Towering sweetness

By Olivia Miwil

olivia@nst.com.my

Pictures by Malai Rosmah Tuah

A gigantic and colorful shaved ice or also known as ABC Gunung Kinabalu is the latest food attraction at Tanjung Aru beach in Sabah.

The dessert takes the name of Sabah’s mountain, which went viral in the social media recently, is the brainchild of 25-year-old Ain Natrah Mirdat who is also a sweet tooth.

Ain had the idea to turn the typical ABC into irresistible dessert last year in November when she took over the 10 years of business from her parents.

“Logically the higher or larger the ABC, it would become more catchy to people.  

“But there was incident whereby the ABC became unstable and fell unto a customer,” said the former business student, adding she took about more than a month to finalise the height of the ABC to less than a meter tall, flavors and design.

For standard order, a bowl of ABC Gunung Kinabalu will have coconut jelly, ice-cream, cendol, cincau, biscuits, fruits and different types of cereals.

Customers could opt for different flavors range from vanilla, chocolate, corn, peppermint, strawberry and many more.

She attributed her father Mirdat Mohammed who used to work as a crew for films as the person who suggested the layout of the design.

Ain said there were also customers who would like to have custom-made ABC which goes beyond the height or order lots of flavors to be put into the ice. However, she does advise patrons to be careful while having dessert and recommend best combination of flavors.  

“On the sweetness level, we put moderate amount of condensed and evaporated milk to the shaved ice.

“But we still provide extra milks and sugar syrup along in cups with the order without charging customers,” she said, adding one bowl priced at RM14 each.

  

The other popular dessert is ABC Kelapa Gunung which has the similar concept but in coconut priced at RM16.

  

Both desserts are meant for one to seven persons.

While it takes about eight minutes from shaving and manually shaping the ice, as well as designing it. But during peak hours, customers may have to wait long.

“I am glad customers, especially those come from as far as Sandakan or peninsular Malaysia, are willing to wait patiently for hours to try the dessert.

“However, we usually inform customers there might be delay or advise them to sit near our stall so that our staff could attend to their needs instantly,” she said, adding the stall which located at the food court at the beach also serve other foods such as grilled seafood, juice, fried rice among others.

Ain will also introduce new menu “Mi taufan Rosyam Noor” in April which will definitely go well with the dessert.

The family recipe noodle, which has choices of seafood, chicken or lamb, will also be served in big portion which require teamwork to finish them.

The stall at Tanjung Aru opens daily from noon until midnight.

However, it will move to Anjung Senja at the town soon as the food court will also be relocated to give way development project at current location.