New Yakult desserts now available at special concept store in Tokyo

Yakult’s first foray into the sweets world proves Lactobacillus can be decadently delicious.

Ever since 1935, Yakult has been looking after the nation’s bellies with sweetened probiotic milk drinks, filled with over 10 billion Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota bacteria for maintaining good gut health in every tiny bottle.

Now, for the first time in the company’s 86-year history, Yakult is bringing out a number of dessert items for a limited time, available only at Imada Kitchen, a concept store inside Shibuya’s trendy 109 building that develops and sells “original food from Shibuya that has not yet appeared in the world“.

▼ Welcome to the world, Yakult Ice Cream Shop.

There are six items to choose from on the menu: Yakult Ice cream and Sherbet (450 yen [US$4.13] each), Yakult Soft Serve (450 yen), Yakult Parfait (600 yen), which comes in strawberry and caramel varieties, and the Ice de Yakult Shake (500 yen).

▼ The “Ice de Yakult” mini ice cream tub (bottom right) is exclusive to Tokyu Store supermarkets.

After staring at the menu for about three minutes, trying to decide which one to buy, we decided to opt for the Yakult Parfait Caramel. It didn’t take long for the treat to be made, and when we laid eyes on it, we weren’t disappointed.

▼ Behold the Yakult Parfait!

The small print on the label (circled) reads, “Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota bacteria”, to reassure us that this sweet dessert will be delivering a dose of good bacterias to our bellies.

▼ The cookie in the shape of a Yakult bottle was a nice touch as well.

The plump, smooth curves on the soft serve were incredibly beautiful, and the scattering of caramel chocolate buttons did a good job of bringing to mind the good bacteria that would soon be making their way to the curves of our intestines.

Lifting a spoonful of the good stuff to our taste buds, we were instantly surprised to find the soft serve tasted exactly like Yakult! For some reason, we’d expected this to be more milky than Yakult-y, so we were happy to be proven wrong. The familiar, refreshing acidity of Yakult tingled on the taste buds, singing out as the star of the show as the milky flavours played second fiddle in the background.

Reaching below the soft serve, we spooned out a delicious dollop of thick, gooey caramel sauce, which added a delectable sweetness to the familiar flavour of Yakult. As our sweet receptors danced around with glee under the caramel trance, we felt a strange sense of guilt-free pleasure as we knew this fantastic dessert was working away to add good gut flora to the stomach as well.

This was a fantastic dessert that allowed us to enjoy the familiar flavour of Yakult in a whole new light. Our only regret was we weren’t able to try them all, but we’ll definitely be making a stop at Tokyu Store to stock up on a few tubs of the Ice de Yakult to keep us going all summer long.

The Yakult Ice Cream store will only be around for a limited time, from 1 June to 1 August. After that, we’ll have to go back to our regular Yakult drinks, or this instant ramen with 40 billion lactic acid bacteria, to keep our gut flora blooming properly.

Store information
Imada Kitchen Yakult Icxe Cream Shop / イマダキッチン「ヤクルトのアイス屋さん」
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Dogenzaka 2-29-1
東京都渋谷区道玄坂2-29-1
Open 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Website

Photos © SoraNews24
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