Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
ice cream (Page 22)
Ice cream is one of those foods that is so delicious, people tend to eat it year round regardless of the plunging temperatures around them. So for the past 15 years, Häagen-Dazs has been releasing special fall/winter flavors in Japan, such as the extremely popular rum raisin. But this year, the beloved ice cream maker has an azuki bean-flavored variety coming out in early October, and Japanese netizens are already clearing out space in their freezer to stock up.
It seems only a short while ago that we were battling the unrelenting summer heat here in Tokyo, but now that autumn is on its way, apparently it’s already time to start hearing news about Christmas — heavens, it’s hard to keep up with the passing of the seasons!
Well, for those of you who like to start thinking early about the Holiday Season, one of the reporters from our sister site Pouch has a very special Christmas cake to introduce to you. It’s an absolutely gorgeous creation by gourmet ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs — which is more than enough to catch our attention and make our mouths water. And even though they’ll only be available in one shop in France, the cakes look so exquisite that we just had to share the pictures with you!
Spend some time walking around Tokyo, and you’ll soon see that the city is packed with karaoke joints. But with so many competing chains, how do you pick which one to go to?
For those looking for some tasty food as they belt out their favorite tunes, it’s hard to beat Pasela. Aside from their tropically styled rooms, the chain is best known for its extensive menu, with the most popular item being its famous honey toast dessert.
But what if you’ve got a special occasion, and even the whole-loaf-sized ordinary honey toast just doesn’t have enough impact? That’s when you call ahead and order a massive Honey Toast Train, a dessert so massive it’s garnished with other desserts.
On every month that has 31 days, if you go into a Baskin Robbins in Japan (where the chain is more commonly known simply as “Thirty-One”), you can get a 31-percent discount on double and triple scoop orders of ice cream. Sadly, with only 30 days in September, your next chance to indulge your sweet tooth on the cheap won’t come until October 31.
As long as you’re willing to pay regular price, though, you won’t have to wait nearly so long to try out their cool Halloween treats, which go on sale this month.
You may remember the limited edition “ice cream shovels” produced last year to solve the problem of too-hard-to-eat frozen treats found at convenience stores. Well now there’s another spoon that’s specially engineered to use the heat from your hands to get you closer to the perfect scoop. An item that’s this well-thought-out is going to have a hefty price tag, but you’ll probably be surprised at just how expensive this ice cream spoon actually is.
Come autumn, the droning sound of an old man singing about yaki-imo (roasted sweet potatoes) fills the streets of Japan. A chilly weather treat that is usually bought from the back of a truck specially equipped with hot stones, yaki-imo is a fall favorite enjoyed by people of all ages. But as delicious as it may be – if internet raving is anything to go by – the yaki-imo ice cream made by the Imuraya Confectionery Company is even better than the real stuff…and it looks and tastes exactly like a roasted sweet potato!
Last spring, we spent an afternoon drooling over photos from a bakery in the city of Kanazawa that came up with the ingenious idea of combining melon bread with ice cream. Unfortunately, the four-and-a-half hour train journey from Tokyo to Ishikawa kept us from picking up some samples of the tasty-looking treats.
But now our dairy-based prayers have been answered, as the same bakery has opened a new location in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward. Since that’s just three stops away from the RocketNews24 offices in Shinjuku, as soon as we found out about the new branch, we were on the next train.
When I was a kid, we never had Oreos in my house. This wasn’t because my parents had a no-sweets policy, but because the pantry was well-stocked with similar Hydrox sandwich cookies instead.
But while Hydroxes actually predate Oreos by a whole four years, it’s the latter that went on to international fame and fortune. It’s a pretty similar tale to that of Dairy Queen’s Blizzard, which has been largely overshadowed by McDonald’s McFlurry, a nearly identical dessert of ice cream mixed with cookies or candy that came out more than a decade after Dairy Queen’s original.
So while the double imitation of an Oreo McFlurry might seem completely derivative, starting next month in Japan there’s a tasty bit of innovation you can look forward to, as McDonald’s Japan is bringing back matcha Oreo McFlurries.
When I was in high school, every year there was an on-campus blood drive. It always saw a pretty good turnout, with a large number of generous and socially conscious students willing to part with their home-brewed hemoglobin to help others. The organizers even sweetened the deal by holding the event in the middle of the day, meaning that you could get out of a period of class by participating. And while that’s a pretty nice incentive, I think it’s been one-upped by a blood bank in Tokyo that offers a bookshelf of free manga to read and ice cream to munch on.
It’s the middle of August, and while the days we’ve been having recently aren’t quite as face-meltingly hot as those a couple of weeks ago, it is nevertheless still pretty toasty out there. Thankfully, just like when suffering with a cold or sore throat, the summer heat does afford us one very tasty luxury: a genuine excuse to gorge on delicious ice cream!
If you’re feeling the heat this summer, or are just curious about some of Japan’s go-to ice cream treats, join us after the jump for a special video featuring five of our frozen favourites.
Fresh off Taiwan’s discovery that pudding and ramen are pretty tasty together and despite the widespread disgust and horror it produced, Chinese netizens have now come up with a new unlikely taste sensation: Chili oil & an ice cream bar.
As weird as it initially looked, I could kind of see the pudding ramen working out, but I draw the line at this ungodly combination. I’d have to have accidentally swallowed drain cleaner to want to consume thi…oh, hang on. My phone’s ringing…
Okay! Looks like I get to try out the newest food craze from China’s internet! I can’t…wait.
Running a restaurant is tough work, as anyone who’s ever worked as a server, cook, or manager can tell you. Especially in Japan, a country where a good meal is considered one of the best things that can happen during your day, we try to give the staff the benefit of the doubt that they’re preparing our food as quickly as they can, while still maintaining the levels of flavor and presentation customers expect.
Still, we have to admit our patience was tested when we walked into a restaurant in Sapporo and ordered a single parfait. We were pretty surprised when well over an hour later, it still hadn’t come.
Then we were even more shocked when we finally got to eat our dessert and found out it was well worth the wait.
One of the few fun things about having a sore throat or something nastier like tonsillitis is that you have a legitimate excuse to lie on the couch in front of the TV and eat ice-cream.
And now – although we’re imagining makers Häagen-Dazs is hoping that more than just the sickly few will appreciate it – there’s a brand new flavour that sounds perfect for those feeling a little under the weather: Lemon Ginger Float.
Like any other country, Japan loves ice cream. Especially in the summer months, the delicious treat just flies out of the freezers. And thankfully this year, no reports of errant freezer divers have appeared online! Maybe they finally got it out of their system–or at least learned not to post photos on Twitter…
So, which flavor of ice cream is the most popular in Japan? While that’s certainly a question with an amorphous answer, there is one way to come up with a satisfying conclusion: Take a look at ice cream sales!
Okay, when Krispy Kreme Japan came out with the sinfully delectable-looking doughnut ice cream sundaes in April this year, we kind of thought they were the dessert of our dreams. Well, the original doughnut ice cream sundaes we introduced to you in our previous article may be available only until July 14, but luckily for us, sweets makers and pastry chefs always seem to have a way of coming up with another new dream dessert. This time, it’s still a lovely doughnut and ice cream creation, but in a new refreshing flavor with a Japanese twist — matcha green tea! And they also have other new delightful snacks and drinks as well that will all be coming out later this month, so let’s take a look at the new Krispy Kreme offerings, and hope the wait until they become available won’t drive us crazy! Read More
The folks at Häagen-Dazs Japan clearly know they’re onto a good thing with their special-edition ice creams, and there seems to be no stopping their creativity. With Japonais, Rose and Sakura, and even Vegetable flavours all appearing within the last six months alone, there’s seemingly always something sweet on the horizon. And now, before summer has even had a chance to break in its beach sandals, the ice cream giant has unveiled three decidedly autumnal flavours.
Now, we may have a fondness for unique Kit Kat flavors here in Japan, but we also love original Häagen-Dazs flavors as well, from rose and sakura flower to vegetable flavors featuring carrots and tomatoes. Well, once again, Häagen-Dazs tempts us with an offering of cold, sweet goodness, and this time it’s the Häagen-Dazs Japonais “Vanilla and kinako soybean powder with brown sugar syrup”. That’s quite a name for an ice cream flavor, isn’t it?
It so happens they’re only available from the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, and naturally we had to try one when they came out earlier this week. So, how was the ice cream? Sweet, syrupy heaven!
With summer very nearly upon us, it’s time to break out the cold foods like kakigori, Garigari-kun, and, of course, ice cream. Even now, as we struggle through the rainy season and moisture hangs in the air, there’s little in this world as wonderful a giant bowl of strawberry ice cream.
If you’re in Tokyo like we are, there are plenty of places and reasons for gobbling up a chilly bowl of sweet ice cream–and the same is certainly true for the Philippines as well. However, while Tokyo may have some of the best restaurants in the world, Davao City in the Philippines has something Tokyo does not–crocodile ice cream. Don’t worry, though–it won’t bite back!
The other day I was craving one of those delectable Cream Puff Gari Gari Kun ice pops from my local 7-Eleven with their sweet milky ice crystals coating a rich custard sauce center. So you know what I did?
I went right down to my local hospital for a colonoscopy, that’s what. Normally I’d actually eat the delicious snack, but after hearing about the latest book by Japanese author, Munetetsu Tei, I learned that it might actually be cancer trying to trick me.
If you’re looking for a fun way to eat your dessert, look no further than Zou-No-Hana Cafe in Yokohama, Japan. The house specialty, the zou no hana (elephant nose) ice cream has been enticing regular visitors and tourists alike with its cute, albeit strange, face and oversized waffle cone ears.
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