[Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture] We enjoyed the famous soft serve ice cream at Marukan Building Daidokudo!

Marukan Building Daishokudo, located in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, is famous for its 10-tiered soft-serve ice cream.It is a large restaurant with a retro Showa atmosphere that offers everything from ramen to sushi to Western food.

When I was on a trip to Hanamaki, I really wanted to try this soft serve ice cream, so I stopped by, but it was a nostalgic space for the Showa generation, and an emotional space for the Heisei and Reiwa generations.

This time, I would like to introduce you to Marukan Building Daishokudo.

Hanamaki City where Marukan Building Daishokudo is located

From Iwate Prefecture Tourism Portal Site

Hanamaki City is located almost in the center of Iwate Prefecture. With the prefecture's only Iwate-Hanamaki Airport, Shin-Hanamaki Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen, the Tohoku Expressway and the Tohoku-Odan Expressway, it has become a key point in the high-speed transportation network.
It is one of the leading hot spring areas in Tohoku, including Hanamaki Onsenkyo, which has been popular as a hot spring resort since ancient times, Towa Onsen, which gushes out from the Kitakami Mountains, and Himawari Onsen, which is rich in negative ions.
In addition, sake brewing is flourishing and has produced many famous toji, and Nanbu Toji is counted as one of the three major toji in Japan.

Hanamaki City has produced many famous people.

Hanamaki City is known for its fairy tales and poetry."Birthplace of Kenji Miyazawa"It is famous asKenji Miyazawa Memorial MuseumorKenji Miyazawa Fairy Tale VillageThere are many facilities scattered around where you can follow in Kenji's footsteps.

He is also famous as the portrait on the old 5,000 yen bill.Nitobe InazoorKotaro Takamura of the poetry collection “Chiekosho”These are great people that you may have seen or heard about. Actually, it is related to Hanamaki.

Recently, he has been active in the major leagues.Shohei Otani and Yusei Kikuchi also graduated from Hanamaki Higashi High School.is. I spent my youth in Hanamaki.

Monument commemorating the election of Yusei Kikuchi and Shohei Otani

Hanamaki Higashi High School, the alma mater of Yusei Kikuchi and Shohei OtaniThere is a monument with a handprint on it.

“2021 MLB AII-Star Game”In commemoration of being selected asPresented by Hanamaki Onsenkyo to Hanamaki Higashi High SchoolDid. You can even compare it with your own hands.

Both have excellent grades in both literary and martial arts.It seems that it was. I would like to see the success of both of them.

INFORMATION

  • Name: Behind the Hanamaki Higashi High School ground back net
  • Location: Hanamaki Baseball Stadium 2nd Parking Lot in front of Hanamaki Higashi High School, 55-1 Shozonocho, Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture
  • Access: 7 minutes by car from Hanamaki Station, 18 minutes by car from Shin-Hanamaki Station
    *This is within the grounds of Hanamaki Higashi High School, so please observe moderation when visiting.

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Good old Marukan Building restaurant from the Showa era

From Iwate Prefecture Tourism Portal Site

Marukan Building Daishokudo opened in 1973 as a cafeteria on the 6th floor of Marukan Department Store (commonly known as Marukan Department Store).However, in the summer of 2015, the building was found to be unfit for earthquake resistance, making it difficult to survive, and the building was closed in June 2016.

In response to a signature campaign for the continuation of the cafeteria by high school students in the local Hanamaki area, and growing voices from citizens expressing regret for its closure,The large cafeteria on the 6th floor reopened in February 2017.Kamimachiya Morisha Co., Ltd. raised funds through crowdfunding, and the funds reportedly exceeded 20 million yen. You can see that this restaurant is loved by the local community.

When you go to the cafeteria on the 6th floor, you will be greeted by food samples lined up in a showcase. The inside of the dining room is very spacious, and everything including the tables, chairs, lighting, and chopstick holders are very emotional. It's like traveling back in time to the Showa era. Also, the waitresses' costumes are so cute that it looks like a Showa era maid cafe.

After choosing a menu from the retro food samples, purchase a meal ticket at the cash register. The spacious restaurant seats 580 people. On the day I visited, it was crowded with many locals as well as tourists.

Marukan Building Daishokudo's famous soft serve ice cream

When you think of soft serve ice cream, you think of it as being soft and melting quickly.
butMarukan Building Daidokudo's 10-layer soft serve ice creamIt's different. I was watching them make soft serve ice cream, and the way they rolled out the cream and stacked it up into 10 layers was just like Turkish ice cream. The height is about 25 cmIt seems that there is also!

The ``Hanamaki style'' of the towering, voluminous soft-serve ice cream is eaten with chopsticks!I also made sure to use chopsticks.
The texture of the slightly hardened soft serve ice cream is smooth and not sticky, so you can eat it in no time. However, it was quite a large portion, so my child and I both enjoyed it.

It seems that this soft serve ice cream was a standard size when it was first sold. The founder of the former Marukan Department Store wanted to make his customers happy, and his favorite phrase was ``make things even better.'' During this time, during a TV interview, an enthusiastic staff member rolled up a soft serve ice cream in 10 layers to ``make it even better'' and that's how it all started. It's funny that it's now a specialty!

Popular menus are Marukan Ramen and Napoli Katsu

Marukan Building Diner has over 110 items, including ramen, set meals, Japanese food, Western food, and desserts.I was surprised by the abundance of them!

I mainly visited for the soft serve ice cream, but there were many locals enjoying their meals around me.

So let's take a look at the popular menus.Marukan ramen and Neapolitan cutlet are recommended.What is it?
Marukan Ramen is a spicy ramen with plenty of toppings such as vegetables, mushrooms, and kamaboko.
Neapolitan cutlet is very voluminous. It's topped with plenty of Neapolitan and a whole freshly fried cutlet, the meat of which is cut to order. There's also plenty of salad on the same plate. It's enough to eat.
This popular menu often sells out, so we recommend arriving early.

Chocolate banana crepe that Shohei Otani also ate

The performance of the Japanese national team at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is still fresh in our memories.

We wish Shohei Otani success in WBC.The crepe that Otani often ate during his days at Hanamaki Higashi High School is back at the Marukan Building Diner.What I did became a hot topic.

In fact, the chocolate banana crepe that Shohei Otani also ate was sold at the food court of a commercial facility in Hanamaki City.
The food court closed in 2022, and Marukan Building Daishokudo has revived it using the same ingredients and method. He learned the recipe from the sales company and also took over the machine used to bake the 40cm diameter crepe dough, creating crepes that faithfully reproduce the taste and texture of those days.

It seems that the limited edition crepes were sold out every day.
You can currently purchase it at the web shop. (Information as of July 2023) I definitely want to try the crepe that Shohei Otani also ate!

summary

Marukan Building Shokudo is located in the center of Hanamaki, but there were few people passing by and it seemed a little lonely.
However, the dining room on the 6th floor was crowded with many customers in a space that made you feel like you had traveled back in time to the Showa era! It's sad to see the good old days of local shopping streets, not just Hanamaki, disappear.
I hope that the Marukan Building Diner, which is loved by everyone, will continue to be loved in the future! We hope.

INFORMATION

  • Name: Marukan Building Restaurant
  • Address: 6-2 Kamimachi, Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture
  • Phone: 0198-29-5588
  • Business hours: Weekdays 11:00-15:30 (15:00 LO) Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays 11:00-18:30 (18:00 LO)
  • Closed: Wednesday
  • Parking lot: 200 spaces
  • Access: 15 minutes walk from JR Hanamaki Station

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