Usagiya Dorayaki: I first learned of the Japanese snack Dorayaki from Doraemon, a cartoon for kids about a robot cat whose favorite snack is the red-bean filled pancake. Since watching Doraemon as a child, I've enjoyed eating Dorayaki in the states mostly from the refrigerated aisle of grocery stores, where the packets always contain silica gel to maintain freshness. I was excited to try freshly made ones at Usagiya, a famous confectionary shop in Ueno specializing in this dessert. For a little under two d... (read more) 3.0/5.0
japanese ueno desserts redbean usagiya dorayaki 3.0
Marukyo Black Sesame Funwariyaki Dorayaki: Dorayaki is a delicious filled pancake dessert from Japan that has no equivalent in American pastry (as far as I know). The closest likeness I can think of is the Whoopie Pie, though dorayaki has a bean paste filling rather than cream, and the ratio of cake to filling is slimmer. Berkeley Bowl sells an assortment of refrigerated cakes in their Asian grocery aisle, though I have normally been wary of these silica-packet-filled packaged snacks. I was intrigued, though, by this black sesame ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeleybowl japanese blacksesame marukyo black sesame funwariyaki dorayaki 3.5
Suzukake sogetsu Doriyaki: This Japanese treat was a gift from a visitor to my lab. The packaging had zero English, but with the help of Google Translate, I determined that the brand is Suzukake, and the snack is called sogetsu. I expected it to be dorayaki, but the pancake wrapper was actually made of glutinous rice instead of cake. As a huge fan of mochi, I am completely in favor of this substitution. Beside the texture, it tasted just like dorayaki, with a red bean filling that was sweeter than other Japanese confe... (read more) 4.5/5.0
sogetsu dorayaki japanese redbean 4.5 exceptional dessert sweets suzukakesogetsu doriyaki