SideNote: 24 Hours of Sweets

This is for all the Ibarakians out there with a sweet tooth.
It is midnight and that craving hits you. You want something sweet. Ice cream, donuts, cake. Unfortunately, all the patisseries, donut shops, and ice cream places are closed. Sure, you can go to your local convivence store and grab something from there. But what if I told you, you could get an onigiri looking cake, dippin dots ice cream, or a creme brulee donut and you can get it at any time of the day. A 24-hour sweets shop! You must be thinking "Surely this 24-hour sweets paradise doesn't exist here in Ibaraki." I am happy to report that it does and it is called 24 Sweets Shop.

24 Sweets Shop

24 Sweets Shop is located in the Higashiishikawa area of Hitachi Naka City. It is on the same street as the big bowling alley, Katsutaminami Bowl. You might drive right past it so make sure you look for a small white building with the 24 sweet sign.
This post is a side note because 24 Sweets Shop is not an Ibaraki original. I believe this shop started in Tokyo and now it is spreading like wildfire. At the time of writing, there is a 24 Sweets Shop already open in Mito and one being constructed in Kasama. I am sure it is only a matter of time before it makes it way down south.
The Ibaraki Eats Dup visited 24 Sweets Shop on a cold Tuesday afternoon. We were looking forward to what dessert treasures lie inside.

Inside

Freezers. Freezers everywhere. When you walk into 24 Sweets Shop, you are greeted by rows of freezers holding different sweets. There is no staff to greet you at the door and no staff at the cash register.
There is a crepes freezer, an ice cream freezer, a cake onigiri freezer, a Dippin Dots freezer, and more! At the entrance, you grab your shopping basket and grab whatever you want. Unfortunately, none of the sweets are unfrozen and fresh. Except for the chocolates by the cash register. It is nice to have so many options and have those options available at any time of the day.

Mrs. Ibaraki Eats Wanted It All!

Between the two of us, my wife is the one with the sweet tooth. Don't get me wrong, I love sweets. My wife though, LOVES sweets.
Before we went into 24 Sweets Shop, we agreed on only getting five sweets and nothing more. My wife broke that agreement in the first two minutes of being in the shop. She was in heaven. Creme Brule crepe, in the basket. Tiramisu onigiri, in the basket. Three different ice cream looking cup cakes with cute little characters on it, in the basket. Creme brule donut, you know where it went. I selected the Dippin Dots ice cream.
After we had broken our buying limit, we headed to the cash register to pay.

Self Checkout Register

Unless you have been living under a rock these past few years, you have most likely done self-check out before. Either at your local supermarket, 100 yen store, or even some restaurants. The same system is at 24 Sweets Shop. Scan your sweet's barcode and pay. If your dessert doesn't have a barcode, look it up on the wall and scan that barcode. Very simple.
If you are worried that you need an exact amount to pay, this register does offer change.

After paying for our sweets, we headed to our car and my wife automatically opened one of our sweets.

Crème Brule Crepe

My wife refused to wait till we got home to open one of the sweets. I didn't put up much of a fight on that battle and she opened the crème brule crepe. I know the picture above is kind of messy but we had already taken our bites when I took that picture. Honestly, it wasn't a bad crepe. Not a great crepe but not a bad one. It is certainly better than the frozen crepes you may find in convenience stores or supermarkets. That being said though, you can tell once you bite into it that it is a frozen dessert. It doesn't have that fresh crepe taste to it which I love. Also, the top of the crème brule wasn't really crunchy like it should be. The cream in the crepe was excellent.

Dippin Dots

If you are a 90s kid like me, you will remember Dippin Dots. The ice cream of the future! I remember having this ice cream at the Miami-Dade County Fair and loving it.
When I moved to Japan, I never saw Dippin Dots. Until I went to Tsuchiura Cinema Sunshine. I was so happy to see that balled future-looking ice cream. Unfortunately, the cinema only has two flavors of Dippin Dots. Rainbow and strawberry cheesecake. So imagine my shock when I opened the freezer at 24 Sweets Shop with a bunch of different flavors of Dippin Dots ice cream.
My wife and I decided on the cotton candy flavor. I love crunching those ice cream balls under my teeth for that explosion of sweet and cold. I can't wait to go back and grab some more flavors of this ice cream of the future.

Tiramisu Onigiri

Yes, you read that right. Tiramisu onigiri. Onigiri, which is rice ball in English, is the staple for any Japanese breakfast or lunch. Especially if you are on the go. Rice balls have fish or something else inside of them and are wrapped in a big piece of seaweed.
How about this tiramisu onigiri? Are you worried that there might be some rice in there mixed with sweet tiramisu cream? Rest assured. There is no rice in this dessert onigiri. It is all cream and cake. I wish I could tell you what the outside seaweed-looking wrap is, but my wife and I are still unsure. It wasn't the best part of this onigiri. The inside, however, was fantastic. It had that strong tiramisu taste of espresso and cocoa. It was a fun dessert, and I hope to try the other dessert onigiris soon.

Crème Brule Donut

This was also my wife's choice. Can you see a Creme Brule pattern?
I can't believe what I am about to write. When I picked up this frozen donut, I was 100% sure it was going to be bad. I didn't like the look of it at all. It screamed, "I am frozen and you are going to like it." I like fresh fluffy creamy donuts. Not donuts that have been in the freezer all day.
That being said, this was probably the best dessert that we bought at 24 Sweets Shop. Yes, I can hardly believe it myself. Of course, we didn't eat it frozen. I popped that donut in the microwave for a few minutes after it defrosted. I took a bite of our piping hot donut to discover a world full of fluffy cream hard-cover delightfulness. I was shocked. There is no way this donut tastes this good after just a few minutes in the microwave. But it did. What shocked me more was even the hard carnalized part of the donut was still crunchy. Did we microwave it in a perfect way that we don't know about or is this donut just this good? I will have to go back to 24 Sweets Shop to continue this experiment many times.

24 Sweets Shop was a fun adventure filled with different sweets and a surprisingly amazing donut. It is fun to check out all the tasty treats on display. Plus, you can drop in at any time of the day or night. Yes, it isn't ideal that everything is frozen but I thought that about the Creme Brule Donut, and look how that turned out.

So if you are a major sweet tooth individual like Mrs. Ibaraki Eats, and are looking for a place full of tasty treats and desserts for any time of the day or night, why not give 24 Sweets Shop a try? Who knows, you might see us there, my holding the shopping basket while my wife grabs all the sweets her heart desires.
Enjoy!

For more information on 24 Sweets Shop, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/24sweetsshop_mito/