Best Kakigōri

On Saturday, we took a Sumida River Cruise from Hinode Pier to Asakusa.  After a little wandering around Asakusa and Sensoji Temple with the family, the sight and smell of the food stalls, got us hungry and were drawn to this shop selling soft cream and kakigōri (or shaved ice).  They also sold soba and tempura, but we weren't interested in having those at the time.

The bowls of kakigōri are huge!  My wife had strawberry with condensed milk. Her verdict was that it was the best ever, even better than Aoki, Matsumoto or Waiola Shave Ice in Oahu.

I tried the caramel soft cream. It was great!.

Check out the list of flavors! They included sesame, mango, almond jelly, azuki bean, rum raison, ramune, caramel, green tea, and others.

Ranume Soft Serve at Komazawa Koen

After a long bout with a hacking cough, I made it out to Komazawa Olympic Park with the family on Sunday.    I was hoping for kuro goma (black sesame seed) soft cream from the same concession we visited previously, but is was not to be.  It seems that this shop my rotate their ice cream flavors.  I settled for the less interesting but delicious, cookies and cream.

However, my son was unusually adventurous and tried the ラムネ(RA-MU-NE or lemonade).

This concession had on offer, berry-berry & yogurt and the more unusual CALPIS flavor.

Kuro goma and benimo

There are many unusual Japanese  flavors out there.  I don't crave any of the salty savory flavors like shrimp or bonito flakes.  On the sweeter side of things, kabocha (squash) matcha (green tea) and azuki (red bean) used to be my favorite odd Japanese flavors. But now I am torn between the relatively easy to find kuro goma (black sesame) and the benimo (Okinawan purple yam).  Black sesame seems to be more versatile and can be found in salty and sweet dishes... ramen noodles, ice cream, onigiri, furikaki, sembei... Benimo has similar uses and is also found in ice cream, chips, tarts, and as a special Kit Kat flavor!