The first three posts of the series are all about sampling the Japanese comfort/convenience food that we have been eating outside Japan (Part 1 is about noodles, Part 2 about izakaya, and in Part 3 we ate grilled foods as well as tonkatsu and curry).
This post is about sweets – the traditional wagashi 和菓子.
The specialist shop – Wagashi Mame まめ – is situated just around of the corner of our apartment in Minato-Aoyama 南青山 和菓子の「まめ」. Their webite is here.
We walked past it every day but it appeared to be closed most of the time. Apparently it only opens briefly and closes when everything is sold. On several occasions, when it was opened, there was a short queue outside.
One morning, we joined the queue. There were several different kinds of mochis and daifukus on offer. This one looks like a giant virus.
They all came with nice packaging. typical Japanese style.
苺大福 strawberry daifuku
Nice and soft.
Boxed and ready to go.
The olive color leaf is shiso, aged but not pickled.
Perfect to go with tea. Yummy.
Part 5 is here.