The Ice Cream Crawl
With Japan experiencing a deadly record heatwave we’ve been avoiding the outdoors like the plague, but in-between the days of high humidity and scorching heat the children and I have been making it our mission to try all sorts of ice cream around the city. From shaved ice to frozen yogurt and cup to cone, we’ve been on the tastiest, most refreshing crawl of the summer.
How about a peak at some of our favorites?
Our first week in Tokyo brought us to Yelo, a kakigori shop in Roppongi. Kakigori is a Japanese shaved ice treat served in summer. Typically it's flavored by sweetener and syrup, sometimes with condensed milk and other toppings. While I’m very keen on trying a tiramisu kakigori, this particular location was recommended by my husband as was the strawberry. He’s partial to the flavor but he was also spot on. It was such a delicious way to kick off our summer as well as our crawl.
We were hot, we were in Harajuku, and both children, unaccustomed to the southern-esque swelter really wanted nothing more than to be inside drinking something cold. Crazy me, I thought we were following a sign to Starbucks, but what we found was so much better. Y’all I cannot tell you how much better this was! Pompompurin Cafe is a little restaurant based on the Sanrio character, Pompompurin. I’m not familiar with the character like I would be with, say, Hello Kitty, but the line was short, it was in the shade, and the wafting air conditioning was almost like a heavenly promise.
The same could be said for the decadent, yet darlingly elaborate chocolate milkshake. We were all chugging water rather unapologetically, but the shake? We took our time to study and enjoy. There was coffee jelly (not the biggest fan), brownie bars, piroulines, a little sandwich cookie, and a scoop of chocolate ice cream made to look like Pompompurin. Super cute, super tasty, and the chilly air was appreciated, but surprisingly this wasn’t my favorite.
If you read my post about our visit to The Snoopy Museum you may remember how I touched upon visiting this cafe after our tour. It was a lovely look into the world of the Peanuts gang and their creator, but we needed to whet our wishes before the hot walk home. The children saw cold drinks, I read milkshake, and that’s all she wrote. It was a chocolate milkshake but it wasn’t really too chocolaty-not in the way I was thinking it would be. It was a rich, velvety white chocolate with just a hint of cocoa. The rim was covered in extra white chocolate shavings and the drink was topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of syrup. A cute little cookie was place on top and without question, this sweet little drink would have been enjoyed thoroughly by the Peanuts gang.
Yokohama’s Chinatown
Y’all. Simple as this little cone was, it was a revelation. In Chinatown there were many little kiosks that sold one flavor of soft serve or another-a purple sweet potato really caught my eye-but this strawberry made with milk from Hokkaido? It was absolutely dreamy. There was no artificial aftertaste or cloying sweetness that comes with most ice creams, it was pure strawberry goodness and I am still thinking about it 2 weeks after the fact. Dare I say it? This very unadorned, plain ice cream cone may have been my favorite thus far.
Blessedly 'Melting in the Mouth' is close to us in Hiroo, and we were able to walk to it. Not so much a blessing? We ventured out to this little ice cream and donut shop right when the heatwave began. Lady luck continued to be on our side, however, because when we arrived at this very small, but incredibly darling ice cream shop there was plenty of seating. Seating is a premium at most places and people are prepared to wait-but in this heat? I was ready to taxi back home if there was a line.
The children knew exactly what they wanted: an original cone and an Iam Tiramisu. The cone was as expected and my daughter enjoyed it thoroughly, but the tiramisu was something special. Jackson and I each had one and the layering was phenomenal. Once again the key was the mascarpone made with Hokkaido milk. Layered with little crispy bits of cone, premium cocoa, and the barest hint of espresso mixed in with the soft serve and this was worth the trip into the melting heat.
See what I did there?
We couldn’t leave without an eclair donut and iced coffee, but without question ‘Melting in the Mouth’ will be on repeat over the next few years. Take note locals and visitors!
From here on out just assume this is the fault of the heatwave. Kidding, kidding, though it did drive us right back inside after walking through Omotesando for less than 10 minutes. Yes, it’s that bad right now.
We’d been in Omotesando to try out a wonderful Hawaiian restaurant, Cinnamon’s, because according to reviews they had the most marvelous pancakes. the reviews didn’t lie-they were phenomenal. But that’s for another post. The Shake and Chips Tokyo is what happened after. We were walking down the main street and on the corner, right before a Christian Dior boutique, was a sandwich board advertising this little restaurant designed to look like an English pub. It serves pub cuisine, too, but what’s the name of the place? That’s right. We were going for the shakes and chips.
As we learned, it’s aimed more at the adult crowd-some of the shakes are mixed with alcohol-but children are still welcomed and considering the really cool atmosphere, literally and figuratively, we were glad to have a dark corner to sit in while sipping water, drinking a 2 coffee shake, and devouring their homemade potato chips.
The servings are small, but the flavor is huge!
Each location was dynamite, delicious and refreshing in their own way, and we’re thrilled to have included them on our crawl. But I had to save the most profoundly colorful for last. Y’all, come with us to...
Though online it claims to be a Harajuku ice cream shop, it’s actually located on a small side street between there and Omotesando. It’s thanks to Time Out Tokyo that we even knew about this gem and it quickly became a top priority on the crawl. Yes, even with this oppressive heat we knew we would be making the journey to see if it was worth the hype.
It was.
The ice cream is offered in two flavors only: vanilla and strawberry (mix them together if you please), but the cones and the toppers are what make this not only an incredibly photogenic treat, but super fun. Play with your food! Build from the bottom up and choose from colorful white chocolate decorations and extra cookie toppings, then enjoy the sweet fruits of your minimal labor. The children had a blast putting it all together while I chose right from the menu, but we stayed a bit longer to play with the pretend spilled ice cream and hot pink phones.
It’s an Instagram worthy visit, but also deserving of the trip for the playfulness that’s encouraged!
What did you think? Would you visit some? None? And would you join us on our continued crawl as summer goes on? Keep up with our adventures in Japan-and the ice cream crawl-on my Instagram account here and stay tuned for more flavors of our new home.
