Avocado shake
Move over, avocado on toast. The avocado shake is Vietnam’s answer to elevating the buttery fruit. Avocados are blended with milk, condensed milk, sugar and ice to make a super creamy drink that hits all the right spots on a sweltering summer day. Feeling adventurous? Then try its funky tropical cousins: the durian shake and the soursop shake!
Bowled over
Avocado & matcha smoothie bowl
Vietnamese iced coffee
You can’t mention the fruit shakes without talking about another Vietnamese coffeehouse staple: cold, sweet, strong Vietnamese coffee.
Source: Feast magazine
These simple, tropical-tasting frozen bars are perfect for summer months: fresh banana sandwiched between coconut milk, sprinkled with peanuts and coconut. Eat them quickly not because the weather is hot, because you'll want seconds.
Vietnamese banana and coconut ice-cream (Kem chuối) Source: Asia Unplated with Diana Chan
More coconut chill
Three colour che
Bandung
This sweet pairing of rose syrup and evaporated milk is deceptively simple. Also known in Thailand as Thai nom yen, this creamy fragrant drink is served chilled over ice, and is sometimes served out of large vats at street stalls.
If you’re looking to one-up the humble bandung, why not try a bandung dinosaur?
A riff on the milo dinosaur, the bandung dinosaur involves topping an ice-cold glass of bandung with a small heap of milo powder. Protip: lift your straw completely out of the glass and stick it straight through the mound of milo. This allows you to get a small chunk of powder with every mouthful, adding a light texture and chocolatey flavour, before finishing on the classic rose flavour.
Cendol is one of many in a genre of icy desserts eaten commonly in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia. Like most Malaysian street sweet snacks, its flavour profile is based on the holy trinity of Southeast Asian dessert ingredients – coconut, pandan and palm sugar and droplets of green rice flour jelly give it a distinctive pop.
Before boba tea swept through our lives with a bazillion different jellies and pearls, we had the Michael Jackson. No, not the king of pop. We’re talking about the OG soy milk and grass jelly drink that’s popular in Singapore and Malaysia. Want to make it at home? Simply get yourself a can of grass jelly at your local Asian store, and top up your cup with ice and sweetened soy milk.
Source: Adam Liaw
Ready for jelly
Red bean, coconut and grass jelly dessert drink
