Ice Cream Paradise – Namco Namja Town, Tokyo

Looking for cool\unusual arcades I read about Namja Town. Namja Town is a Namco theme park opened in 1996 inside the Sunshine City shopping complex in east Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. In retrospect this arcade is mostly suitable to Japanese kids of younger age, since the vast majority of the attractions there require knowing Japanese. So after paying the entrance fee (¥500) and doing a quick tour around the place, we turned to the main reason we came there – tasting gyozas and weird ice cream.

Om Nom Nomad - Namja Town

Om Nom Nomad - Namja Town

Namja Town’s food court is called ‘theme park’ but don’t be mistaken, it really is just a food court. It may serve “themed” dishes, but it is still just a food court. The gyozas were decent but I’ve tasted better before. After finishing our gyozas we continued to the Ice Cream Paradise – an ice cream parlor serving many weird flavors. They offer the option to go with one of their set menus at ¥360-¥560, or choose 6 ice cream flavors from their list.

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

We decided to put together two trays – one with 6 scoops of weird tasting ice cream and another tray with 6 scoops of the more “normal” flavors. The ordering process is really efficient – you mark the corresponding numbers of the flavors you want – each form for one tray. You wait in line, give the form to the nice lady, pay and wait to get your tray. Eventually you receive the tray itself along with a list of the flavors you picked and a legend to discern which is what on the tray.

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

The tray on the left was dedicated to the more unusual tastes, so expectations were pretty low. The platter on the right was filled with what will hopefully be goodies.

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

Let the tasting begin!

  1. Salt of Okhotak – even tough this flavor was in the “unusual” set, It was one of my favorites.
  2. Shark Fin Noodle Ice Cream – surprisingly un-sharky. Sweet and weirdly chunky but overall not that bad.
  3. Beef Tongue Ice Cream – disgusting. The texture, the smell, everything screamed yuck.
  4. Tulip Gelato – interesting taste.  Sweet and flowery.
  5. Avocado Ice Cream – as much as I love avocado, this abomination should simply not exist.
  6. Coal Ice Cream – this tasted nothing like I thought coal would taste. Turns out sweet and smokey is a really enjoyable combination.

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

On to the more palatable tray.

  1. Golden Vanilla – not much to say. Tasty vanilla ice cream.
  2. Strawberry Mill-Feuille – one of the best ice cream I tasted that day.
  3. Pearl Ice Cream (Milk Ice Cream with Powder of Pearl) – an OK taste. Nothing special.
  4. Hyuganatsu (Japanese Citrus) Ice Cream – It tasted exactly how you’d expect Japanese Citrus to taste. Sweet and sour.
  5. Mascarpone Cheese – we have a winner! I can eat this ice cream every day.
  6. Roasted Grean Tea Ice Cream – even tough this taste was in my “tasty” platter, this was the most horrible flavor of all.

Om Nom Nomad - Ice Cream Paradise

I wouldn’t go out of my way to get here, but if you have spare time in Tokyo or you have a thing for crazy ice cream, it’s a nice attraction.

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