Sapporo Food: Ice Cream and Parfaits

Arguably Hokkaido is most known domestically and internationally for their milk. More broadly, the dairy, and even within the prefecture there’s huge pride on it too. Ice cream places will all clearly advertise made with Hokkaido milk, or more specifically milk from a specific town in Hokkaido. I remember back when I came to Japan for the first time my entire family was hooked on Cremia, a fancy and unique soft serve from Hokkaido (there’s locations in Taiwan I think?!). When I first came to Hokkaido, I basically had ice cream pretty regularly to fill in my boba gap, ha!

What is a Parfait?

I’m not going to make a title that says “What’s ice cream?”, but I will do a parfait section. A parfait is like Japan’s version of an ice cream sundae, and they’re super popular and everywhere at cafes. The basic parfait will have soft serve ice cream, maybe with with a scoop of normal ice cream, whipped cream, and corn flakes. Any other topping is up to the discretion of the shop, from chocolate sauce, adorned fruits, jelly, nuts, basically free reign. The traditional parfait flavors are chocolate parfaits and fruit parfaits, but go to any parfait specialty shops and they’ll have some fancy flavors.

“Shime Parfaits” seem to be more specifially a Hokkaido thing. “Shime” means the finishing touch, and in this case, shime parfaits are parfaits that you end your day with after your dinner. There are quite a few parfait places that are open until midnight or past midnight, or only open from 6pm onwards for this reason. Quite a few of these offer alcoholic parfaits.

If you’re not in the mood for an entire meal’s worth of sweets, you can probably opt for the more normal serving size of a soft serve ice cream cone, more known as soft cream, or just soft, in Japan. Those are everywhere all over Hokkaido, and Sapporo more specifically. Soft Serve tends to be more common than normal ice cream (you can just go to Baskin Robbins, or 31, for that right?).

I’ve also seen a bunch of gelaterias pop up recently, which I suppose goes with the ice cream theme. A lof of the flavors will be classic Japanese ones, but also some questionable ones (yomogi/Japanese grass?), and a lot of times, seasonal flavors. Many of these places also advertise sherbet (in Japanese) as a non-dairy option, but I’m pretty sure they either mean sorbet, there’s actually dairy, or the words somehow got lost in translation.

Where to Eat Ice Cream and Parfaits in Sapporo

I’ve tried many an ice cream in Sapporo at this point, and many a parfait. Clearly, not enough, because they are endless and there’s too many even in central Sapporo. Anyway, here’s a list of recommendations composed of where I’ve been and some of my bookmarks. I’ll be focusing on Sapporo or Hokkaido based establishments/companies, so obviously not including Baskin Robbins, or Nana’s Green Tea (actually a matcha cafe chain that often has seasonal parfaits and drinks). To be honest, every other normal restaurant in Sapporo offers soft serve in the dessert portion of their menu, but here are some more specialty places or cafes.

Soft Cream House

Soft Cream House is the place to go in Sapporo for the famous Cremia! They have it in the classic flavor, as well as chocolate ice cream or cone, and you can mix and match the combination. It used to be 500 yen, but they recently raised it to 550…

Kinotaya

Kinotaya is actually a sweets and baked treats brand, but their soft serve is amazing. They come in tall, giant swirls, and the soft serve is so thick and creamy! Get a baked cheese tart or an apple pie while you’re at it.

Maruyama Gelato

A gelato shopwith branches in Daimaru and the new Moyuk building. They have a bunch of flavors, some basic, some Japanese, and some adventurous…

Tsubaki x Dream Dolce

A more recently opened gelato place in Susukino Pole Town. The gelato is really good, and they often have seasonal flavors. I think you can also buy Tsubaki sandwiches here, which is their rendition of the Japanese fruit whipped cream sandwiches.

White Cosy

White Cozy is a very popular cafe known for their parfaits, both regular sized and small, with some savory items. It can get busy with up to 1 hour wait times, so you should either be prepared to wait and wander around Stellar Place, or get there earlier when they open.

Glaciel

Glaciel actually is a subbrand of the Otaru sweets company LeTao. They have a gelato case outside their store, but in the cafe, you can eat their cakes, as well as some big parfaits and other sweets. I believe in the evening, they offer alcoholic ones as well. They often have a seasonal parfait.

Klim

Klim is one of those evening parfait places open from the eveing until past midnight that actually specializes in black sesame soft serve. If you’re not a fan like me, you can just get a different flavor, and their parfaits are very take-out-able and not super large either. They also have individual soft serve cup portions too.

Rojiura Cafe

An evening parfait cafe that can get pretty popular, so highly recommend a reservation. It’s a cute, tucked away place, but they have a selection of parfaits and sweets on the menu, as well as some savory items. I believe they also have an all you can drink alcohol selection and parfait deal too.

Denki Sabou

Another cute and cozy evening parfait cafe, but with a different kind of cozy vibe than Rojiura. It’s darker, more intimate, but you get to sit on actual sofas, and the parfaits are elegant and delicate. They do allow smoking though and it’s a small space. Also offer alcoholic drinks.

Parfait Shop NANAKAMADOU, Parfaiteria PaL, Parfaiteria miL

Nanakamadou, Pal, and Mil are the three evening-only parfait places by the founder of Gaku, a pastry shop in Sapporo, with other parfait branches across the country. Most of their parfaits have an alcoholic element in them, and I believe they should have English menus. They serve their parfaits in drink sets with tea and alcohol as options.

Shiawase no Recipe Sweet

This small and cute parfait place has two branches around Odori and Susukino, and usually are evening-only places that offer cute parfaits and drink sets with alcohol and original tea blends. The Susukino branch is open from 2pm on the weekends. They only take cash.

Cafe Noymond

This cute cafe has a variety of parfaits to choose from, and also offers seasonal flavors! They’re open from 1-11pm everyday, so whether you’re looking for an afternoon treat or a evening dessert, I highly recommend their gelato!

sinner

This is a low key cafe that serves sweet treats. They also have a drink plan with alcohol, which makes a great afternoon pick-me-up, or evening dessert. They have seasonal parfaits, so check their Instagram for updates!

Bisse Sweets

This cafe is composed up booths from Machimura Farm and Kinotaya, so whether you’re looking for cakes or a small parfait that won’t fill up your belly, their ice cream is guaranteed to give you a nice sweet treat!

Susukinokissa Purple Dahlia

This retro style cafe is very cozy. They have floats that come in every color of the rainbow, as well as some savory and sweet items. Their parfaits are also pretty spicy!

Siroya

Siroya is a cafe by Shiroi Koibito, the company and chocolate factory that makes the famous Shiroi Koibito cookies in Hokkaido. The soft serve is delicious, is a huge serving, and comes in milk or chocolate.

Sorriso dell’ Orso

A cute Italian cafe offering lunch in dine-in, or you can just eat some of their house-made gelato dine-in or to-go. Their flavors are super yummy and not artificial tasting, and the gelato is really high quality.

Parfait, coffee, liquor, Sato

This is a famous parfait spot in Sapporo, which spawned its own snack souvenir line. Their parfaits use seasonal ingredients, and the workers take great care to place each piece. Sometimes their parfait combinations can be very interesting! On weekdays, they’re only open in the evening.

Missu House

A small gelateria business located in the Southern part of Sapporo near Mt. Moiwa. The first floor is a take-out gelateria which closes for the winter season. The second floor is a parfait terrace. Open year round, they serve parfaits, ice cream treats, and other desserts.

Initial

A famous evening parfait place in Sapporo I believe (there’s a branch in Tokyo). Their parfaits are very seasonal, with a constantly rotating menu with different ingredients. The menu itself is small, likely focusing their efforts on the current rotation. The cafe is small and cute, perfect for an outing by yourself, with friends, or loved ones.

PATISSERIE salon byS

A very cute, cozy, and classy evening parfait place with a seasonal menu. They also seem to specialize in croissants and teas, with alcoholic and mocktail options. They do have a one person one parfait one drink order policy. Highly recommend making a reservation if you want get in.

Others

Here are some others, among others. I’ve included links to either Google Maps locations or their websites. I also indicate if they’re evening-only parfait places. These were the ones I have been interesed in going, but there are tons more in Sapporo than this measly list.