Panic at the ramen restaurant as strange new gyoza dish arrives on menu

It’s a party on a plate, and everyone’s invited.

Japanese ramen chain Kourakuen has been outdoing themselves lately, reinventing the world of dumplings and noodles with weird hot dogs and even weirder ramen dishes.

Now, they’re back to blow our minds again, this time with a new collaboration that’s part gyoza, part dessert, and a whole lotta crazy, and it’s called “Panic de Gyoza“.

This new limited-edition menu item is bound to send any bonafide gyoza fan into a panic, as it’s served up with “Koala no March” (“Koala’s March“) chocolate-centred cookies, and “Yukimi Daifuku“, mochi-covered ice creams, both of which are made by confectionery company Lotte.

▼ The “Panic de Gyoza” is priced at 300 yen (US$2.63).

Image: Press Release

Our Japanese-language reporter Saya Togashi was keen to find out what the panic was all about, so she popped by her local branch of Kourakuen and ordered a plate, and when it arrived she felt a wild sense of glee at the party that lay in front of her.

▼ No need to panic just yet.

At first glance, the colourful spread looked more like a dessert plate you’d get at a fashionable cafe.

There was one red and one white Yukimi Daifuku on the plate, reflecting the traditional colours of good luck, which is also the first kanji in the name of the restaurant.

Both ice creams were covered in a sweet caramel sauce, while the four gyoza were topped with sweet koalas. Saya had never picked these little sweets up with chopsticks before, but on this occasion, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

The spray of colour from the sprinkles on the plate added a fun party mood to the dish, and when she looked closely, she could see that the heat from the dumplings was slowly melting some of them, inevitably imbuing them with a sugary sweetness.

Unsure of whether she was about to tuck into a savoury cookie or a sweet gyoza, she threw caution to the wind as she threw both into her mouth, and that’s when the party really began.

The star of the party was definitely the sweet element, as the sprinkles and the chocolate from the cookie melted on the tongue in a delightfully gooey mess. The savoury gyoza fillings gradually worked their way through the party, shimmying through the crowd of sweetness to create one thumping mad mass of confusion and excitement, eventually crescendoing into a surprising layer of, dare she say it… deliciousness?

It was strangely delicious, but Saya’s brain just didn’t want to admit it. And that’s when she realised that was where the panic might set in. It was unlike anything she’d tasted in a gyoza dish before, and adding the Yukimi Daifuku to the mix made things seem even more chaotic.

▼ So she delved into a bowl of ramen to keep her taste buds from freaking out.

Saya’s brain still feels a little fried after the sweet and savoury experience, but the combination of dumplings, chocolate and creamy vanilla ice cream was a stunning combination she’ll never forget.

If you’d like to put your own gyoza-loving boundaries to the test, now is the time to visit a nearby Kourakuen, where the “Panic de Gyoza” will be on the menu from 21 October to mid December. After that, you can always explore new frontiers by adding Yukimi Daifuku to a slice of cheese toast, which is said to unlock “forbidden” levels of tenderness!

Reference: Kourakuen
Images: ©SoraNews24
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