Home > Kyoto This Month > Kyoto Unique Sweets


Kyoto Unique Sweets
Combination of Japan's old capital and Western on sweets!


No matter where you travel, you will encounter unique local tastes. Though many may not know it, Japan is a land where the sweets changed with the town and even the villages: little differences and big. Here are some unique sweets that you can experience only in Kyoto. Try one or more of them and find your favorite!


Super traditional miso with modern chocolate!
Miso-an's Shiro-miso Fresh Chocolate

Miso is one of the most important Japanese cooking ingredients. It is made from fermented soy beans. It tastes very salty and is famously used in miso soup. Who could imagine combining something salty with chocolate? Miso-an has been produced fine quality miso in Ohara area (at the northeastern edge of Kyoto). They produce miso using the oldest of traditional methods. They have joined with a famous chocolate shop and created fresh miso chocolate. Don't worry; just try! You will be amazed!


To get to Ohara you must take Kyoto Bus #17 or #18 from the Kyoto Stn. or from Sanjo Keihan Station (where the east-west subway line crosses the river).


Miso-an is located in front of Ohara no Sato, a traditional Japanese style inn (where you can enjoy superb open air bath and hot pot cuisine using Miso-an's fresh miso soup with a full of local seasonal vegetables; http://www.oohara-no-sato.co.jp/).

Shiro-miso Fresh Chocolate: 1,200 yen (12 pieces)


So delicate and aromatic scent of green tea
Kashi Shokunin's Matcha green tea truffle

Kashi Shokunin is a Kyoto-based sweet shop that has been in business since 1935. Kashi Shokunin's matcha truffle chocolates are must-try. Their strictly selected ingredients include first-quality white chocolate from Switzerland, and matcha green tea powder from Ippodo, one of the most prestigious green tea shops in Kyoto. Because matcha truffle chocolate is very sensitive and delicate, it is produced only during winter and spring (November to March). Each piece is formed by hand creating a soft texture melt in the mouth.


Located on the north side of Matsubara, west of Nishioji; Tel: 075-311-4606; a 2-min. walk from City Bus #205, Nishioji Matsubara; Open: 9:00-20:00; Kashi Shokunin's chocolate is available at JR Kyoto Isetan; www.kashishokunin.co.jp/shop.html


Matcha truffle chocolates: 672 yen for 3 pieces, 2,310 yen for 10 pieces


Combination of fine chocolate and crispy chestnuts
Hayashi Manshodo's Chocolate Maron


Hayashi Manshodo is the most prestigious roasted chestnut shop in Kyoto and has been for nearly 130 years. When you walk near their shop the oven roasted chestnut fragrance immediately sends you into nostalgia or an intense level of curiosity. Hayashi Manshodo is also loved for its unique selection of original sweets. Their Chocolate Marons are amazing: think freeze-dried chestnuts, coated with fine Belgian chocolate. They come in four flavors: bitter, milk, white, and matcha green tea. The chocolate is fine and the chestnuts are crispy and sweet. What a combination of East meets West!


Main shop: on the north side of Shijo, east of Teramachi; Tel: 075-221-0258; Open: 10:00-20:30 (they also have a cafe space); Nijo shop: on the south side of Nijo, east of Kawaramachi; Tel: 075-223-0228; Open: 10:00-17:00; www.hayashi-mansyodo.jp


Chocolate Maron: bitter, milk, white: 700 yen, matcha green tea: 800 yen


Too pretty to eat!
Yoshinoya's Wagashi Tofu Sweet
Red Bean Jelly


Yoshinoya is an old Japanese sweet shop. They are popular with locals and tourists for few of their finest treats. One of these is Japaense Confectionery Tofu or Wagaashi Tofu. Though it is called ''Tofu'' it is not quite the same thing as the international idea of tofu as white, soft soy bean curd. Yoshinoya's Wagashi Tofu is actually a soft, sweet red bean past jelly (mizu yokan, in Japanese). Every month or season, they decorate this unique sweet jelly base with colorful seasonal motifs. Little works of art each one.


On the south side of Kitaoji, west of Muromachi, a 2-min. walk to the west from Kitaoji subway station or the Kitaoji City Bus Terminal; Tel: 075-441-5561; Open: 9:00-18:00; http://www.kyoto-yoshinoya.co.jp/

February motifs: the nightingale and plum blossom herald the coming of spring: 399 yen


Fun to watch sweets in the making!
London-ya's London-yaki

In the bustle of the Shinkyogoku Shopping Arcade stands London-ya that is super popular for its London-yaki cakes turned out automatically by machine. London-yaki are small pieces of soft pancake made with eggs and honey. The cake contains sweet white bean paste. The machine works non-stop and it is a machine you can watch and feel good about as it is so old in nature and so clean and the cakes? Well they are as delicious as anything sweet your grandmother makes.


In the Shinkyogoku Shopping Arcade, on the east side of Shinkyogoku, Open: 10:00-21:30 (until 22:00 on Sat., Sun., holiday); Tel: 075-221-3248.


London-yaki (10 pieces): 525 yen


Conversational melt with a chocolate artisan
Fresh chocolate from
Kyoto Nama Chocolat Organic Tea House


Chocolatier Hirofumi Nakanishi's story starts in New York and ends in Kyoto. He worked as a master chef of French cuisine in the the Japanese Embassy in New York. In creating French haute cuisine for so many dignitaries, he felt that something was missing. After many trials, he succeeded in creating a fresh, light chocolate, blended with an herb liqueur. The result is perfectly wonderful in every way. Nakanishi opened an organic tea house in a beautiful 100 year old machiya house with a nice back garden. Here he serves cakes, tartes and light lunches and his famous chocolate. Like a truffle, the chocolate is a rich exquisite taste to savor at the end of a meal or as a sweet on its own.


Located one block east of Okazaki-michi, a two-minute walk south of Marutamachi; Open: 12:00-17:00; Closed on Mon & Tue; Tel: 075-751-2678; www.kyoto-namachocolat.com


A box of chocolates (16 pieces): 1800 yen