After a lovely coffee break at Kato Coffee, we wandered through Hisaya-Odori Park, snapped a few shots of the Chubu Electric Power MIRAI TOWER (the famous Nagoya TV Tower), and slowly made our way to Osu. The mission? To find 栗りん Kurin, a dessert shop obsessed with chestnuts. And honestly, so am I.
What to Know Before You Go
栗りん Kurin has two sides to it — a sit-down café with indoor seating, and a takeaway counter outside. Here’s the catch: the dine-in and takeaway menus are different. So peek at both before you commit. We went with takeaway and found a few standing tables by the roadside, which worked just fine.
- Cash only
- Assembled on the spot — chestnut and sweet potato pastes are freshly squeezed into fine spaghetti-like strands.
- Presentation is the showstopper — these desserts are seriously photogenic.
Golden Mont Blanc Soft Serve (¥800)
Hidden inside is soft serve made with 100% Hokkaido cream, generously crowned with 栗りん Kurin’s signature Japanese chestnut paste. The paste uses two premium varieties — Kuma chestnuts from Kumamoto and Shimanto chestnuts from Kochi.
I don’t think they add any sugar to the chestnut paste. There’s no cloying sweetness — just pure, nutty chestnut aroma and that gentle natural sweetness. It pairs beautifully with the sweetened soft serve. Balance, achieved.
Dark Purple Sweet Potato Dumplings (¥550)
Soft, chewy mochi balls stuffed with white bean paste, threaded onto a bamboo skewer, and smothered in purple sweet potato paste. A monaka wafer sits underneath for that lovely crisp-crunch contrast.
The purple sweet potato paste is earthier and slightly sweeter than the chestnut version, but still all-natural. The trick? Get a bit of everything in each bite — mochi, cream, sweet potato paste, wafer. Pure texture heaven.
Final Verdict on 栗りん Kurin
Both desserts were stunners. Neither weighed me down, neither was overly rich or sickly sweet. You actually taste real chestnuts and real sweet potato — almost feels healthy (almost). If you’re heading to Nagoya and love chestnut desserts even half as much as I do, put 栗りん Kurin firmly on your list. You won’t regret the detour to Osu.
