Sweets!

Yes, yes, yes, Japanese cuisine is known mainly for its noodles and sushi, but knowing me, you've probably wondered why I haven't mentioned any of the sweets we ate on our trip. Don't worry, we had some desserts -- we didn't forget! Here are some of my favorites.

**BTW, didn't end up having a donut from Donut Plant. The green tea and adzuki bean flavor I wanted to try was prepackaged and looked greasy underneath the cellophane wrapper. Sad :( **



1) Fried green tea pastry: After visiting the large Buddhist shrine in Asakusa, we walked down a long strip full of sidewalk vendors and sampled numerous types of rice crackers (we ended up buying some super crunchy handmade ones) but the real treat was at a stand that sold freshly fried pastries with assorted bean fillings. The one we got was green tea flavored-- the exterior was crisply battered and the filling was a nice white bean paste with a deep matcha flavor. (Check out my nails: they will probably never look this nice in a photo again for a long time! Back to short and stubby unpainted "kitchen nails" soon...)



2) Ice cream, mochi balls and red bean sauce at Toraji, Roppongi Hills: After a great bento lunch at an izakaya in Roppongi Hills, we headed over to a branch of one of Tokyo's most well known dessert shops: Toraji. In many ways, the desserts there reminded me of stuff we tried at Kyotofu in NYC, but the atmosphere was completely different: a calm, serene, cafe with minimalist decor, lots of mommies with strollers and girlfriends having tea rather than a loud, clubby bar with lots of neon and Japanese pop music. Ivan's tofu custard dessert, my teeny tiny individual pot of oolong tea, and my dessert set of 2 cookies, vanilla ice cream, mochi balls, and red bean sauce (to be poured over the top) cost the same as our lunch! Was it worth the $25? Looking back, maybe not. But still, it was an experience worth having.



3) Green tea mochi: We bought these from a vendor at the outer market of Tsukiji. They were the perfect ending to our lunch of assorted department store foods bought from the food court.




4) Green tea ice cream and milk tea ice cream: We got these at a teeny tiny shop (probably seats no more than 10 people max) in the Harajuku district after having a refreshingly healthy organic macrobiotic vegetarian lunch at Mominoki House two stores down. So much for a completely healthy meal... Oh well! After walking into the shop, we were greeted by a tiny brown teddy bear miniature poodle and waited for our desserts, which were prepared by a pastry chef behind the counter. The shells were fairly thick and crunchy, not at all flaky like a pate brisee, but more like a sugar cookie. The green tea ice cream was entirely smooth and had a fabulously concentrated green tea flavor unlike any green tea ice cream I've ever had in the States. Only odd thing was the texture, which was slightly gelatinous, almost chewy, as if there were some sort of starch in there. The milk tea ice cream was lighter and more delicate in flavor and slightly icier in texture, but still entirely enjoyable.




5) Green tea mousse with strawberry, raspberry in plum-flavored gelatin pyramid, pulled sugar garnish and madeleine: The perfect way to finish up our 12-course kaiseke meal at our ryokan in Hakone.