Zeitaku is one of those lovely Japanese words that sounds as elegant as its meaning. As the word for luxury, it conjures up images of high-class ryokan accommodations with private outdoor rotenburo baths, multi-course kaiseki meals served by elegant ladies dressed in kimonos and extravagant purchases at department stores on the Ginza shopping strip.
While most of those luxuries are, sadly, out of reach for many of us, there’s one affordable item that comes to mind when Japanese people are looking for a bit of zeitaku when a friend decides to visit or as a treat after a long day. That small symbol of luxury is the rich, creamy ice cream of Häagen-Dazs, and now they’re releasing an amazing new chestnut and azuki red bean Japonais flavour to add a bit of class to the upcoming fall season.
The new Häagen-Dazs Japonais “Japanese chestnut and Azuki Red Bean” flavour, which goes by the lyrically beautiful “Waguri Azuki” in Japanese, will be available from 20 October at 7-Eleven stores across Japan for 383 yen (US$3.19). This is the fifth product in three years to be released in the popular Japonais series (one of which, regular readers will recall, made it into our top five Japanese ice creams), which pays homage to some of Japan’s best flavour combinations. Previous releases have included delights like “Matcha Green Tea and Azuki”, “Vanilla and Kinako Soybean Powder with Brown Sugar Syrup”, and “Strawberry and Azuki” flavours.
Chestnuts are synonymous with autumn in Japan, and this particular release promises to be more like a four-layered ice cream cake, with a chestnut ice cream base topped with whole azuki beans, followed by smooth vanilla ice cream and a final layer of soft, piped chestnut on top. Did anyone else’s mouth just start watering?
We can’t wait to try this delicious tub of decadence, perhaps after stepping out of a piping hot onsen spa. Now that would certainly be luxurious!
Source: Häagen-Dazs
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