If there’s one thing the Japanese are good in doing, it’s making deserts. They make their deserts with such passion. Even the way they are displayed and packaged, are second to none. A lot of the Japanese cakes and deserts have a French influence about them. And they taste great! Not too sweet, but more like a tinge of sweetness. Just right!
One of my fave deserts is the Japanese Mochi, in particular, the strawberry mochi! Japanese strawberries are huge and are normally always sweet! Put the strawberries into a soft mochi covering, and you get a fantastic desert!
There aren’t that many stores selling this delicacy, and even if you find one, they are not always good as the flour covering may either be too sticky or hard. I managed to find and try a few around Tokyo, but the best in my opinion is from the basement at Shinjuku Isetan. Don’t go too late in the evening though, they are usually sold out!
To me, Royce chocolate in Singapore is the best of the gourmet chocs. And When I found the ice cream in the local AM/PM (something like 7 Eleven) store, I just had to try it. And it didn’t disappoint. Good chocolaty goodness with some soft choc bits added in.
I spoke about the cakes earlier, and this black forest cake was beautiful.
And they packed the slice of cake so nicely. With a small pack of dry ice to keep it cool and fresh. I don’t know anywhere in Singapore that does packaging with such care and detail. Though you do end up paying a tad bit more for the packaging. heh
There was this one store in the basement of Shinjuku Isetan that stood out for me. They had the best almond jelly deserts and also carved out fruits with jelly inside! Pretty creative and mighty tasty too!
As usual the fruit jellies were packed nicely with packs of dry ice to keep them cold. Do bare in mind it’s nearing the end of winter and averaging around 12 degrees, so it’s already pretty cold. But hey, the Japs love their packaging.
The fun thing was opening the fruits and digging into them. I felt like a kid again, eating my favourite jellies!
Apart from the Strawberry Mochis, the almond jelly deserts were the best. Each one came nicely packed in a hard plastic cup of it’s own. The cup also had it’s own top and bottom half. The top was the different savoury fruity toppings such as Strawberry, Passionfruit, melon and mango. While the bottom was the jelly.
The topping together with the jelly bottom made for a fantastic desert. It just tasted amazing. Nothing like I’ve every tasted in Singapore. Seriously.
While there’s so much variety of foods in Tokyo and Japan, don’t forget the deserts, they can be just as unusual and great tasting. There’s many more unique and creative deserts out there to be found. In case you’re wondering where Isetan Shinjuku is, see the map below.
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