Anko

Shaved ice is the reason to come: fine, snow-textured ice under black sesame, matcha or hojicha, built up with red beans, injeolmi and condensed milk. Anko is a Korean and Japanese dessert café in the Koreatown blocks of Los Angeles, and the counter is where the work happens.

Shaved ice leads the programme

The bowls are the argument. The black sesame version is the most complete of them, finely shaved ice under a sesame drizzle with red beans, pine nuts, injeolmi and almonds, and condensed milk poured alongside rather than over, so the sweetness stays under control and the toasted sesame carries. The strawberry bowl goes the other way, syrup and fresh fruit, cold and direct. Hojicha arrives with milk and chestnut, matcha with matcha cream and red beans, and between the four you can read the whole kitchen. The drinks list is lighter work: boba, smoothies, green grape sparkling water and a cold brew that appears at weekends. The house does not name a roaster, and coffee is plainly not what the room is for.

A room for the hour after dinner

The space is clean and modern, warm wood against pale surfaces, arranged around a counter rather than table service. It can be almost empty early and full an hour later, because the traffic follows the Koreatown dinner hour and people arrive in twos and fours having already eaten. That rhythm suits the menu, since shaved ice is a shared object and most of the bowls are built for two spoons. Come earlier if you want the room quiet, later if you want the room busy.

Shaved ice first, taiyaki second

Order the black sesame bowl first. It is the most specific thing the kitchen makes and the clearest expression of the Korean and Japanese halves of the menu sitting together. If you want fruit, take the strawberry; if you want tea flavours, matcha with matcha cream and red beans, or hojicha with milk and chestnut. Then move to the handheld sweets: taiyaki in red bean or custard, eaten in the café while it is still hot, and bungeoppang, the fish-shaped bread it is related to. An almond croissant sits on the counter for anyone who wants pastry, and green grape sparkling water is the most interesting thing to drink beside a bowl.