The Japanese convenience store world is dominated by the “big three”: 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson. Other chains do exist, but they have to do something really special to grab people’s attention, and we deeply, deeply appreciate how Ministop has chosen to do so: by providing the best soft serve ice cream you can get at a convenience store in Japan. Ministop’s ice cream is so good that the company even has a chain of ice cream parlors, called Minisof by Ministop, that ditch the convenience store part of the setup entirely and just sell ice cream.
Somehow, this was something that our reporter Seiji Nakazawa wasn’t aware of until recently. When Seiji stumbled across a Minisof branch, he also found out for us that they serve “Drinkable Soft Serve Ice Cream,” found in the section of the menu labeled のむソフトクリーム. This was, of course, something that Seiji knew he needed to try as he continues to broaden his edible/drinkable horizons.
The menu listed a number of different Drinkable Soft Serve Ice Cream flavors, all priced at 590 yen, and though he was tempted by the strawberry, cookies and cream, and tiramisu versions, in the end he decided to go with the Super Milk, or Cho Milk, if you’re ordering in Japanese. That might look like a large drinking cup filled up with ice cream and topped with a swirl of whipped cream, but it’s not. That whole thing is ice cream, from the bottom of the cup all the way up to the very tip.
There’s so much ice crea.
