Ice cream Parlor Misono

Ice cream in a Taisho-era room

Ice cream is the entire menu, and it has been since 1919. Misono sells it from a small retro parlor in Otaru, with counter and table seating and the plain warmth of an old kissaten rather than the polish of a modern gelato bar. The house calls its flavor nostalgic, which is the right word for what arrives: an old-fashioned, milk-forward ice cream closer to memory than to a contemporary dessert menu. Taisho Roman Ice Cream is the item that carries the shop's name, and parfaits and sundaes build on the same base for anyone wanting more than a scoop.

The first in Hokkaido

The date on the sign is the point. Misono says it was the first shop in Hokkaido to sell ice cream, back in the Taisho era, which puts it at the start of the region's dessert history rather than somewhere along it. There is no chef's name attached and no seasonal tasting menu; the shop itself is the figure, and continuity is the whole argument. Tabelog 100 placed it at number 93 in 2023, a rare placement for a parlor whose reputation rests on one product made the same way for a century.

How to order

Order the Taisho Roman Ice Cream first, plain, because that is the version the shop has built its name on. A parfait or a sundae is the fuller order, and the better one if the visit is a proper stop rather than a passing scoop. Treat the place as a specialist rather than a café with a long menu: the room is small, the list is short, and the appeal is that both have stayed that way. A century in, that is still the whole proposition.