Café Isaka is a tiny artisan ice cream shop on rue Thérèse, just steps from the Opéra, that turns Asian-inspired flavors into something you won't find anywhere else in Paris. Think pandan, sesame, white rabbit candy, and winged yam — all made on-site, including their signature fried ice cream rolled in Japanese panko. It's the kind of place you stumble into for a quick scoop and end up planning your next visit before you've finished your cone.
Artisanal ice cream with bold Asian flavors like pandan and white rabbit candy, plus a panko-crusted fried ice cream you won't find anywhere else in Paris.
Go at noon when they open or on a weekday afternoon to avoid the queue — the shop is tiny and warm-weather weekends draw a crowd.
Asian-inspired ice cream that's rewriting the Paris glacier playbook
Tucked away on the rue Thérèse in the 1st arrondissement, Café Isaka is not your average Parisian glacier. This tiny shop specializes in artisanal ice cream with flavors inspired by Asia — and they pull it off with a creativity that's hard to find anywhere else in the city. The pandan is the star: fragrant, subtly sweet, and unlike anything you've had in a classic French glacerie. The white rabbit candy flavor is a nostalgic trip for anyone who grew up with the iconic Asian sweets, and the sesame is nutty and deeply satisfying. Their signature move, though, is the fried ice cream — a house-made scoop enrobed in Japanese panko, crisp on the outside, frozen creamy on the inside.
The space is small — really small — so this is a grab-and-go situation, not a sit-and-linger one. That said, the team is friendly and clearly passionate about what they do, and the flavors rotate enough to keep things interesting. Beyond ice cream, they also do a pandan latte coco (hot or iced) that's worth the detour on its own. Reviewers consistently praise the quality and originality, with Google rating it 4.6 across over 700 reviews.
A few things to know before you go: hours are a bit unusual — they're closed in the morning and open from noon, with shorter hours Sunday through Tuesday (until 8pm) and longer ones Wednesday through Saturday (until 10pm). It can get a queue on warm afternoons and weekends, so go a bit off-peak if you can. And don't skip the fried ice cream — it's the thing people come back for.