Parfaits & Japanese Candy

Have you ever come across food that looks too good to eat? I sure have and most of the experiences occurred in Japan where presentation often takes center stage over flavor. Not to say the flavor isn't up to snuff, it rarely disappoints. The wonderful fact about Japan is that the picture on the menu or the plastic model in the store-front window looks exactly like what you will get after you order.

Plastic Food Models in a Sapporo Eatery (circa 2007)

Great pride is taken in the visual appearance of food. This especially holds true in the confectionery business.

One of my favorite Japanese works of food art is the Ice Cream Parfait. You don't have to walk too far to find a coffee shop that sells these gorgeous ice cream concoctions. The beautiful thick vase-like glass holds generous amounts of ice cream, pudding, and fruit with all sorts of confectionery toppings. Some of the more common ones are Pocky, Collon, Toppo, and Fran. These deluxe parfaits can put you back quite a few yen though depending on their size. So I suggest you make one of your own using some pretty and unique shaped products from our line-up of candy.

Some ideas for dressing up that plain vanilla ice cream at home:

Nature Scene: Combine some of the uniquely shaped cookies to create a 'living' parfait. We carry tree stump cookies, mini mushroom cookies, and bamboo shoot biscuits. The latter two often come in various flavors (and colors) throughout the year.

Zoo Parfait: Mini Koala filled cookies along side Panda heads, Pucca fish, and Rilakkuma bear printed caramel chocolates.

Colorful: Mix and match different varieties of Pocky, Fran, Karipoli, and Koeda sticks for easy ice cream scooping. Who needs a spoon when you have loads of edible ones?

Let me know about your favorite parfait ingredients! If napaJapan does not carry them we would be happy to try and source them for you.

And don't stop at the ice cream. If you are feeling really creative why not spruce up your bento lunch box with some cute candy items. We have a lot of bento accessories in store too. Click HERE to have a look.

Our next blog will be after the Japanese Golden Week holiday (April 29th - May 5th.) But our store is open every day of the year and we are always available to chat so please drop us a line anytime!

Sincerely,