Ice Kirin Bar

Japanese$$$$

John Chan spotted Sydney’s craving for Asian tea blends well before the matcha latte trend took hold. By the time he opened Burwood’s Ice Kirin Bar in 2020, he was ready to fill his freezers with scoops like white peach oolong and Japanese genmaicha. Chan’s investment in the niche market worked out, and he now has four stores across Sydney. The latest opened in Cabramatta in August – a natural home for Ice Kirin Bar, Chan says, given the suburb’s connection to Vietnamese and other Asian communities.

The shop serves exclusive flavours, including passionfruit Calpis water and kuromitsu, sweetened with Japanese sugar syrup and jammy azuki beans, with plans to add tropical sorbets, such as sugarcane, and floral tea gelato (Chan is thinking gardenia). Enjoy your selection encased in a rice cake or wedged into a pineapple bun.

Scoop of choice: Passionfruit Calpis gelato.