When customers try Niu Soft Serve Parlour’s desserts for the first time, they’re often surprised. The soft serve treats might be dairy free, but they boast a velvety, creamy texture that’s similar to ice cream.
“There is a coconut taste, but you can’t tell in some of the flavors,” says Aikue Napoleon-Ahn, one of the business owners of Niu Soft Serve Parlour. “I would say the number one people tell us after they’ve eaten it is they’re surprised by how good it is; they keep coming back for it. It’s a good alternative, especially if they’re lactose intolerant.”
Napoleon-Ahn explains how he grew up working in his family’s ice cream business, and the idea for Niu stemmed from there.
“We’re a family business; Niu is founded form our parents’ original company,” he says. “We have a background in soft serve equipment — we’re frozen dessert equipment specialists — and five years ago, we decided to make our own mix.
“It just so happened that I was dabbling in veganism,” he adds. “We thought, ‘Let’s make a mix that everybody would like and that everybody can eat.' It wasn’t just about making dairy-free ice cream — it was about making something that is dairy free, but accessible to and palatable for everybody.”
The business’s name comes from its coconut-based product according to Napoleon-Ahn. He says he and his siblings went to a Hawaiian immersion elementary school, and wanted the business name to have ties with their heritage.
“Niu is not commonly known to other people,” he says. “They don’t always know that ‘niu’ means coconut in Hawaiian. We wanted to make sure it (the name) was simple enough where people can say it without too many complications.”
That was just the beginning. Niu Soft Serve got started by selling their products at farmers markets, but then the Covid-19 pandemic happened. The business started to get popular — “We did deliveries all over the island,” Napoleon-Ahn says — and they also were at ‘Ohana Hale Marketplace in Kaka‘ako briefly before the marketplace closed.
Shortly after, business opened in their current location in Mōʻiliʻili — across from Old Stadium Park — and it’s been there for nearly three years.
The shop usually has four soft serve flavors — niu (coconut) and ube (purple yam), along with two specials, which change every two weeks. Customers can currently enjoy Thai tea and Makaha mango; the latter might be extended, due to popular demand.
“That’s actually a really good combination that I really love right now,” Napoleon-Ahn says. “A lot of our customers have something to look forward to every two weeks. Our coconut and ube pair well with a lot of our sundaes.”
The shop’s slushes are a newer dessert that have quickly become local favorites.
“We do a rotation of flavors; right now, we have a pandan slush, and people are really loving that,” Napoleon-Ahn says. “It goes really well with the mango soft serve. Unfortunately, we won’t have the mango indefinitely, but it goes well with coconut and ube, too.”
The shop is most famous for its hot kūlolo sundae ($9), which tastes as good as it looks. It comprises your choice of soft serve with hot kūlolo sauce and roasted mac nuts.
“It started as an experiment to make kūlolo ice cream,” Napoleon-Ahn says. “At the time, everybody was trying to make kūlolo ice cream. It ended as an experiment going wrong, and we just made kūlolo in a different way than it’s traditionally made. We made kūlolo from scratch — we get kalo from local farmers, we steam it, and we process it.
“We actually spend way more time making kulolo than anything else, and we’re a soft serve shop!” he adds. “It’s our number one seller; it wasn’t intentionally the main thing, but it’s become quite a big thing.”
Speaking of sundaes, one of Napoleon-Ahn’s personal favorites is the I Really Lilikoʻi You sundae ($9).
“It’s a coconut sundae, our lilikoʻi sauce, macadamia nuts, whipped cream and fresh strawberries,” he says. “It’s something fun and a little extra, but it’s really good.”
Customers can also choose from the shop’s selection of malted shakes, which are made with dairy-free and gluten-free malt and oat milk. Flavors range from mocha peanut butta ($9.50) — a creamy blend of peanut butter, cocoa and coffee — and You’re Too Matcha ($9.35) to cold brew ($9.35) and ube cookies and cream ($9.25).
“The ube cookies and cream ($9.25) is the most popular,” Napoleon-Ahn says. “The cookies ($4.50) are also going crazy; we started selling them about a year ago. It started small, but now it’s grown into a pretty good thing. We have chocolate chip cookies with sea salt on top, and our signature is our miso caramel cookie.”
The biz also just added a li hing sugar cookie, which is inspired by the li hing malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery.
While it’s listed on the business’ specials board, Niu’s holoholo pie ($9) will soon be a regular dessert. It’s inspired by the iconic dessert served at Duke’s Waikīkī, according to Napoleon-Ahn.
“We do a toasted coconut soft serve ice cream, graham cracker crust, hot fudge, mac nuts and whipped cream,” he says. “We’ve been doing pies ever since opened here, but I haven’t been able to keep up with them. Lately, we’ve been able to do them a lot more consistently.”
The parlour’s freezer section features a variety of grab-and-go treats, including soft serve pints, pies by the slice ($6.50) and whole pies ($22).
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CONTACT
Niu Soft Serve Parlour
2320 S. King St., Honolulu
808-436-3739
niusoftserve.com
Instagram: @niusoftserve
Open from 1-8 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 1-9 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, closed Mondays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
