Delicious-looking desserts make use of sake, mochi, and more.
To really succeed in Japan, foreign makers of snacks and sweets need to adapt to local tastes, and that’s something that Häagen-Dazs has done with aplomb. The American ice cream brand regularly blesses Japan with amazing flavors and desserts exclusive to the country, such as Mochi Sakura, sesame walnut, and Matcha Green Tea Crumble (a.k.a. ice cream Jesus).
Now Häagen-Dazs is taking things one step further with its first-ever dedicated Japanese sweets cafe, a collaboration with the existing Sukibayashi Sabo cafe, in the high-class Ginza district of downtown Tokyo.
The kanji characters, 茶房, seen underneath the Häagen-Dazs logo, aren’t how you write the brand’s name in Japanese. Rather, they’re the kanji for sabo, meaning teahouse, since the soon-to-open Häagen-Dazs Sabo will be serving classic Japanese desserts infused with Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
A total of eight deserts, making use of six different ice cream flavors, will be offered, starting with shiratama zenzai, mochi dumplings served in sweet beans, accompanied by a scoop of green tea ice cream, a crisp black sesame galette wafer, and mascarpone mousse.
The cafe’s dorayaki places sweet beans, vanilla ice cream, and brown sugar whipped cream between two small pancake-like cakes, and gets further flavor from a plum strawberry sauce.
The final menu item revealed so far, the ichigo (strawberry) soup, uses sake lees and non-alcoholic sweet amazake mixed with strawberry puree as a broth for strawberry slices and strawberry ice cream, in an all-out effort to satisfy strawberry lovers and force people to use the word “strawberry” as many times as possible in describing it.
While the desserts can be ordered a la carte, you can also request yours as a set with a cup of specially selected green tea provided by Tokyo tea merchant Ocharaka.
Häagen-Dazs Sabo will be opening on April 18, but will only be in operation until May 6, with the limited time giving you a fourth reason (after the three above) to eat dessert.
Cafe information
Häagen-Dazs Sabo / ハーゲンダッツ茶房
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 5-2-1, Tokyu Plaza Ginza, 6th floor (part of Sukibayashi Sabo)
東京都中央区銀座５－２－１ 東急プラザ銀座６階 「数寄屋橋茶房」内
Open April 18-May 6
Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. (Monday-Saturday), 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sunday, holidays)
Website (Sukibayashi Sabo)
Sources: Entabe, PR Times
Images: PR Times
Follow Casey on Twitter, where until he moved to Japan he thought dorayaki only existed in the world of Doraemon.