Although it is still winter, for some reason I recently had the huge desire to eat ice cream. So, when I was shopping in Harajuku I decided to look up if there are any vegan ice cream shops close by and I found this amazing store where you can enjoy delicious, dairy-free ice cream all around the year!
Coconut Glen's
In 2006, Glen Simkins decided to move to the jungle of Maui Island and started to create ice cream. His wish was to put magic into the world through ice cream and make people happy through it.
After experimenting for two years, his organic, dairy-free coconut ice cream was brought into being. He opened his first ice cream shop in 2008 on Maui Island and it was loved so much by the people there that apparently it became the representative ice cream shop of the island.
Then, in July 2019 Glen´s Coconut Ice cream came to Tokyo and a shop was opened in Meiji-jingo mae (Harajuku)!
The interior of the shop is very bright, as there are huge windows and many bright colors. The walls and furniture are colorful, and there is a lot of wood which makes it look very happy and Hawaiian in my opinion. (I haven't been to Hawaii yet, but it is kind of my image of Hawaii). There is also Hawaiian music in the background. So, I felt that the atmosphere in the shop is very relaxed, bright and uplifting.
About the ice cream
I personally chose 3 flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and coffee toffee.
If you choose 1 scoop, it will cost 500 yen while 3 scoops cost 700, and five scoops 900 yen. So, I recommend taking at least 3 scoops as you will get much more for your money.
The scoops are big compared to some other ice cream shops in Japan and again, the ice cream is organic. So I believe that it is not too expensive.
I cannot speak for all flavors, but the ones I tried had a slight coconut taste, but it was not so strong that I couldn't taste the actual ice cream flavor. For example when I ate coconut ice cream at another shop, all flavors tasted predominantly like coconut milk and I could barely taste the difference between all the flavors I chose. In other words, at Coconut Glen´s the chocolate ice cream tastes like chocolate, and the vanilla tastes like vanilla with just a slight coconut flavor which I really like. These two flavors reminded me a lot on the Bounty bar!
The coffee toffee flavor has small pieces of coffee beans inside. Their slight bitterness goes very well with the sweetness of the ice cream and give it a little bit of a crunchy texture.
All in all the ice cream was very creamy, not too sweet, not too coconuty and very yummy!
According to the staff, who by the way was able to speak English, there is a mystery flavor every day. You won't know what kind of flavor it is until you ask the staff, which I find quite interesting! That way there is always a new flavor and you can look forward to it.
Drinks
They have als a few drinks like coffee, coconut milk latte and ice coconut milk tea. I haven't ordered one of these, so I cannot speak about them. The prices are between 330 yen and 500 yen which seems quite reasonable to me.
What I love
everything is organic and vegan
they serve the cream in coconut bowls and with wooden spoon instead of plastic
the interior is bright and colorful
the staff is very friendly, speaks English and good service
the coconut flavor is not too strong
they have a mystery flavor
you can eat you ice cream inside, so the weather doesn't matter
Homepage
Address
Phone number
03-6452-6275
Email:
Opening times
Mon - Sun: 11:00-19:00
(not open during the new year)
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