Side Note: Late Night Ice Cream

The sun has set and it is dinner time. What do you feel like having? Want to grab a beer and yakitori from the local izakaya? Maybe slurp up some noodles at the ramen restaurant nearby? I am sure either choice will be a good meal, but what about after dinner? What about when your sweet tooth is demanding that you get dessert after your salty ramen or your saucy yakitori. What should you do? Ramen shops don't have dessert. Izakaya's may have dessert but it is probably not worth it. Where do you go?
For those of you who face this dessert crisis after your dinner, two new shops have come to save you from those strong sweets cravings you have after dinner. Both of them serve ice cream parfaits with a bunch of different options and both of them are open until late at night. Today I will be talking about the new ice cream places that are the talk of their respective towns. Aisu wa Betsubara in Tsuchiura, and 21ji ni Aisu in Mito.

Aisu wa betsubara (Ice cream for your other stomach)

In English, there is a saying "There is always room for dessert." In Japanese, that saying is "大丈夫 別腹です." Which means, "Don't worry, I have another stomach." Mrs. Ibaraki Eats uses that phrase a lot which I wholeheartedly support. We love dessert after our meal. So you can imagine our delight when we found out that this new ice cream shop opened up in our city of Tsuchiura and it also had an awesome name.
Aisu wa betsubara is located in the Yamatocho area of Tsuchiura. It is right behind the Tsuchiura City Hall building which is very close to the station. This ice cream shop is not an Ibaraki original. It originally comes from Hyogo prefecture and is a chain of ice cream shops around Japan. Just like the place I will talk about in a bit in Mito, both of these ice cream shops are take-out only. There are no seats or tables. There is an order counter, a trash can, a menu, and that's it. Many customers usually eat their ice cream across from the ice cream shop.
Aisu wa Betsubara is fairly new. It opened last fall and it is pretty popular. It still has yet to get the summer crowds which I am sure will be a lot of customers, but when this place first opened, the line stretched down to the entrance of city hall. Since the weather is cooler now, there isn't a line. I am sure that will change in a few months though.
The first time the Ibaraki Eats Duo went to Aisu wa Betsubara, it was a rainy March afternoon and we couldn't wait to try the ice cream.

The Menu

Sorry my non-Japanese speakers, the menu is in Japanese only. Not to worry. Here is the Ibaraki Eats translation.
At the top of the menu is all the available ice cream parfaits. From left to right: Plain, Crunchy Coffee, Chocolate Banana, Caramel Banana, Kokusan (Domestic) Strawberry, Strawberry Chocolate, Peach, Chestnut Mont Blanc, Sweet Potato Mont Blanc, Matcha, Kuromitsu (Brown Sugar) Kinako, Rich Fresh Chocolate, Matcha Fresh Chocolate, Berry Berry, A lot of Mikan, A lot of Mango, Creme Brulee, Sweet Potato Brulee, Pudding Alamode, and Fruits Mix,

Next are the small kid's sizes:
Colorful Chocolate, Chocolate Cookie, Mini MIkan, Mini Mango, MIni Matcha.

Finally, the liquor ice creams:
Kalua Milk, Frangelico, Mozart, Malibu Mango, and Kashisu Berry.

Creme Brulee

Do you know how much Mrs. Ibaraki Eats loves creme brulee? If it is on the menu, she is ordering it. Without hesitation. That was the ice cream she ordered the first time we visited Aisu wa Betsubara.
I might have been imagining this, but when my wife held that parfait in her hand, I think I saw hearts in her eyes. She loved the way it looked and it did look good. The small strawberry at the top of the parfait was a nice addition to flavor and imagery. My wife dipped her plastic spoon into the parfait and heard the audible crunch as she broke the caramelized hard down on the top of the creme brulee parfait. What she brought out with her spoon was vanilla ice cream, cream, and small pieces of hard caramel. She put the spoon in her mouth and made an audible "oishi" that I am pretty sure the rest of the street heard.
My wife let me have a taste and I have to say, this was an amazing creme brulee parfait. The crunchy sweet caramel pieces inside the creme brulee cream was amazing. The vanilla ice cream was nice but not necessarily needed. This was a tasty parfait that we wouldn't mind ordering again.

Sweet Potato

This is one of my favorites from Aisu wa Betsubara, the Sweet Potato parfait.
This was my first order when we visited Aisu wa Betsubara. Look at how much sweet potato paste is on this parfait. I remember this parfait being heavy and I was happy about that. I plunged my spoon into the mountain of sweet potato paste and when my spoon came back I got a lot of paste plus a nice surprise of cream. That was cream in the middle of that delicious mountain. Putting that spoon in my mouth was a great experience and I couldn't wait to get to the vanilla ice cream and cornflakes. Everything went perfectly in this parfait. The vanilla with the sweet potato paste was exceptional. I love this parfait so much that I have had it twice and this summer I am probably going to have it a third time.
My wife also gave this parfait a thumbs up.

Frangelico

This parfait is not for kids. This is for us adults who want a little kick with our ice cream. Since the Ibaraki Eats Duo lives in Tsuchiura, we didn't have to worry about driving. One Friday evening after our fun time at the Kanpai event (which usually happens once a month in Tsuchiura), we decided that after a few beers and a tasty dinner, our dessert was going to be a parfait with some liquor in it. We decided on the Frangelico.
If you have never had Frangelico, it is a sweet creamy after-dinner drink that goes down smoothly. Mixing in Frangelico with ice cream is a genius idea and Aisu wa Betsubara does it well. The sprinkled nuts on the top with that sweet liquor taste mixed with the vanilla ice cream is a nightcap I wouldn't mind having every night.

It is now time to go into the second half of this post. Let's talk about where to get your late night ice cream in Mito.

21ji Ni Aisu (Ice Cream at 9 o'clock

21ji ni Aisu, which means ice cream at 9 o'clock in English, is located in the Sannomaru area of Mito. It is just a five-minute walk from Mito station. If you plan on driving to 21ji ni Aisu, there are plenty of pay-to-park parking areas around the ice cream shop.
I don't know if 21ji ni Aisu is an Ibaraki original, but I doubt it. This ice cream shop is similar to Aisu wa Betsubara, but the menu differs. Also, it is open until 12:00 a.m. whereas Aisu wa Betsubara is open till 11:00 p.m.
My wife and I visited the shop on a Saturday evening after our ramen dinner. This was our dessert and we couldn't wait to try it.

The Menu

The menu again, is only in Japanese. Not to worry, I will try to help translate it. Starting from the top right:
Roasted Chestnuts Mont Blanc, Matcha Mont Blanc, Purple Sweet Potato Mont Blanc, Sweet Potato Mont Blanc, Coffee Jelly, Fresh Thick Chocolate, Chocolate Banana, Caramel Banana, Matcha, Salty Cookie, Black Honey Warabi Mochi, Matcha Warabi Mochi, Chocolate Warabi Mochi, Marshmallow Chocolate Cookie, Black Honey Kinako, Black Sesame Seed, Chcoclate Cookie, Kiwi and Nata de Coco (coconut gel), Mango and Nata de Coco, Earl Grey Chocolate Whip, and Normal. You can add extra toppings to your ice cream as well.

Marshmallow Chocolate Cookie

This was the first parfait I ordered from 21ji ni Aisu. It looked amazing and I couldn't wait to dig in. I got a spoonful of marshmallows, Oreo cookies, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream and gave it a try. It was fantastic. All that chocolate and vanilla mixed with the soft marshmallow was heavenly. My wife got a spoonful of this parfait and she was impressed as well.
There was only one problem with this parfait. All the goodies were on the top of the parfait. So when all those cookies, marshmallows, and chocolate were gone, I was left with vanilla ice cream and corn chips. That isn't bad per se, but I do wish there were more cookies and chocolate mixed in the middle. I do need to point out that the vanilla ice cream in 9ji ni Aisu is very tasty, more so than Aisu wa Betsubara. I wouldn't mind ordering this parfait again, but I would need something more in the middle.

The Special Dango Sakura

This was my wife's parfait and it is not on the regular menu. I forgot to mention that both Aisu wa Betsubara and 21ji ni Aisu have special monthly or seasonal parfaits. During the sakura season, this was 21ji ni Aisu's special, the dango sakura. This parfait brought the usual vanilla ice cream and corn chips. It also brought matcha syrup and powder, sakura flavored cream, and a few mochi dangos.
How amazing was this parfait? Pretty amazing. I thought it would be overly sweet, but the matcha helped lower the sweetness level. The dango with the ice cream was incredible and the sakura cream was just a splendid mixture to this great special. My wife was in love with this parfait and was sad to hear that it was only available for a limited time. When I release this post, I am sure this special will no longer be available. You could always try it next year. Even though this amazing parfait is gone for now, I am sure 21ji ni Aisu has a special parfait coming or readily available for all their customers.

Both of these late-night ice cream shops are amazing. I have had delicious parfaits from both and would love to visit both again. Comparing the two, I have to say that the vanilla ice cream is better at 21ji ni Aisu and I like the lay out of the shop. Aisu wa Betsubara has a better and more imaginative menu. Also. I think there parfaits are a bit bigger than 9ji ni Aisu's parfaits. That being said, I love both shops and will be going to both again in the near future. I live in Tsuchiura though, so Aisu wa Betsubara will be my first stop.

So if it is late and you are in the mood for something cool and sweet, look no further than these two amazing ice cream shops. Who knows, you might see us at either, enjoying our tasty parfaits while strolling through the cool summer night.
Enjoy!

For more information on Aisu wa Betsubara, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/ice.betsubara.tuchiura/

For more information on 21ji ni Aisu, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/21niice_mito/