Chibeta: Soba Boro (Cookie) Ice Cream そばぼうろアイスクリーム
Japan’s Answer to ‘Cookies and Cream’ Ice Cream: Soba boro is a crunchy cookie made of soba flour, sugar and egg, a little bit like a Japanese version of biscotti. Chibeta makes a delicious ice cream flavored with soba boro.
In Japan, soba boro is something like a graham cracker or sugar cookie in Western culture, one of the slightly prosaic, common, cheap sweets that taste pretty good.
Soba boro is made with the same buckwheat flour used for soba noodles, you might not think of it as an ideal flavoring for ice cream, but the soba boro is a nice flavoring for ice cream. This flavoring is pretty clever (though not unheard of) and originally might have been a riff on cookies and cream, which is a very popular Häagen-Dazs flavor in Japan.
Soba Boro Ice Cream
Notice the bits of broken soba boro in the ice cream, those darker bits.
Trypical Soba Boro Package
Soba Boro ‘Cookies’
Soba Boro – detail
Chibeta Soba Boro Ice Cream Package
Soba Boro Ice Cream Served
Kyoto Handmade Ice Cream Shop Chibeta
Chibeta is located on in the Nishijin district of Kyoto on Senbon-dori, just south of Imadegawa-dori. From the intersection of Senbon and Imadegawa Streets, you just go three (short) blocks to the south and Chibeta is located on the east corner of Senbon and Sasayacho Streets intersection.
Chibeta Storefront
Chibeta Interior
Sobo Boro Ice Cream and ‘Cookies’
The presentation in the ice cream case at Chibeta is great, they have whole soba boro cookies on top of the ice cream.
Map
View KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map
I can imagines it’s so delicious! In Belgium, we have Speculoos ice cream too. If I ever in Japan, I will stop for this Soba Boro! Thank you for this interesting info 🙂
Wow those are some serious windows on the front of that building. Does the ice cream have chunks of the cookies or is the ice cream itself flavoured like them?
hi pixen, I didn’t know what Speculoos is, but I Googled it and know now. Thanks! Yes, stop in for some Kyoto-style ice cream if you are here.
Hello Marc, Yes, the second floor is where the tables are located, so the whole facade is all glass. It is OK, but not quite suitable for Nishijin, I think. The parent company is a tonkatsu restaurant — that is so-so — and the restaurant is just down the street. The building is new, I think, but more traditional in look and feel.
About the cookies in the ice cream. There are no chunks, more like crumbs. I think that the soba boro just melts on contact with liquid.
OK. That sealed the deal. I need to go to Kyoto.
Hi! I started reading your blog recently and I’m really loving your posts! After reading about soba boro I’m inspired to bake some at home (in the US). Do you have a recipe for the soba boro (cookies)?
Thank you!
wahhhh totemo oiiisshhiiii ne!
I love soba & trust the japanese to make ice cream out of it!
I wished I found your blog before I went to Kyoto!!! I would have spent the entire time eating from one street to the other 🙂 haha
Next time i have to try the Koicha Maccha @ ippodo !
Great blog – trully enjoy reading all about the foods in Kyoto!