Main dish and dessert come in the same bowl with this enticing Frankenstein’s monster of ramen.

“Out with the old, in with the new” is an admirable philosophy to live by as we start the new year, and it’s one a certain restaurant in Japan is very clearly committed to. So on the day the staff at Osaka ramen joint Furanken came back from their New Year’s break, they started offering a brand-new menu item: the Amakara Miso Ramen.

That might not sound all that innovative, since miso is already a pretty common ramen broth base and amakara just means “sweet and spicy.” It’s only when you see Furanken’s Amakara Miso that you understand how completely off the ramen map they’ve gone.

Yep, that’s an entire serving of soft serve ice cream, including the cone, that Furanken uses as a topping in order to fulfil the “sweet” part of the sweet-and-spicy flavor promise.

The above photo comes from the Twitter account of Torisoba Ginza, a sister establishment of Furanken (whose name appears to be a play on words with another crazed creative, “Frankenstein”). Furanken itself also shared a photo through its Instagram account, and the closer-up look reveals that the vanilla ice cream is drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with what appear to be flecks of aonori seaweed.

▼ We’ve had ramen ice cream, but ice cream ramen is a new one, even for us.

“We hope you’ll accept this opportunity to experience a sweet and spicy flavor that isn’t possible with normal ramen,” says Furanken, somehow managing to describe its creation with both perfect accuracy and incredible understatement, and social media users’ interest is piqued, even as some aren’t sure whether their stomachs are growling or whimpering at the invitation.

“I think you’re insane, but I’m also very intrigued.”
“You have my full attention.”
“This is the sort of concept you can only come up with when you leave common sense behind.”
“This really exists…”
“What is this madness?”
“This is the start of a new path for ramen.”

There’s no price-gouging for the unique experience either. The Amakara Miso Ramen costs just 850 yen (US$7.40), a reasonable price for a bowl of restaurant ramen with strips of chashu pork, so you’re essentially getting dessert for free. As you might expect, it’s a limited-time-only item. Unlike other shock-value envelope-pushing ramen varieties, though, it won’t be offered for only a few days, and will remain on the menu until the end of March.

Restaurant information
Furanken / フラン軒
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Chuo-ku, Kitakyuhojimachi3-5-3
大阪府大阪市中央区北久宝寺町３丁目５−３
Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Sources: Instagram/franken0705 via Twitter/@torisobazagin via Otakomu
Featured image: Instagram/franken0705
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