Nowhere will you find a more chocolatey ice cream wafer sandwich!

What’s the best season for ice cream? If you answered “summer”, you’re wrong. The correct answer is “all year round.” We will not accept any arguments to the contrary.

Rich flavors like chocolate ice cream are especially appreciated in cold weather, which is why, as the weather in Japan gradually gets colder and colder, we’re here to recommend one kind of chocolate ice cream in particular: Dandy Chocolate.

It’s a chocolate ice cream monaka, which means the ice cream is sandwiched between two chocolate wafer shells, made by Futaba Foods. Never have we ever eaten something so completely and thoroughly “chocolatey”! It’s sure to be a life-boon this winter.

Those in the know will already know Dandy Chocolate as a delicious chocolate monaka, but this year it has been completely renewed with a brand new recipe. It’s got triple the chocolate now, with chocolate-flavored wafers, bitter chocolate ice cream, and chocolate with black cookie bits inside. You really won’t find another ice cream monaka that’s quite so chocolatey.

The previous version of Dandy Chocolate was terribly habit-forming, hailed by fans as “addictive ice cream.” According to sales reports, 60 percent of Dandy Chocolate buyers are repeat customers who buy them two to three times per month. The new, renewed Dandy Chocolate, whose ice cream is made with even more fresh cream and two kinds of cacao masses, will likely be even more addictive.

We had six of our ice cream-loving reporters try it to find out. First off was P.K. Sanjun, our middle-aged reporter who is a fan of both ice cream and chocolate.

P.K.: “It’s good…It’s pretty good. Actually, it’s really good. No…it’s super good! I’ve never had such chocolatey ice cream!! What I really like is the chocolate bar on either side of the ice cream that’s got black cookies mixed in. This is the fatty tuna of ice cream!

“Listen. Regular chocolate is firm and snaps when broken, but it stays firm in your mouth. The Dandy chocolate is completely different. It’s actually crunchy–no wonder they call it “crumbly crunchy” chocolate! Ahh…No chocolate lover could ever not be satisfied with this!”

That’s right, one of the special things about Dandy Chocolate is the “crumbly crunchy” texture of the chocolate bar inside. It’s so impactful, biting into the sandwich is like eating chocolate instead of ice cream.

Next up to share his thoughts was Go Hatori, a serious ice cream fan:

Go: “Oh no! It’s delicious! Isn’t this just chocolate? I can’t decide if it’s chocolate ice cream or frozen chocolate…Can ice cream really be this chocolatey? That crumbly crunchy chocolate…It’s so good! I’m gonna stock my freezer with them!”

Yes, Dandy Chocolate is ice cream, but it is also chocolate. Shall we say it’s somewhere between ice cream and chocolate?

Takashi Harada, who claims to not eat sweets that often, was next.

Takashi: “Oh, this low level of sweetness is really good. The ice cream doesn’t taste saccharine at all! With chocolate this bitter, I don’t think I’d need coffee. It’s extremely delicious.”

We completely agree. The ice cream in Dandy Chocolate is quite bitter. The bittersweet flavor is very mature, perfect for those who prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate.

What did our lone female taster, Ikuna Kamezawa, have to say?

Ikuna: “My hypersensitive teeth…they hurt!! But, it’s really good. It really does have the ‘crumbly crunchy’ texture it boasts on the package. But these are kind of big to eat in one sitting, so I would probably eat half and save the other half for later. That was good!”

To each their own. Some of our reporters were happy to devour the whole thing, but of course, eating only half means you get another half for later. Win-win.

Next up was Seiji Nakazawa, who has been steadfast on his diet and hasn’t eaten any sweets for several months:

Seiji: “Oh…it’s so good! It’s filling my every pore…the ice cream is permeating my very cells! Since I haven’t eaten anything sweet for so long, I can taste plenty of chocolate even in the wafers. Did anyone else recognize the chocolate flavor in the wafer?”

To be honest, we didn’t notice, but once we tasted the wafer on its own again, it definitely had a nice chocolate aroma to it. When it comes to using chocolate, Dandy Chocolate does not cut any corners.

Lastly, our self-proclaimed super first-rate food reporter, the one and only Mr. Sato, revealed his judgment:

Mr. Sato: “So goooood! The chocolate is so gooooood! Hah. I’ve just thought of a catch phrase that will live on history. ‘Dandy Chocolate is a chocolate treasure chest!'”

We have no comment regarding the catchphrase or its viability as an actually useful marketing slogan, but we can confirm Mr. Sato’s opinion that Dandy Chocolate is delicious as fact. It’s a decadent wafer ice cream sandwich that satisfies a craving for both ice cream and chocolate.

In case it isn’t clear yet, Dandy Chocolate is probably the first ice cream monaka to be chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate. It’s almost as if it has traversed beyond the realm of chocolate into something even better. If you try it, you, too, will understand why we sing its praises from the rooftops.

The new Dandy Chocolate is now available in all stores that sell ice cream across the country, where you can also buy its greatest competitor, the ever-popular Jumbo Monaka. So if you know what’s good for your (or bad for you, depending on your perspective), you’ll head on over to your closest convenience store and pick at least one up to try.

…Might as well stock up on both. You never know when you might need them.

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