Four stores in Tokyo recently started selling the soft serve in three flavors with little to no fanfare.

Ministop is usually the Japanese convenience store chain that people equate with fresh soft serve ice cream, but that may be about to change now that one of The Big Three chains, Family Mart, seems to be experimenting with soft serve at four locations in Tokyo. Strangely, however, we couldn’t find any official press release related to it on Family Mart’s website, and October seems like an odd time to unveil a frozen dessert. Perhaps the mystery is meant to be part of the allure…

Our very own zany reporter and sweets enthusiast Mr. Sato had gotten a hot tip that the Kanda Awaji-cho location is one of the stores offering soft serve. He headed over to check it out for himself and found an unassuming poster out front, but that was about it. He would have thought they would be making a bigger fuss of it.

The three flavors being offered are milk, matcha, and mix (milk & matcha). Each one is offered in a “short size” (250 yen/US$1.60) or “giga size” (298 yen) and can be ordered in a cup or cone.

▼ The giga size is pictured most prominently below, while the short size is pictured in milk flavor-form in the bottom left.

Orders for the soft serve should be placed at the counter, and there are handy ordering cards with each of the three flavors for you to hand over to the staff. Be sure to specify if you’d like a short size, as giga seems to be the default.

Mr. Sato of course sprung for the giga size, and it was ready quite quickly. Here was his first-ever Family Mart soft serve cone!

It started melting right away so he quickly snapped a couple of photos and dug in. It was a rich, creamy milk flavor with moderate sweetness and the perfect full-bodied texture inside his mouth.

He had the feeling that Ministop’s milky flavor is a bit more prominent, though he can’t confirm that without trying them side by side.

▼ Regardless, he’ll scream for ice cream no matter what!

Rumors are that Family Mart hopes to sell the soft serve at four more stores in the Tokyo area by the end of the year as well, bringing the total to eight stores. Mr. Sato is happy as long as there’s an increasing number of opportunities to find convenience store soft serve moving forward–and he’ll keep supporting Ministop, too!

Store information
Family Mart Kanda Awaji-cho / ファミリーマート神田淡路町店
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kanda Ogawa-machi 1-1-16
東京都千代田区神田小川町 1丁目1-16
Open 24 hours a day (though soft serve may not be available for purchase 24/7)

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