I’m sure that you’re all thinking of matcha when you think of sweets in Kyoto! And you’d be right in thinking that, but at this old capital city of Japan, you can also find many interesting cold sweets offered by long-established sweets shops. But if the day is exceptionally hot, which sweets will cool you down the best? There are many Japanese sweets, such as yokan, anmitsu, and kuzukiri, and they’re all great to have on a hot day. So come and taste these refreshing summer sweets with me!
This shop, Toraya Karyo Ichijo, is located close to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and it’s run by the long-established wagashi shop Toraya. Toraya is famous for their yokan, a kind of a jelly made from red bean paste, and their sweets are even enjoyed by the imperial family of Japan. Toraya also has a shop in Paris, so you can see that their desserts seem to have an international appeal to them.
Although the main ingredient in yokan is red bean paste, they look like jewels when they glitter in the bright light coming from outside. The taste is very elegant, and not too sweet, but instead very refreshing.
You can find this shop on the main shopping street in Gion, and there’s often a line of tourists in front of it, all waiting to get to taste Kagizen Yoshifusa Honten’s famous arrowroot noodles.
The almost see-through arrowroot noodles are served cold and leave a very refreshing aftertaste. When dipped into the brown sugar sauce, the taste only gets better. These noodles are something you have to enjoy in summer!
Arashiyama is maybe the most famous sightseeing spot in Kyoto, and you can find the also-famous Hourandou Togetsukyo Honten on the other side of Randen Arashiyama Station. The shop is famous for its warabimochi, which are handmade, every day, by artisans.
The warabimochi are shiny, chewy, and you get three different flavors: roasted soybean flour, matcha, and black sesame with bamboo charcoal. The coolness of these flavorful mochi dumplings is sure to make you feel enraptured by joy. You can also get them to go!
The Japanese sweets shop Daikokuden was founded in 1885, which was year 18 of the reign of Meiji the Great, and Seien is a Japanese café run by Daikokuden. You can also buy souvenirs here, like warabimochi, other Japanese sweets, and castella cake.
Seien is most famed for this dish, their Kohaku Nagashi, a refreshing agar jelly sweet which is only served from April to December, and which has a different flavor every month. In the picture, you can see August’s Kohaku Nagashi which is flavored with ginger and honey. They also have such tastes as mint, chestnut, and plum.
This Japanese sweets shop was founded in the first year of the Showa period, in 1926, and right now they have three shops in Kyoto. In the picture you can see their shop inside Takashiyama, a big department store, so you can enjoy the cool department store before heading in for some even cooler refreshments.
Amatou Kissa Tsukigase is famous for their anmitsu. Your anmitsu is topped with red bean paste, gyuhi (a type of mochi made from rice flour and starch syrup), banana, and a cherry on top. These ingredients are all in a syrup made from brown sugar, but the taste is not too sweet. This rich-tasting Japanese sweet extravaganza is sure to make your summer in Kyoto feel cool!
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Vanessa[ Sharing Kyoto Staff ] |
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