Some convenience store ice creams aren’t as great as you think they’ll be.
Japanese confectionery company Imuraya is a red bean confectionery specialist best known for its super popular Azuki Bar ice cream. The company is always thinking outside the box for new ideas, though, and this summer they’re taking our taste buds on a new adventure, with bite-sized Lassi and Spice Curry ice creams.
▼ A box of six retails for 192 yen (US$1.42).
As diehard curry fans, we were looking forward to trying these, and we were hoping to get three of each variety in our box.
However, as it turns out, our selection was heavy on the lassi, with four lassi and only two curry ice creams in the mix.
Was this simply a random selection? Or was the curry so spicy that each piece needed two lassi to to counteract the heat? Just in case it was the latter, we decided to coat the tongue with some lassi first, for safety’s sake.
This ice cream was absolutely delicious, and the flavour of lassi was distinct on the palate. It was sweet yet slightly tart, as you’d expect from a lactic acid drink, and it had a crisp, refreshing finish.
▼ Now time for the curry.
Upon opening the package, the aroma of curry immediately filled the room — the scent was far stronger than we could’ve imagined for such a small piece of ice cream. To be honest, the smell was slightly unnerving, and the look of it, with brown specks of curry sprinkled throughout, wasn’t something we usually like to see in our ice cream.
Still, Imuraya usually knows what they’re doing when it comes to ice creams, so we threw aside our concerns and popped the ice cream into our mouth. Within seconds, our taste buds recoiled in shock, as they were overloaded with salt.
▼ Like salty curry bombs!
If salt was the first attack, spice was the second, because as soon as we got over the saltiness of the ice cream, our taste buds were bombarded by spices. Looking at the pack, we saw that the curry ice creams contain 36 kinds of spices mixed in with a coconut base, but we couldn’t taste the coconut at all — instead, it was seriously spicy.
It was so salty and spicy it felt as if we’d just eaten a cube of frozen curry roux. Imuraya doesn’t shy away from letting the curry overpower the ice cream, and while that may not suit all palates, it’ll definitely thrill those looking to try a weird and unusual ice cream.
▼ Only available at Lawson convenience stores for a limited time.
Each curry ice cream definitely needs at least two lassi ice creams to offset the spicy aftertaste, so Imuraya knew what they were doing when they divided up the portions for each box.
We could still smell curry on our breath half an hour after eating them, so be warned — these are strong! It just goes to show that not all convenience store ice creams are sweet and delicious. And now that we think about it, not all convenience store drinks are designed to delight your palate either!
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