hi welcome to Japan by food where we'll be showcasing authentic Japanese food
culture and lesser-known restaurants and hidden gems all across Japan
I'm your host Shizuka Andersson and today I'll be sharing with you the
quieter side of it typically bustling affects up
today as you can see it is currently cherry blossom season in Japan so we'll
be featuring at three different restaurants that are very popular in
this season and that will be featuring the very famous cherry blossom motif
let's go check them out
so this is the famous kota tua tango restaurant it is actually over 130 years
old and it was founded during the edo period so it is it is a long history and
it's very traditional well gushie restaurant this shop has
also become very popular for people during the cherry want some season to
take and done go over to the park and enjoy cherry blossom
so this is the famous Kota toy tango it's a very unique type of tango as some
of you may know Japanese dango or mochi ball on a stick basically they usually
are on a stick and they're covered with a kind of sauce usually soy sauce bases
and sauce but this time there is no sauce at all and they come in three
different flavors and they're actually just made with red bean paste and there
are different types of red bean paste white red bean yellow and red which is
the most traditional right it's much softer than I actually expected it to be
this is the classic red bean dongle let's give it a try
that's a mouthwash that's very very chewy it really is so chewy the you
can't talk at first the inside is a sticky rice cake but it's also very very
soft and it all blends together really beautifully the red bean paste if you're
not familiar with it it's usually known to be very very sweet it's not
overpowering however and I think it goes perfectly with the slight bitterness of
a green tea and now this is the new Scirocco the outside of it is covered in
a rice cake and there should also be some miso paste on the inside as well so
that smells quite a unique dango I've decided to give it a try because of
their rice hit on the outside it's very compact and the inside is full of flavor
and very very soft there's a really nice hint of miso but also red bean paste so
this is the last white bean paste
let's take a bite and see what it looks like
see what that looks like it's all whites it blends all together a little hard to
see but the very very center is a really soft and chewy rice cake
here we have the iconic komeiji Sakura mochi this is actually the birthplace of
the Kanto style mochi which is known for its very smooth rice cakes traditional
Kansai separate emoji are actually very they have like very visible rice
granules in the mochi this has been smoothed out completely and we've got
this very flat appearance to the mochi as well and it has been wrapped in
cherry blossom leaves perfect for the cherry blossom season an interesting
thing about this restaurant is that it was actually founded in 1717 so it is a
very historical restaurant and it is said that the founder of this restaurant
got the idea for this type of psychology when he was pickling cherry blossom
leaves and that was how this cherry blossom leaf wrapped Moshi was born the
name of the restaurant itself chili G is named after a temple that is right along
the seaweed Ogawa River which is right across from us and apparently back in
the day they used to sell these Sakura mochi right along the river during the
cherry blossom season and and Chum AG means long life temple actually and this
shoumei temple is known for its healing water so perhaps as its namesake maybe
if you eat this mochi you might actually live a long life for self as well
this is the cherry blossom mochi it's very different from what I'm used to
seeing most cherry blossom mochi in Tokyo actually are pink colored and
they're more round and chewy looking not as flat but here you can see that the
mochi is actually paper-thin and I think that's quite a unique style the leaves
themselves are apparently become from Shizuka Prefecture and they are edible
pickled cherry blossom leaves however at this restaurant you're supposed to
remove the leaves and just eat the mochi on its own the leaves are very well this
is beautiful I really love this presentation all right let's give it a
try the famous show Meiji Sakura mochi eat like us
mmm mmm well that's very interesting it to be honest it has a much more subtle
cherry blossom flavor to them what she itself it doesn't taste as artificial as
other types of some kind of mochi in the sense that I think this is a completely
natural and very traditional style second emoji it clearly hasn't been dyed
pink to represent Sakura mochi you can taste the flavor of the sacre de mogi
and I think part of it also comes from the leaves that it was wrapped so
there's a slight salty taste to it and it blends very nicely with this very
sweet and very soft red bean paste on the inside it's delicious
this is she oh no it is another very famous and very traditional Japanese
rugged shoe shop and as you can see it's actually been selling
the entrance to a new school year so it's very fitting with the new cherry
blossom season as it signifies new beginnings of delicious desserts to
celebrate Fred new starting school year this shop is also a very traditional
shop with the long history it was first established in 1883 towards the end of
the Meiji era so again a very long-standing shop and they feature a
lot of very traditional Japanese wagashi noticed Nitti Keeney huacachina it's
made out of a white bean paste combined with rice paste and it's a very
moldable malleable type of paste that it can be designed into various shapes so
as you can see we have some cherry blossom motifs as well as different
types of flowers or different animals of
this terracotta inertia got knee-high boot Okinawa and not Susie condo men
named Akira desu kedo colega irony irony we sleep in canary toga Chuck testa shoe
a cat Roca me carotid and no movies you allow us
do not I know what you forgot tell my videos my cuca why you don't see this
man I feel so bad to put my fork in this so beautiful let's give it a taste
mmm that is delicious you can steal that looks like there's a little bit of red
bean on the inside mmm that's very good it's much more firm than the dungo that
we tried earlier and you can really taste the white red the white bean paste
it's a very light it's much softer than the typical red bean and it blends very
nicely again this is a dessert that pairs really well with a nice cup of
green tea because of its sweetness so you can balance that off with a little
bit of the bitterness of the green team who again I'm really nervous about
cutting into this it's so beautiful I'm just gonna take a bite here so beautiful
mmm the texture of this is totally different it's much softer and you
really just bite into it it's very very soft and you can taste a little bit of
food you serve mentioned there is this really nice
fresh flavor and again on the inside it's filled with a dark red bean paste
finally this one I'm really excited to try because of its three different parts
and also three different textures that I think we can enjoy thank you mice mm-hmm
very good whoa you can really enjoy those three
different textures in one bite you've got the chewy rice paste which is very
much like a mochi and the bottom is in things almost got a bit of a gelatin
vibe a little bit of like a yoga which is a a solidified red bean paste with a
little bit of gelatin on the bottom and the top is is basically what I just need
here very very smooth white bean paste flavor that is delicious this is really
wonderful that you can try so many different textures and flavors that are
reminiscent of the spring and so good with a cup of green tea I hope you guys
enjoyed this video today I know I did very much and I was very surprised to
learn that there was still such historical restaurants in such close
proximity to this River and a success as well if you guys
are ever in Tokyo during cherry blossom season I really recommend to check out
these three traditional wagashi shops especially the netk volga she which I
thought was so interesting and meticulously hand-carved so I don't
think there's any better place to enjoy traditional Japanese desserts anyway
thank you guys so much and see you guys in the next video
you