When I first came to Japan, I didn’t expect to fall for its desserts.
Onigiri, yea.
Ramen, sure.
Sushi, of course!
Little did I know that I would be wooed by what most would not consider the main course.
Sweets in Japan run the gamut from the traditional, such as yokan and dango, to the more recently popular patisserie-made cakes-with a-Japanese-twist, including monburan and castella. I’d be hard-pressed to decide on just one favorite or even one favorite category of desserts, so in choosing a theme for today’s article, I decided to go with “cute stuff I ate at restaurants in Japan”, at the expense of revealing myself to be one of those annoying people who takes pictures of their food when going out to eat. Please forgive me.
Now, probably much to my dentist’s dismay, I’d like to show you three of my more cute and sugary, ahem, conquests.
Exhibit 1: Mos Burger’s Shu-pot Shake
It was May 2013, and I distinctly remember being annoyed about something. I can’t recall exactly what I was upset about. Maybe it was raining? Or perhaps I remembered that time I swallowed the first baby tooth I lost. Speaking of which, that incident may or may not be related to my sweets addiction — I thought the tooth was a piece of granola from my chocolate breakfast bar. I digress.
Therefore, I did what I do almost every time I get down: go to a fast food place! This may not be the healthiest of habits, but it has led to some pretty fantastic food discoveries, such as the Shu-pot Shake from Mos Burger. While the fast food chain Mos Burger’s name is a whole other post in itself, the Shu-pot Shake has some elements that are easily understandable, while others aren’t quite so self-explanatory. “Shu cream” is generally a cream-puff-like pastry, and the Shu-pot Shake is slightly cream-puff-esque. As for the “pot” part, I assume this part comes from the fact that the dessert is enclosed by a small pot-like coffee cup. Inside the cup-pastry is a vanilla shake, revealed once one removed the icing-ed lid.
I like to think that the reason I don’t remember what I was upset about is because of the magical happiness-restoring powers of the Shu-pot Shake and not because of my poor memory.
Exhibit 2: Maidreamin’s Super Cute Mr. Bear Parfait
Last year, I promised my friend that we would go to a maid cafe together.
I’m still mixed on how I feel about maid cafes as establishments, but no one can deny that their menu items are fantastically adorable.
Take, for instance, the Super Cute Mr. Bear Parfait. Yes, it may have tasted like a normal chocolate sundae, but desserts are better when dressed up as animals. My friend got the Super Adorable Mr. Cat Parfait, and, to my dismay, it was cuter than my bear parfait. I like to think that mine tasted better.
Exhibit 3: Genki-zushi’s Roll Cake (featuring its logo)
I have eaten many, many cakes in my life.
This is by far the angriest cake I have ever eaten.
Genki-zushi is a revolving sushi restaurant and until I actually visited one, I had no idea that conveyor-belt sushi places had anything besides sushi. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Genki-zushi had a somewhat delicious, but very angry cake for consumption.
Which one of these desserts looks best to you? What is the cutest (or angriest) dessert you’ve ever eaten? Let me know in the comments!
