My latest Sweet Inspirations column shines the spotlight on the excellent modern confections made by the exceptional folks at Higashiya — especially those served at their store in Minami-Aoyama, which is called Higashiya Man.
Why the name? The story is up now on The Japan Times site here…
“There are two types of people,” my dear old landlady used to say, handing me a bowl of frothing matcha tea. “Those who like osake” — she was referring to any kind of alcohol, not just sake — “and those who like okashi” (by which she meant sweets in general).
She was well aware which camp I belonged in. But as a tea ceremony teacher of no little repute, she saw it as her duty to inculcate in me an appreciation for sweets, especially wagashi, the dainty traditional confections that can seem cloying on their own but which go so perfectly with ceremonial green tea.
Of course, the two sides are not mutually exclusive. In the heat of summer she was partial to a glass of sweet but well-chilled umeshu (liquor infused with tart green ume fruit). And in the same way, I am more than partial to a fine sherry trifle, a well doused rum baba or even — twist my arm — Christmas liqueur chocolates.
So I have a strong feeling she would have been just as enthusiastic as I am about an addictively tasty crossover dessert that I discovered recently. It is based on the concept of the rare cheesecake, that distinctively Japanese cream-cheese tart which, instead of being baked is set into a light mousse-like texture using gelatine.
Except in this case there’s no pie crust or other base at all. And instead of being given a light vanilla or citrus tang, the creamy white mousse has been blended with sake-kasu, the lees that are left at the end of the sake-making process after the liquid has been pressed out.
It was developed by Tomita Shuzo, a small but long-established sake brewery in Shiga Prefecture whose trademark name, borne on all its sake, is Shichihonyari (literally it means "Seven Spears", but refers to seven famous samurai lancers in times of old). Founded almost 500 years ago — in 1540 to be precise — this historic brewery has been little known outside its immediate vicinity up to now, but these days has a growing fan base.
That is in no small part due to the range of excellent, carefully designed products it has been marketing to complement its sake. The Shichihonyari Sake-kasu Nama Cheesecake is a prime example. It has a smooth, light texture and refreshing, understated sweetness. The combination of flavors is beguiling — just as long as you are a fan of sake and the rich residual tang of fermentation.
At present it is only available by mail order — unless you actually visit the brewery. You can choose from two kinds of packaging: Individual servings (¥500) in traditional ceramic sake tasting cups, with blue and white concentric rings on the inside; or in plastic pots (¥2,000 for a six-pack) featuring sake-kasu from six different brewers in the same prefecture.
Shichihonyari has come up with plenty of other good ideas, from gelato (¥350 apiece, plus frozen delivery charges) to taffy-like candy (¥350) and even limited-edition chocolates (¥700). The e-shop also has cool T-shirts, glasses from recycled sake bottles and other paraphernalia. But you can't buy the actual sake there. My dear old landlady would have smiled at that.
http://7yari.shop-pro.jp (in Japanese)
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Caveat: Notwithstanding the header given to my piece in The Japan TImes last Friday, there is negligible alcohol left in the cheesecake or any of the other sweets.
And although the e-shop is all in Japanese, if you do manage to negotiate all the ordering procedure, you may also get a friendly message together with your parcel.
Here's a little video from the Shichihonyari web site (in Japanese):
Before I came across the cheesecake, this (below) is pretty much all I was aware of about the Shichihonyari brewery.
I know which camp (sake vs. okashi) I still stand in.
And if you do want to get hold of some of the sake that Shichihonyari's sake-kasu comes from, you can always order from here, www.oumi-jizake.com. They seem to stock plenty of other brews from Shiga too.
There's some useful background information in English about the brewery and the sake on the Urban Sake website here and here... And on Tokyofoodcast here…
Probably my favourite wagashiya in the city — in design terms, at any rate.
At Toraya's Midtown branch, the doorway is covered by a 15-section three-quarter-length black noren.
All you can see is the shop's traditional kanji ("tora") logo. Plus the legs of the people and display cases inside. Entirely shibui.
More coming up in Friday's Sweet Inspirations column…
Taking a break from its usual role as a multinational food behemoth whose first and only interest is padding its bottom line, Nestlé is lending its mighty marketing (and, of course, manufacturing) machine to the efforts to help the devastated Tohoku region.
It's a Kitkat called Zunda. The idea is that it evokes the taste — or at least the image — of zunda-mochi, a sweet that is a traditional delicacy of Miyagi, one of the three worst-hit prefectures in the Northeast. Basically, it's a dumpling topped with ground-up sweetened eda-mame green soybeans — as suggested by the image on the front of the pack.
The label promises that 10 yen from every unit (not sure if that's per pack or carton) goes to the cause of reconstruction (I haven't read the fine print on exactly where it goes).
And this is what it looks like inside. It's actually white chocolate, given a pale green tint — though that's not obvious from the bleached-out photo here...
Here's a better picture:
And how does it taste? Well, the ingredients listing does really include some eda-mame powder and if you focus carefully as you first put it in your mouth there is a very faint aroma that could be from green soybeans.
In a random and unscientific poll of about 5 people, the general consensus was that it's OK. Alright even. And certainly better than a lot of the other novelty flavoured KitKats produced here over the past few years.
Here's more on zunda-mochi, from Food Librarian who recently posted on how to prepare this colourful sweet (and from whom I got this picture).
And here is KitKat's own website which is actually quite fun.
If you look carefully at all the regional specialty versions, you can see that the zunda variety was actually launched last year, but it's been rebranded for the fund-raising appeal.
More KitKat commentary on the Food File here...
and a whole fistful of KitKats here...
Well, obviously Tokyo — or at least Shibuya — didn't go big on the Spanish national sweet-tooth snack. The San Ginés churros shop at the top of Spain-zaka is already dead and boarded up. It didn't even last a year.
All that's left is the menu outside...
...and a small corner of the original outside decor:
Now the only place in Tokyo (that we are aware of) where we can pick up churros is here – in Hiroo...
Or we could just save up for a repeat of our recent trip to Valencia...
Food writer and restaurant reviewer for the Japan Times contact: foodfile (at) me (dot) com
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