Japanese-style soft serve shop Indigo Cow is opening its first store outside Washington State this July in Echo Park at 1710 West Sunset Boulevard next door to Izakaya Dongame. With two locations in the Seattle area, Indigo Cow is best known for importing its chief ingredients from Hokkaido — Japan’s northernmost island known for quality dairy products — to prepare its soft serve.
Hokkaido native Keisuke “Kay” Kobayashi founded the original shop in 2021 inside his Seattle restaurant, Yoroshiku, when he couldn’t get his hands on Japanese “soft cream” anywhere in the U.S. The brand expanded to a second store in Bellevue, Washington in 2023, and now a third in Los Angeles. “Los Angeles is home to the most diverse communities in the world, making it the ideal first venture,” Kobayashi tells Eater. He says he selected the centrally located neighborhood of Echo Park for its accessibility to a large swath of Angelenos.
“We wanted our shop to be located in a place frequented by the broader population of LA and surrounding areas, rather than being confined to a specific neighborhood serving only the nearby residents,” he says.
Indigo Cow combines milk, cream, and condensed milk sourced from grass-fed cows raised at Iwase Farms in Sunagawa, Hokkaido to make its thick soft serve. Flavors like Hokkaido Milk and hojicha (roasted green tea) are served in cups or cones with an array of toppings, including housemade seasonal fruit sauces, Theo chocolate, shiratama dango (mochi balls), and kinako (toasted soybean powder). “Our most famous and best-selling flavor is Hokkaido Milk,” says Kobayahi. “The most popular topping is M.B.R. [mochi, brown sugar syrup, roasted soybean powder].”
Overseeing the LA location is Yushi Osawa, Indigo Cow’s operations manager. Once the Echo Park store is up and running, Indigo Cow plans to expand to more locations in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego.
Indigo Cow is located at 1710 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026, and is open daily from noon to 10:30 p.m.
