Fresh Melon Brulee Parfait of Royal Host (Photo provided by Royal Host)
TOKYO, Jul. 14 – Several restaurant chains are introducing desserts featuring fresh melons grown in Japan. Cakes and parfaits with a lot of the fruit in season will hopefully pull in more customers and loosen up their wallets to help the foodservice industry hit hard by the new coronavirus outbreak.
Sweets Paradise is a chain restaurant with an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet with stores in and the west of the Kanto east Japan area. On July 10, it started offering a limited-time dessert buffet featuring melon. The plan includes cut melon, special melon cakes, drinks, and, most importantly, one whole melon per group, which was the most popular attraction last year. The time-limited offer will continue until early September, using Andes, Takami, and other melons from Hokkaido, Yamagata and other prefectures. At Sweet Paradise, the melon-centered event is particularly popular among all of its all-you-can-eat events with seasonal fruits. The price for the 100-minutes melon special is 2,220 yen per adult and 1,770 yen per child, not including consumption tax.
“The number of occasions to consume melons is decreasing due to the new coronavirus,” said a person from Inoue Shoji, which runs Sweets Paradise. “We’ll do our bit to support the producers.”
Royal Host also begun offering a time-limited dessert menu starring domestically-grown melon at its stores all over Japan on July 8. The melon specials will continue by late August.
The family restaurant chain uses melons abundantly in parfaits, shaved ice, and two other dessert specials. The prices are from 880 to 980 yen, excluding tax. Its stores in the Kanto region use Earls melons from Ibaraki and Kumamoto Prefectures, and the stores in other areas use Andes from Yamagata Prefecture. “Through this event, we’d like to stimulate demand for dining out,” the company said.