We discovered this ice cream in the 7-eleven, our neighbor kombini. It stoked our curiosity because it is an ice gream of an American brand Häagen -Dazs, but with a name in French Japonais Vanilla & Kinako kuromitsu ジャポネ黒蜜きなこアズキ. The kinako is an ingredient commonly used in Japanese dessert recipes and kuromitsu is a brown sugar syrup. This ice is only available in the 7-eleven in Japan for the low price of 284 yen. The US giant ice cream brand sort out so many new flavors to entice the Japanese market, it's pretty impressive.
Häagen -Dazs has relied on a fairly typical mix of Japan. It used ingredients that are very traditional in Japanese dessert but revisiting into an ice cream versions. It's pretty original and authentic at the same time. This ice cream Japonais consists of four layers, one kinako kuromitsu (toasted soybean powder with brown sugar syrup), one vanilla ice cream, one layer of sweet paste of red beans (Anko) and one layer of milk concentrate ice cream. This ice cream is 214 kcal for a small individual pot of 108 ml but after all, we eat an Häagen-Dazs ice cream for the PLEASURE and not to watch CALORIES !!!! The mixture is slightly sweet. The sugar syrup layer is thin and is directly followed by vanilla ice cream, then the paste of Anko and milk concentrated ice cream. These two last layers are not very thick, so we have here a very nice softness and sweetness in mouth.
If you want to taste a Japanese dessert revisited, it is the opportunity. Go to a 7-eleven, get the Häagen -Dazs ice cream Japonais. It is a rather beautiful blend between tradition and modernity.