Since February of this year, Markham’s Koi Sakana Ramen has been attracting a lot of attention for a culinary creation that’s simultaneously hot and chill: the Ice Cream Volcano.
When it comes to the ultimate fusion comfort food, it’s hard to beat the concept of soft-serve ice cream immersed in piping hot ramen. There’s a certain paradoxical logic to pairing the signature summer sweet treat we’re all longing for, particularly in the depths of Ontarian winter, with the spicy, nourishing broth we depend upon to keep us warm and nourished until spring.
There’s also the fact that a cone of vanilla ice cream, capsized and slowly melting into a fiery red sea of noodle-strewn broth, is the kind of slo-mo culinary performance event that’s practically shrieking to go viral on Instagram.
While admittedly spectacular, the Ice Cream Volcano is more than just pic bait. Koi Sakana’s executive chef, Ken San, learned the ramen trade in Kumamoto, on the Japanese island of Kyushu. It was here that he perfected his version of the traditional light and delicately aromatic Tonkotsu broth, made from pork bones, adding rich Hokkaido milk for a touch of umami creaminess.
The same contrasting principles are at play with the Ice Cream Volcano, albeit with the volume turned up. Koi Sakana’s $15 bowl consists of pork broth, infused with dried shrimp and five types of piquant chilis, to which are added noodles and a breakfasty trio of bacon, ham and soft boiled eggs.
This ramen is served first, the better with which to introduce your taste buds to the unadulterated volcanic experience. Once your mouth is warmed up, a cone topped with swirls of vanilla soft serve is gently immersed in the broth. With the gradual melting of the ice cream, the broth gets incrementally sweeter and creamier -- not to mention cooler.
Given the Japanese predilection for outrageously inventive dishes, it’s unsurprising that the ramen-soft serve hybrid concept originated in Japan. The dish took off globally in early 2022, when an Osaka-based restaurant, Franken, created a limited-edition sweet and spicy miso ramen soup into which a chocolate-vanilla soft serve cone, adorned with seaweed sprinkles, had been ceremoniously plunged.
However, the prototype has been around for at least 10 years. It's believed to have originated at a decades-old Tokyo ramen shop called Kikuya. According to a story published on Ramen Adventures, one day a young boy dropped by Kikuya on his way home from school. The day was hot and so the boy asked, jokingly, for some ice cream to put in his ramen. Instead of laughing, the owner decided to seriously add ice cream ramen to his menu (in his version, the ramen was also served cold).
Meanwhile, back in Markham, the Ice Scream Volcano has been catching on, recently earning a reputable 7.6 score (out of 10) on Trend Hunter. The sippable and slurpable dish is available for a limited time, and dine-in only in order to prevent rapid meltage.
Koi Sakana Ramen is located at 735 Markland Street, Unit 7, in Markham. The restaurant is open Tuesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
