{"id":541,"date":"2025-05-23T18:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T01:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=541"},"modified":"2025-05-23T18:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T01:00:12","slug":"japans-favorite-ramen-chain-is-vanishing-from-tokyo-but-its-ramen-sauce-ice-cream-is-a-must-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=541","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s favorite ramen chain is vanishing from Tokyo, but its ramen sauce ice cream is a must-try"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702606 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9507_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>We visit a local store to show support and end up falling in love with a bizarre dessert.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While ramen chain <a href=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/tag\/ichiran\/\">Ichiran<\/a> often dominates social media feeds, it is <strong>Tenkaippin<\/strong> (literally \u201cbest product under the heavens\u201d), with its famously thick and rich (\u201c<strong>kotteri<\/strong>\u201d) broth that holds the title of <a href=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/2022\/12\/16\/people-in-japan-vote-for-their-favourite-ramen-chain-with-surprising-results\/\"><strong>Japan\u2019s most popular ramen chain<\/strong><\/a>. So, you can imagine our shock when we learned that <strong>many of the stores in Tokyo are set to close<\/strong> on June 30.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702605 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/batch_008-2.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>According to a news report, the stores that will be closing include: Shibuya, Shinjuku West Exit, Ikebukuro West Exit, Tamachi, Meguro, Kichijoji, Kamata, Kawasaki, Ofuna, and Omiya East Exit.<\/p>\n<p>Being <strong>a regular source of sustenance for some of our reporters<\/strong>, we became worried about the possible implications of this news, fearing this might be a sign of more closures to come. Feeling compelled to do something to help, we set out to a nearby store in Nakano in a show of support for the chain, and to get a good meal while we were there. However, we weren\u2019t prepared for our surprise encounter with a dessert that had quite an unusual pairing with ramen sauce.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting in the restaurant, our eyes were drawn to a poster that raised many questions when we read it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702604 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9495_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"529\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The name of the product, <strong>Kotteri Yukimi<\/strong>, seemed self-explanatory: Tenkaippin often uses the word \u201ckotteri\u201d in its product names to refer to its rich broth, and \u201cyukimi\u201d elicits the image of <strong>ice cream covered in a thin, chewy, rice cake layer<\/strong>, due to a popular Japanese ice cream dessert called Yukimi Daifuku. So far, so good, but looking at the picture and an accompanying note in the corner, <strong>it encourages pouring ramen sauce onto ice cream<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u25bc The message says: \u201cIf you pour a little ramen sauce onto it, it gets even tastier. Be careful not to add too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702614 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9494_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Surely it\u2019s just a gimmick, right? It couldn\u2019t be <em>that<\/em> delicious, could it? Intrigued, we ordered one for 330 yen (US$2.30) to find out for ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>It soon arrived on the table in an <strong>assemble-it-yourself<\/strong> configuration.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702615 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9505_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u25bc The first step was to put the dessert into the provided zip-lock bag.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702613 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9508_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u25bc Add some kinako (roasted soybean flour).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702611 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9509_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"483\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u25bc And shake\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702612 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9511_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"481\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A simple, yet fun, process. Looking at the delightful balls sitting there in front of us, we couldn\u2019t resist the urge to pop one straight into our mouths, and sure enough <strong>it was as delicious as we had been expecting it to be<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702609 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9515_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"489\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We briefly contemplated eating the other two in the same manner, but our eyes kept being drawn back to that little message about ramen sauce, so <strong>we poured a few drops onto the ice cream<\/strong>, and nervously took a bite\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702607 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9522_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"506\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702608 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9517_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"448\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-702610 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/a_IMG_9520_noEXIF.jpeg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Amazing!<\/strong> The sauce combined with the surrounding kinako to bring out the <strong>sweetness of the ice cream with just the right hint of saltiness<\/strong>. The poster was not lying when it said it was more delicious with the ramen sauce: <strong>it was shockingly good<\/strong>. We apologized in our minds for doubting the store, and quickly enjoyed the last of our dessert.<\/p>\n<p>Leaving the restaurant, <strong>we can\u2019t recommend Kotteri Yukimi strongly enough.<\/strong> However, the dessert is <strong>only available at select stores<\/strong> which, according to the website, are:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kyoto<\/strong><br \/>\nGojo Katsura Reboot, Route 1 Shimotoba, Kumiyama<br \/>\n<strong>Shiga<\/strong><br \/>\nKatata, Ogotohama, Toyosato, Karasaki, Zeze<br \/>\n<strong>Tokyo<\/strong><br \/>\nKoenji, Nakano<br \/>\n<strong>Saitama<\/strong><br \/>\nMisato<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, <strong>none of the stores that will be closing are on the list<\/strong>, so we couldn\u2019t help but make a connection: could it be that the stores were closing because they weren\u2019t selling unique products like Kotteri Yukimi? It\u2019s unlikely to be the sole reason, but we think it\u2019s entirely plausible to say it <em>could<\/em> be a contributing factor.<\/p>\n<p>With the recent report of Tenkaippin\u2019s closures, the stores will no doubt see a surge of visitors, but if you happen to be in the vicinity of one of the stores selling Kotteri Yukimi, be sure to give it a try.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Store information<\/strong><br \/>\nTenkaippin Nakano-ten \/ \u5929\u4e0b\u4e00\u54c1\u4e2d\u91ce\u5e97<br \/>\nAddress: Tokyo-to, Nakano-ku, Arai 1-9-3 Grace Hill TMY 101<br \/>\n\u6771\u4eac\u90fd\u4e2d\u91ce\u533a\u65b0\u4e951-9-3 \u30b0\u30ec\u30fc\u30b9\u30d2\u30eb\uff34\uff2d\uff39101<br \/>\nOpen: 10:00 a.m.-11:30 p.m. (Fridays and Saturdays until 3:00 a.m.)<br \/>\nClosed: Tuesdays<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tenkaippin.co.jp\/shop\/891\/\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tenkaippin.co.jp\/\">Tenkaippin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.j-cast.com\/2025\/05\/16504387.html\">J-Cast News Article<\/a><br \/>\n<\/em><em>Photos \u00a9SoraNews24<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RocketNews24En\">Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RocketNews24En\">Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We visit a local store to show support and end up falling in love with a bizarre dessert. While ramen chain Ichiran often dominates social media feeds, it is Tenkaippin&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}