is their shaved ice cream in various flavors, toppings, and drizzle. Their menu is posted on the website. The sno is a shaved version of ice cream that consists of equal parts water and cream, which results in an ice cream that has significant ice crystals. This is contrary to what most ice creameries want, but for SnoCream's shaved specialty, it works.

I opted to get a combination of green tea and thai tea, topped with mochi and red bean, and drizzled with condensed milk. This was $6.50, which I thought was reasonable. The green tea was good but I didn't particularly like the thai tea. Overall though, the flavors seemed a bit watered down due to the amount of water in the mixture. I would have liked it if they increased the flavor punch since there is so much water. I do want to go back and try the other flavors though. The mochi was average and not as soft and chewy as I would have expected. Its texture was a bit solid instead of soft. The red bean was good and the condensed milk was not overly sweet, which was a bit disappointing to be honest.

Overall, I would return to try the other flavors, different toppings and the drinks. However, I am only giving three stars because the flavors weren't as strong and explosive as I was expecting. Personally, I think desserts should be rich and full of flavor and my sno fell a bit short. I want to a dessert so good I crave it and while I will return to SnoCream to try other flavors, it's not on the top of my...

SnoCream Co. has a really cute vendor counter inside of the block. They serve snow cream, soft serve ice cream, and bubble tea. The only thing I, as a vegan, can consume here is their fresh green bubble teas. And while the flavour of the bubble teas was great (I tried their Lychee and their Peach Green tea flavours), the bubbles themselves were not. They were all stuck together in large groups and some of them were a bit hard, and they wouldn't come up the bubble tea straw. I've tried bubble tea from many places, and this has never been an issue for me. I'm not sure what they are doing differently from other bubble tea places, but the bubbles should not be stuck together. The fact that my straw kept getting stopped up and large amounts of bubbles were coming out at one time was quite annoying. Anywho, since bubble tea was the only item on their menu that I could try, and the only thing I could rate them on, even though the flavour of the bubble tea was good, they get three stars because they don't serve anything else that is vegan-friendly, but also because the bubbles in the only thing that I could consume were close to inedible because they wouldn't come up the straw. Had the bubbles been loose and not stuck together, they would have gotten a four or four point...