NY-Style Roll Ice Cream Factory

For a long time, there was a Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream in the basement food court in the Amu Plaza department store. About a year ago, that was replaced by this "NY-style Roll Ice Cream Factory" shop. I finally decided to break down and try it. The poster here promotes a tie-in with the Blue Period manga.



Part of the shop advertising for two of the ice creams. The one for American Dream costs extra because of the additional cookies.



This is the choco-mint roll. 850 yen (about $7.75 USD). It's very pricey for what you get, but there is kind of a performance art that goes along with making it. The woman behind the counter cleans off a refrigerated freezer plate, then puts the "key ingredient" in the serving cup (for one customer, it was a slice of banana, for me, it was a second Oreo). She presents the ingredient to the customer, then slaps the cup upside down onto the freezer plate and pours about a quarter cup of flavored milk over it. She chops up the ingredient into tiny fragments and mixes it into the milk as it starts to chill. She spreads the milk out thin on the plate as if she's going to make a crepe. Then, when it's frozen, she scrapes it up into curled strips, and puts the strips length-wise in the cup (it was either 7 or 8 rolls total). She presents the cup to the customer for approval again, then adds the toppings (for me, two Pocky, two chocolate animal crackers, whip cream and chocolate syrup, and another Oreo). Finally, there's one last presentation and I walk off with my dessert.



Is it good? Yes, if you like choco-mint ice milk and extra sugar (like I do). Is it worth the 850 yen? Not for what you get. It's largely air. Maybe as much as half a cup of flavored milk, but not more than that. But, it is fun to watch the girl doing all the chopping and mixing. That part, she was very skilled at.