Convenience store chain has frozen surprises waiting for you this summer.

For the past year or so, a lot of 7-Eleven stores in Japan have been expanding their frozen food sections, rolling out new own-brand products that include frozen sweets, two of which have quickly become hot favourites with customers since their spring debut.

▼ Part of the company’s “Premium” line, the two hot products are Mille Crepe Rolls…

▼…and Matcha Cream-Filled Pancakes.

So what makes these two sweets so popular? Let’s start by taking a closer look at the Mille Crepe Rolls, which come in a pack of three for 430 yen (US$2.95).

▼ Each rolled crepe is a good size, at around 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) in length.

The only thing you need to do to prepare these crepes is let them thaw naturally, at room temperature (around 25 degrees Celsius) for about 5–10 minutes.

▼ Depending on how you like your sweets, though, you could probably eat these straight out of the freezer.

Cutting them in half to check out the fillings, we found there was no skimping on the cream, with a good amount of it inside.

We’d never seen anything quite like these at a convenience store before so we felt a flutter of excitement as we picked up the chocolate for a taste.

It had a gentle sweetness and surprisingly, a refined taste. The balance between cream and crepe was perfect, giving it a moreish, delicious flavour. The plain variety was also mildly sweet and easy to gobble up, with the cream oozing out and melting on the tongue in an addictive way that was reminiscent of ice cream.

The ice cream-like texture is so devilishly good it feels like it’s melting your brain, and the strawberry flavour didn’t disappoint either.

▼ They were all so good we couldn’t choose a favourite out of the three.

The next sweet goes by the name “Matcha Cream-Filled Pancakes” in English, but the Japanese on the pack calls them “Imagawa-yaki“, a popular dessert similar to pancakes that’s often found at festivals and street food stalls. Made with a pancake-like batter, these sweets are traditionally baked in a cast-iron mould and filled with sweet red bean paste, but this variety is filled with matcha sourced from Kyoto’s Uji, Japan’s premier matcha-producing region. 

These should be heated up for a short time in the microwave so the filling becomes nice and melty for ultimate deliciousness, and at 140 yen apiece, they’re totally worth the calories, with the chewy exterior contrasting beautifully with the soft and creamy filling.

After trying the sweets, we can understand why customers have been raving about them as they’re some of the best we’ve tried at the chain. So next time you find yourself at 7-Eleven, perhaps shopping for a senbero drinking session, be sure to keep an eye out for them in the freezer section.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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