Japanese highway rest stop slow-melting ice cream fish dessert: An offer too strange to refuse

5 days ago 20

The Kariya Highway Oasis in the town of Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, is pretty incredible, even by the lofty standards for highway rest stops in Japan. This is, after all, the rest stop with its own giant Ferris wheel.

But on our most recent visit, we stumbled across something else that was totally unexpected: Toto Ice Cream.

“So cold! An ice cream that doesn’t melt easily,” boasted the sign at one of Kariya Highway Oasis’ souvenir shops. But what really had us intrigued, and also a little frightened, wasn’t the promise of melt-resistant ice cream, but who was offering it…

…Yamasa Chikuwa Company.

Now, we’ve got nothing against Yamasa Chikuwa itself. It’s an Aichi Prefecture company that’s been offering quality foodstuffs since it incorporated in 1940, and even before that its roots go back to the early 1800s. No, what has us a little concerned is that Yamasa Chikuwa is a company that specializes in chikuwa (fish sausage), kamaboko (fish cake), and various kinds of nerimono (fish/seafood paste) products.

▼ Various types of fried chikuwa and kamaboko available at the Yamasa souvenir shop

So no, Yamasa Chikuwa is not a name we associate with delicious desserts, regardless of their melting speeds. And yet, there it was, the sign for Toto Ice Cream, which the accompanying text described as “The great combination of Yamasa Chikuwa’s fish sweets ‘Toto’ and ice cream!”

OK, so at least it seemed like the ice cream didn’t contain any fish, but now we had the equally unusual concept of a separate dessert made with fish being topped with ice cream. And yet, we couldn’t help feeling curious, and as is so often the case when trying to sort out mixed emotions, we went with the option that allowed us to eat ice cream, and so we ordered a cup of Toto Ice Cream for 550 yen.

We started with a spoonful of the vanilla ice cream, since that’s what’s on top. It was delicious, but with no unexpected, unfamiliar flavors of textures.

Then it was time to try the Toto sitting underneath.

We had no idea what was in store for us here, but as we inserted our spoon, it was met with a soft, sponge-cake consistency. Popping it into our mouth, the flavor and texture were somewhere between a souffle and castella sponge cake. The cake was moist and tender, with the flavor of rich egg…and, mild but unmistakably, nerimono.

Asking an employee for more information, we found out that Toto is a cake made with soy milk, egg, and, yep, fish paste mixed into the batter. To our surprise, though, while milky notes and fish flavors oftentimes don’t mix together well at all, they didn’t clash here, making for an interesting fusion of sweet and umami sensations.

As for whether or not the Toto Ice Cream is actually melt-resistant, we’re not 100-percent convinced. To be fair, though, we were eating inside and in an air-conditioned space, and between that, the reasonable portion size, and the pace at which we were easting because of how much we were enjoying the dessert, there really wasn’t time for any significant melting to occur anyway.

So yeah, color us impressed at the results of this unorthodox mix of ingredients. If we had one complaint, it might be that the Toto by itself, without the ice cream, might be a little too subtle in flavor to satisfy a strong sweet tooth, but in addition to the plane Toto we ate, there are also milk chocolate and bitter chocolate versions available, so we’ll have to try one of those next time we stop by this highway rest stop.

Location information

Kariya Highway Oasis / 刈谷ハイウェイオアシス

Address: Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi, Higashisakai-cho, Yoshino 55

愛知県刈谷市東境町吉野55番地

Yamasa Chikuwa shop open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. (weekdays), 7 a.m.-10 p.m. (weekends, holidays)

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