Friday Flash..Summer Food

A few samples of Dean and Deluca ice cream from the Midland Square store in Nagoya.
From left to right Fromage Blanc with Raspberry,Belgian Couverture Chocolate,Kyoto Green Tea and Madagascar Vanilla.
The Fromage Blanc contains cheese,raspberry,raspberry sauce,fresh cream,condensed skim milk,sugar and egg yolk.Its quite a thick mixture.The cheese is more akin to cream cheese rather than Edam or mozzarella in terms of texture and provides the substance or filler for the raspberry ingredients and flavour including the little annoying bits that get lodged between your teeth.Worth sampling but Im not sure if Id bother again.

The Beligan Couverture Chocolate comes in a dark brown tub which mirrors the contents
This ice cream like the Fromage Blanc is quite thick but also very rich.Its not overly sweet nor bitter.It looks like real chocolate.Feels like real chocolate when you spoon it and when you first taste it.Its not overly sweet or bitter According to the label the ingredients include the above mentioned chocolate (55% cacao and over) as well as fresh cream,condensed skim milk and sugar.For once I think the small tub is the perfect size as it contains just enough to leave you feeling satisfied.Definitely worth a second look.

Whether or not the Kyoto Green Tea ice cream is your cup of tea depends very much on whether you like green tea or not.The ice cream is very green and creamy.It has a strong aftertaste just like the green tea itself...a somewhat acquired taste.
Certainly a different and an unusual offering.

The final discovery was the Madagascar Vanilla ice cream which contained Madagascar Vanilla beans and extracts among its ingredients.It had a considerably lighter taste than the Green Tea and was noticeably less solid in texture than the Fromage or Beligan.In fact it started melting well before the other three when I tried to photograph them all.
On opening the cover,one is greeted with a refreshing vanilla aroma which spreads through the contents as you eat it.Nice,light and refreshing in contrast to the heavier Chocolate and Green Tea flavours.






















A couple of new drinks that caught my eye.The Lipton bottle on the left contains cold tea with a strong coconut flavour.Hence the name "Coconut Island"Quite sweet to the point of cloying I didnt find it that refreshing or thirst quenching.
The second bottle is a Mint Julep soda drink.According to the label its inspired by an original Cuban drink.Its a rather muted under-stated drink.The soda isnt really fizzy in the way most carbonated drinks such as Coke or Pepsi are.In fact I thought the first bottle I bought was slightly flat till I bought another which was exactly the same.If the bubbles lack power so does the mint flavour which seems to be hiding in the background rather than being bold and upfront.






















Finally a summer bento or lunchbox offering slices of salmon and beef together with various salads.The centrepiece consists of rolls of crunchy and leafy green salad vegetables.