Ice Cream You Can Drink!

Spring has come and gone. We are now moving into the rainy season. With the rainy season comes heat and humidity. A lot of humidity. Ibaraki is pretty hot and humid during this time. So it is only normal to want to have a sweet, cold treat during the rainy season. I am sure a lot of Ibarakians go to the local convenience store and have a cup of ice cream. Or maybe a Coolish, which is a drinkable ice cream. Those are pretty good, but what if you can have a drinkable ice cream that is not only delicious, but you can put add any bunch of different syrups and sweets to make it more flavorful. Sounds good? Then you, my friend, need to try Nomu Aisu.

Nomu Aisu

Nomu Aisu (Aisu meaning ice cream in Japanese) is an ice cream shop that is located on Route 6 in Tsuchiura City's Arakawaoki area. It just recently opened on the last day of May, so not many people know about this place. If you know where Joyful Honda is on Route 6, pass the Joyful Honda and go straight towards Hitachi No Ushiku. It will be a two-minute drive, and then you will see a small blue store on the right side. There is parking on the side of Nomi Aisu and behind it.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo decided to visit this ice cream shop on a rainy and humid Tuesday a week ago. We parked at the back of Nomu Aisu and headed in.

Inside

When we walked inside, everything was blue—blue floors, walls, a counter, blue everywhere. Nomu Aisu is a take-out place only. There are no tables or chairs, and you are not allowed to eat or drink your ice cream inside the shop. You buy your ice cream, add some honey syrup, and then head on your merry way.
After looking around a little bit, my wife and I headed to the ordering counter and checked out the menu.

The Menu

The menu has two sections, the drinkable ice cream and the soft serve cup section. The flavors are all in Japanese, but no worries, I'll translate:
plain, chocolate, caramel, matcha, anko kinako, strawberry, mango, blueberry, mikan, peach, cafe au lait, and matcha cafe au lait.
In the soft serve section of the menu, you have: plain, chocolate banana, caramel banana, matcha, black sugar kinako, black sesame, creme brulee, peach and condensed milk, mikan, mango, creme brulee and berries, chocolate mont blanc, chocolate mint, and kids' size ice cream.
There are also specials and acai bowls as well.
We decided to get one soft serve ice cream and a drinkable ice cream.

Blueberry Flavor Drinkable Ice Cream

This was my wife's order. She wanted to try the drinkable ice cream, and she got the blueberry. My wife grabbed her drinkable ice cream and headed to the syrup station. She poured some maple syrup into her pouch and then gave it a try.
Tip #1: If you pour syrup into your drinkable ice cream, make sure you mix well. Our first straw full of ice cream was full of syrup, and that took us aback quite a bit.
Tip #2: Let the adults handle the syrup pouring if you bring a child. I watched a kid miss the pouch completely and get honey all over the counter.
Tip#3: The ice cream is basically frozen when you receive it so give it a minute to defrost unless you would like to strengthen your neck with sucking exercises and not get any ice cream.
The blueberry flavor and vanilla ice cream of the drinkable ice cream were great. The maple syrup was also a nice touch by the lovely Mrs. Ibaraki Eats. The ice cream wasn't very creamy, but I enjoyed it. There are frozen blueberries in the blueberry sauce, but I wasn't a fan. Yes, they were frozen, so I shouldn't expect fresh, juicy blueberries, but these tasted like cardboard. Other than that, the drinkable ice cream was an interesting and fun experience.

Soft Serve Vanilla and Peach

This was my order. I decided to get old-school soft serve with some peaches inside. These were also frozen peaches, but they tasted way better than the frozen blueberries. My wife added some chocolate syrup on the soft serve, and that is when this ice cream went from good to great. Chocolate and vanilla are always a winner, but add some peaches and you have quite a tasty treat.
As I wrote earlier, you can not eat or drink your ice cream inside the store. That being the case, we had our ice cream inside our car. This was a nice, sweet tooth moment for our drive back home. Route 6 is always full of traffic. It was nice to be stuck in that traffic while enjoying our soft serve and drinkable ice cream. My wife did make a suggestion though. She said that next time we would be getting the plain drinkable ice cream. That way, she can try out a bunch of different syrups and make her own delicious creation.

Nomu Aisu, you are a welcome addition to the upcoming summer weather. I look forward to having some of your ice cream while it is sweltering hot in the summer. See you then!

So if you are in the mood for some ice cream or drinkable ice cream and are in the neighborhood of Arakawaoki, why not give Nomu Aisu a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. I will be enjoying a chocolate banana soft serve while my wife makes her delicious concoction.
Enjoy!

For more information on Nomu Aisu, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/_nomuice/?hl=ja

Event: Twin Peaks Mountain Brewing Yodeling Concert

This Saturday, June 14th, Twin Peaks Mountain Brewing in Tsukuba will be having a yodeling concert. Come to the brewery and try the new beers that will be on tap while listening to some live music and live yodeling.
Reservations for Saturday are recommended. Yodeling encouraged.
https://www.instagram.com/twinpeaksmountainbrewing/