Flowers Too Beautiful to Eat – June-Only Hydrangea Ice Cream in Kyoto

Text and photos byKavanah
June is hydrangea season, and the renowned matcha shop Itoh Kyuemon has also launched a limited-edition seasonal item: “Hydrangea Parfait.” The photos look absolutely irresistible. That’s why, during my trip to visit the hydrangeas at Sanmudo Temple in 2013, I made a special detour to Itoh Kyuemon’s main store to try this “Hydrangea Parfait.” Today, I’m going to introduce this seasonal delight to you all.

On that day, I got off at Uji Station on the Keihan Railway, but I went to the wrong place and headed straight for Fujikyu, remembering it incorrectly. You should know that the main store of Fujikyu is very close to JR Uji Station, but far from Keihan Uji Station. So there I was, dragging a whole group of people the wrong way, only to realize after arriving at Fujikyu’s main store that I had gone to the wrong place entirely. (Luckily, we hadn’t sat down to order yet, or it would’ve been a total disaster…) Feeling embarrassed and flustered, I quickly led everyone to “Itoh Kyuemon.” And as you might know, “Itoh Kyuemon” is actually not far from Keihan Uji Station... Anyway, after walking for forty minutes the wrong way, we finally reached our destination: “Itoh Kyuemon Uji Main Store.”

Since it was a holiday and also hydrangea season, there were a lot of customers. We waited in line for 40 minutes before we could be seated.

As soon as I got the menu, I quickly flipped to my target: the “Hydrangea Parfait” (I was afraid it would sell out, so I was in a hurry…). The price was 892 yen? Or had it gone up to 972 yen this year?

Since I was a bit hungry, besides the “Hydrangea Parfait,” I also ordered soba noodles. The soba noodles were quite tasty, though nothing particularly special.

Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da, ta-da!!! Here comes the star of the show: the “Hydrangea Parfait.”

It was truly gorgeous. But it wasn’t as plump as I’d imagined—it was a bit on the slim side.

I spent so long taking photos that I couldn’t bear to eat it.

The center of the “Hydrangea Parfait” is filled with sweet red bean paste, the leaves are made of matcha, and it’s topped with whipped cream. At the bottom is Uji red bean (azuki beans cooked in sugar), and underneath that is matcha ice cream… and regular ice cream.

So how does the beautiful-looking “Hydrangea Parfait” taste? The main part—the sweet red bean filling—along with the Uji red bean at the bottom, were both very sweet, and together they were almost unbearably sweet. The matcha flavor of the leaf part wasn’t very strong, but the matcha ice cream underneath had a richer matcha taste, which was pretty good.

Everyone’s tastes are different. For someone like me who doesn’t eat much sweets, the “Hydrangea Parfait” was a bit too sweet. I had to drink a lot of tea while eating to balance out the sweetness… But perhaps for those who love sweet treats, it’s delicious.

Note: The “Hydrangea Parfait” is only available as a seasonal item from late May to early June, and it’s sold only at the Uji Main Store.

[Itoh Kyuemon Uji Main Store]
Business hours: 10:00–18:30 (last order for the tearoom at 18:00).
Closed: None.
Access: 5-minute walk from Keihan Uji Station or Sanmub8 Station. About 15-minute walk from JR Uji Station.
Address: 9-3, Arashiyama nozoki, Uji, Kyoto Prefecture.

Kavanah @ Kyoto, Traveling Freely.