What comes to mind when you think of hot, sweaty summer? I bet it’s something along the lines of ice cream, popsicles, and shaved ice! A new shaved-ice store opened up in Shimokitazawa a few months ago, and allows you to decorate your own ice cream with 20+ toppings, making your one and only, personal ice cream dish!
Called “Gram Factory”, this store opened up in May and has since then broken the internet with its colorful and adorable pictures of shaved ice made by their customers. Many people now come to Shimokitazawa solely for Gram Factory, and that big, mouthwatering bowl of shaved ice.
There are 6 flavours of ice that you can choose from, milk (original), strawberry, oreo, matcha, ninako, and blueberry. Apart from the original flavour, which is JPY 680, the rest are all JPY 880.
Make sure to follow their instagram account to get JPY 100 off your ice cream!
First of all, choose your flavour of ice cream from the menu; then go through the 20+ colorful toppings and decorate your dessert! I personally don’t like my shaved ice too sweet, because it tastes good in the beginning but if you have too much at once, I’ll probably get sick of it. Plus I wanted to have more decorations on my ice, so I ended up choosing the original milk flavour.
At 3 yen/ g each, the toppings are not too expensive, and you can get a decent amount and a wide variety of decorations on your shaved ice if you pay around JPY 100. The shape of the cup is of a flower, making it unique and allowing you to walk and eat without having to worry about spilling.
The available toppings are as below:
MILKgram（680yen）
STRAWBERRYgram:（880yen）
OREOgram:（880yen）
MACCHAgram:（880yen）
MACCHAgram:（880yen）
NINAKOgram:（880yen）
BLUEBERRYgram:（880yen）
BLUEBERRYgram:（880yen）
Since there was no label on each container, I didn’t know what I was putting on my ice cream, so I just randomly picked out five of my favourite colors. Though I can’t say I have a good sense of art or design, I think I did pretty well on this one!
You get a lot of ice cream for JPY 680, so ordering one would be enough even for two people.
For those of you who are coming to Tokyo or are already planning on visiting Shimokitazawa, definitely put the amazing ʻgram factoryʻ into your schedule! See following for more information on the shop, and make sure you check their calendar before you go since they’re not open every day.
Address：2-15-1 Kitazawa Setagaya Tokyo
Open Hour：11：00~20：00
Transportation：
● Keio Inokashira line／ Shimokitazawa station 4min walk（250m）
● Odakyu Odawara Line／Shimokitazawa station 4min walk（260m）
● Odakyu Odawara Line／ Setagayadaita station 9min walk（650m）
● Keio Inokashira line／ Ikenokami station 9min walk（690m）