Morinaga Mango Pudding Snack: This is another flavor of Morinaga pudding packs. They come in packs of three at the grocery store and are small pudding cups, about 2/3 the size of America ones. (To be fair, the 3-pack comes with smaller cups than the individually-sized pudding cups you can also buy, which are actually bigger than American ones). The mango one is extremely sweet and reminds me of mango-flavored gelatin snacks you get in those miniature squeeze packets from Chinese grocery stores (similar to the lychee g... (read more) 2.5/5.0
inegaya gelatin japanese dessert sweets morinaga mango pudding snack 2.5Morinaga Annin Tofu: Morinaga is a common Japanese brand that can be found in the supermarket for all sorts of things, probably most popularly in the US for their Japanese instant pancake mix. Recently I've been trying their pudding sets, which are overall decent and affordable. This was their version of almond jello (called annin tofu, though it doesn't contain tofu but just resembles it in its look), the type you get in asian restaurants with canned fruit or goji berries. It has a familiar concentrated almo... (read more) 3.0/5.0
inegaya pudding japanese almond morinaga annin tofu 3.0 dessert sweetsMont Thabor Ohina-sama Pastry: This week, I moved to a new part of Tokyo and left Azabu-Juban, the neighborhood I was living in for 3 months. One of my favorite parts of Azabu-Juban was its variety of small historic businesses: there was the original taiyaki shop, a nuts and beans shop that's over 100 years old, and this bakery, Mont Thabor, that opened in the neighborhood 40 years ago and has since expanded to several locations. The bakery overall was a solid neighborhood bakery - the prices are reasonable, and the pro... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended azabujuban bakery sweets japanese montthabor ohina-sama pastry 3.5Hop Shu-Kuri-Mu Matcha Cream Puff: I randomly passed this pastry shop in Azabu Juban and made a mental note to return based on the quality of bread in their window. I'm glad I did, because their cream puffs are insane. The exterior has a crispy baked texture, similar in some ways to dutch crunch bread from San Francisco, and the filling is of the highest quality I've had in any bakery, with a creamy and not too sweet flavor and ideal matcha bitterness. The most interesting part to me was a bruleed base that resembled a nor... (read more) 5.0/5.0
japanese exceptional azabujuban creampuff tokyo sweets hopshukurimu matcha cream puff 5.0Nihonbashiya Persimmon Mochi: This is the second flavor mochi I bought from Nihonbashiya, the Japanese confectionary shop in Akihabara station. It features a very cute gelatin leaf. This flavor was a bit more neutral, with a dark brown taste interior that taste sweet and faintly floral but was not particularly reminiscent of persimmon. Texture was decent but not extremely fresh. 3.0/5.0
tokyo akihabara sweets japanese nihonbashiya persimmon mochi 3.0Nihonbashiya Apple Mochi: This shop adjacent to the Akihabara station has mini fruit-shaped mochi that are incredibly cute. I bought two to try: apple and persimmon. This apple one was my favorite with a surprisingly concentrated apple-flavored paste at its center. I didn't realize it would actually taste like apple, and it was well balanced and not too sweet, even though it's covered in sugar. 3.5/5.0
recommended confectionary sweets tokyo akihabara japanese nihonbashiya apple mochi 3.5