You Must Try These Desserts While Visiting Japan
1. Taiyaki
We start our culinary dessert adventure at the Tsukiji Fish Market, if you stay on the right side of the market you will see many stalls with a variety of different foods. It is here where you can find Taiyaki, a pastry that is shaped to look like the Japanese Sea Bream. This dessert is made with pancake batter, poured into a mold, filled with red bean paste, chocolate, cheese or sweet potato and then cooked in the mold on both sides until golden brown.
2. Dango, Dango and, more Dango.
A mochi dessert prepared in several different ways, the one below is Anko Dango; it is topped with a fruit paste and is common to find it topped with a red bean paste. The flavor I tried was the Yuzu ( a fruit grown mainly in Japan, Korea, and China, it has a very tart and sour flavor and looks like a lemon). Other choices included cherry blossom and green tea matcha. I also tried the boiled version called Mitarashi Dango which was my favorite, it is drenched a sauce made with soy, sugar, and starch.
3. Matcha Ice Cream & Sakura Gelato
This Green Tea Matcha Ice Cream I tried was in Tsuamgo. Check out Uji on the outskirts of Kyoto, you might want to try green tea ice cream here as this is the Green mecca of treats. You can also try Sakura Ice Cream close to cherry blossom season. I found some Gelato in a shop in Asakusa a little after the cherry blossom season.
4. Gohei Mochi & Anpan
You can find Gohei Mochi, and steamed walnut buns in Nagiso Town, they are quite popular in the area. Gohei Mochi is made from white rice and is pounded into a cake and then skewered, coated in a sweet sauce and then cooked over an open flame. The steamed walnut bun, (Anpan) looks like a doughnut and is filled with walnuts or chesnuts.
One of my favorite videos below, found this while doing a little food research for Japan. Enjoy!