Daifuku @ Matsudaya, Kawabata Shopping Arcade, Fukuoka

 

Time for something sweet for a change. In an attempt to add more variety to the blog, and also to deal with my sudden insatiable sweet tooth, I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce to everyone some traditional Japanese sweets! And since strawberries are in season now, it would just make sense to showcase one of the many interesting delicacies that it is the main focus of. 

Welcome!

I had to go the Nakasu area with a friend for some errands some time ago and decided to look around the premises of the Kawabata Shopping Arcade to look for something to eat. Nestled between the Hakata and Tenjin area, it is not hard to get to and it is actually really interesting. This shopping street is lowkey, one of my favourite places to find interesting food as it has a nice mix of cheap eats, expensive gourmet establishments and everything in between. So after getting some errands done around these parts, it would just be natural to get something nice to make this day a little bit sweeter, no pun intended. This is where Matsudaya, a confectionary shop located in the heart of this shopping street, comes in. 

Best advertising

It is not hard to find the shop, since being a confectionary shop, they would display all their sweets in the front to entice passersby. With a variety of mochi based desserts, you do get spoilt for choice even though the base of sticky rice cake and adzuki paste may sound repetitive on the first impression. One thing that stood out was of course one with a huge strawberry popping out of it. Standing at 420 yen a piece, these fruity rice cake balls are pretty hefty price wise. But I was already determined so there is no turning back now. 

Double the trouble

We got ourselves one original recipe and another one with matcha. And despite the slightly steep price tag, this was pretty worth it. The outer layer of the rice cake had a nice fluffy and firm texture at the same time. if you had really good mochi, you will know what I mean. the bean paste was pretty smooth and you can actually taste the bean in this. Some lower rung shops would just add lots of sugar to cover up any weaknesses in their bean paste, but this one was put on full display. But this was rather smart so as to not overpower the strawberry that was in the center of it. 

Red nosed wonder

Speaking of the strawberry, it was absolutely divine. The juice was just almost squirting out after every bite and the sweet yet tart nectar provided a nice contrast to the adzuki paste and the slightly neutral flavoured rice cake casing that was protecting its insides. If you are a fan of contrasting textures and flavours like myself, you will enjoy this a lot. 

Green devil

However, if you want something more punchy, the matcha one is pretty decent too. You can feel the smoky tea aroma just permeating from the rice cake and the bean paste infused with so much tea, you ight think it was a kale smoothie. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit, but since it was most likely made of shiro-an white bean paste, it would help bring out more of the green tea flavour than a normal adzuki paste. Would work very well with a bitter cup of coffee. 

Front of the house

It should be noted if you are a strawberry fiend, there is one with just strawberries and mochi on a stick. They look pretty and would taste as good as they look, but I was looking for something where all elements meld into one, rather than just layers of different stuff just stack on each other. And the daifuku did not disappoint. So if you are looking for something nice to tuck in between during your afternoon, why not drop by for a sweet treat? The address is as follows:

10-261 Kamikawabatamachi, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, 812-0026