Soba Boro Package

I didn’t realize but I buy soba boro (蕎麦ぼうろ) fairly often. I like them. My dog likes them. I think that they have a distinctly Japanese taste yet are not challenging to the non-Japanese palate like tea ceremony namagashi might be. I reviewed Kyoto handmade soba boro ice cream here on KyotoFoodie and that is some wonderful stuff!

While soba boro is not a distinctly Kyoto confection, there are a number of shinise shop in Kyoto that are famous for them. One of my favorites is located near the Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and is called Kawaramachiya (丸太町かわらまち屋). In addition to soba boro, Kawaramachiya also is famous for their soba manju confections.

Kawaramachiya Soba Boro

How does Soba Boro Taste?
Soba boro has a very pleasant taste and texture and is not high in calories, for a sweet. It is hard and crispy but far less dense than traditional biscotti. Though it is very crunchy, it melts upon meeting the mouth very quickly. The soba and sugar creates a slightly earthy and caramely taste.

ingredient list:
wheat flour, sugar, egg, soba buckwheat flour

Kawaramachiya 'Honten' Store

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English:
English menu/signage: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: so-so
Price: 300 – 1,500 yen.
Location and Access: Kawaramachiya is located on Marutamachi Street between Teramachi and Kawaramachi Streets, on the south side of Marutamachi. The closest station is Jingu Marutamachi Station on the Keihan Railway, just across the Kamo River. The Marutamachi subway station on the Karasuma Line is about a 10 minute walk to the west. Many bus lines pass through this neighborhood too.
Address: Kyoto-shi Kamigyo-ku, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi Nishi-iru, Shintomi-cho 331
(京都市上京区丸太町通河原町西入信富町331番地)
Telephone: 075-231-2146
Near Sightseeing Spot: The Imperial Palace (5 min. walk to the north-west) and Shimogoryo Jinja Shrine and Teramachi Street

Map:

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This is miso flavored gyuhi mochi from Honda Miso and it is a masterpiece! In addition to the novel and exceptional taste, this is a foodie souvenir that you ought to be able to take back home with you when you visit Kyoto. Even if you are not into wagashi confections, you might still like this as it is similar in taste and texture to caramel — but even better!

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Wrapped

Miso Chigiri Mochi Package - Unwrapping

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar

How Does Miso Chigiri Mochi Taste?
While miso and mochi together are not unheard of, before sugar was widely available miso was often used to flavor mochi sweets in Japan, this is different. This is reminiscent of caramel in taste and feel yet without a trace of actual caramel in it, which I find very intriguing.

It is made with gyuhi mochi which is mochi with air whipped into it, so the texture is bubbly soft rather than firm like mochi used for cooking.

The fragrance is pronounced and includes the pungent punch of miso, but not too much.

The taste is quite extraordinary. The combination of sweet, miso and mochi come together in a really novel and delightful way. The flavor is not at all understated, it is a pretty huge flavor for any wagashi. I think the miso gives it a lot of body. It is very caramely and ‘misoy’ and has a hint of butter too. The miso paste that is used is Kyoto’s famous white miso (Saikyo shiro miso) which has little salt and is not as pungent as darker and longer fermented miso varieties.

The mochi comes in two colors; brown and pink. The brown ones are miso flavored and the pink ones are plain gyuhi mochi. The miso flavored pieces account for about 8 or 9 in 10 of the total. I think that the pink ones add a real ‘Kyoto’ touch of understated sophistication to it. If they were all miso flavored it would be monotonous and if the pink ones had their own flavor, that would be excessive and lack harmony of flavor.

This gyuhi mochi is packed in light brown colored wasanbon sugar. Wasanbon is the powdered sugar that is native to Japan. It is usually steamed, kneaded and pulverized several times. Wasanbon is somewhat caramely in flavor with a slight burnt sugar flavor to it, yet it is extremely delicate. The pieces of mochi have a generous coating of wasanbon on them which you can brush off a bit for a different flavor variation.

Miso Chigiri Mochi and Wasanbon Sugar - detail (The pinks ones are not miso flavored.)

Where to Buy
I think that this product is only available at Honda Miso Honten. The location is just west of the Gosho Imperial Palace at the intersection of Ichijo Dori and Muromachi Dori streets. In the neighborhood is the famous Toraya wagashi confectionary and Sawai Shoyu Honten soy sauce brewery.

Honda Miso also offers white miso caramel which is also very good.

Honda Miso Honten Entrance and Noren Curtain

Honda Miso Honten Interior

White Miso Caramel

Samples are available just to the left of the entrance.

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Map to Honda Miso Honten

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Hondo Miso doesn’t just make traditional things, a real shinise is said to develop with the times. Honda Miso now offers an ‘instant’ type miso soup that is quick and easy to make and does have the refined taste of Kyoto. It is called Ichi Wan, which literally means ‘one bowl’, because it makes just one serving of miso soup. I don’t usually go for instant foods but this looked like it could be a winner and it is from Honda Miso so I gave it a try.

Ichiwan Miso Soup Package

Honda Miso Ichiwan Miso Soup 本田味噌本店 一わんみそ汁 油揚げ
Honda Miso’ Ichiwan Miso Soup comes in three flavors and I chose abura age which means deep fried tofu. The shell looks like monaka as in this article but it is made from fu, which is wheat gluten. Inside is Kyoto-style sweet white miso, abura age and daikon radish, these ingredients are freeze dried and reconstitute immediately upon application of hot water.

Fu is a common ingredient in Kyoto cuisine and was popularized by Buddhist monks in centuries past.

How To Make Ichiwan Miso
1. Unwrap
2. Break apart dried wheat gluten ‘fu’ shell
3. Pour on hot water
4. Allow to reconstitute (I waited about 1 minute)
5. Stir a bit and enjoy

Ichiwan Miso Soup Unwrapped - Perhaps a Bit Bland to the Eye and Senses

Ichiwan Miso Soup Broken Apart in the Bowl

Ichiwan Miso Soup Served

Ichiwan Miso Soup - Fu, Daikon and Agedofu

How did it taste?
The taste is the classic Kyoto-style sweet miso soup but I was struck by the variety of textures. The fu is very soft and gooey, the abura age is spongy and chewy and the daikon slivers are quite crunchy and chewy. I was really impressed with the taste and especially the textures. In addition to being quick and convenient, it was fun to make and eat!

My only criticism, as someone that has designed and developed a few products is that after the shell is broken apart and reconstituted, the shapes of the chunks of fu are unpleasant to the eye. This wouldn’t pass muster as Kyoto-style. I removed a few particularly uneven shaped and large pieces of fu before I took the photos above. Sorry, I cheated. I think that what they need to do is to score or perforate the fu somehow so that it breaks into more regular or square shaped pieces. That would make it ‘Kyoto’ and that would be quite a feat for instant soup but with a little Japanese kaizen, I am sure they can perfect the design!

Honda Miso Honten Retail Store (本田味噌本店)

This is the entrance to Honda Miso, it is about a 3 minute walk from the Imperial Palace.

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The mountains surrounding Kyoto are rich with game, some of which are a traditional part of the culinary culture. Wild boar nabe is a winter delicacy. Usually people visit a restaurant that specializes in the dish when they want to enjoy this cuisine. It is a rarity and most Japanese have never had it. However it can easily be made at home without a major expenditure and Kaishintei is a shinise butcher in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood sells wild meat from rural Kyoto, including wild boar through out the winter.

The Place to Buy Wild Boar ‘Shishiniku’ Meat in Kyoto: Kaishintei
Kaishintei is shinise butcher in Kyoto that opened about 90 years ago when eating beef started to become popular with commoners in Japan. Kaishintei has sold deer, bear and wild boar in limited quantities for much of it’s history. Currently only wild boar meat, shishiniku 猪肉, is offered.

Shishiniku is available in the winter months from November to March. As it is harvested from the wild, it may not be available sometimes. Kaishintei of course sells wagyu beef and pork as well.

Kyoto’s Famous Wild Boar – Kaishintei Label

Botan Nabe ぼたん鍋
The meat of the wild boar in winter is very fatty, like pork belly. When it is served for nabe thin slices of the meat is arranged on a plate like a flower. The meat is red and the fat is white and does indeed make quite a convincing flower. Botan nabe gets it’s name from this. Botan is the Japanese word for peony.

Botan nabe can easily be made at home. The soup stock is miso based and you just add the usual vegetables that go into nabe. Kaishindo sells small packets of dark ‘red’ miso specially formulated for botan nabe

Wild Boar for Sale – Sign

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Shishi Niku: Wild Boar Meat

Kaishintei Storefront: Teramachi Inoshishiya

Links
OpenKyoto Kyoto Support forum: Kyoto Wild Boar Post

京都改進亭総本店 猪肉 猪肉専門店

English and Access
Kaishintei 京都改進亭総本店 猪肉専門店
English service: Probably no English, but the owner is friendly (Tell him KyotoFoodie sent you.)
Hours: 9:30am-7pm, closed Wed
Location and Access:
Address
: Kyoto, Kamigyo-ku, Teramachi-dori Imadegawa-agaru Omote-cho 35 (京都市上京区寺町通今出川上ル表町35)
Telephone: 075-231-1480

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Today, while passing through Demachiyanagi, there wasn’t usual huge line at Demachi Futaba Mochi Store, so I peeked in and noticed that in addition to the usual line-up of mame-mochi (mochi with whole beans) they had kuromame daifuku, mochi made with black beans from Tamba, in rural Kyoto prefecture. The recently harvested kuromame are gigantic and of course tasty.

Beans in Mochi
Demachi Futaba is a very famous shinise mochi shop in the Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood. There are usually very long lines for their famous mame mochi.

Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is known for the softness and quality of it’s mochi and the interesting contrast of sweet azuki bean paste filling and the light saltiness of the beans impregnating the outer mochi layer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

Azuki and Anko
Anko, or azuki bean paste, I don’t usually like because it usually just too sweet. Cheap mochi invariably contains anko that is too sweet. Demachi Futaba, in addition to selling their name, uses excellent quality mochi and the anko isn’t too sweet. One mame-mochi or daifuku costs about 150-180 yen, which is a bit more than what is available in supermarkets, but a few pieces of the good stuff ought not to break a traveler’s budget. Even with green tea from a vending machine, enjoying on the nearby riverbank, a few pieces of mame-mochi makes for a nice snack.

We reviewed Demachi Futaba in this article early last summer and introduced their mame-mochi. At first glance, they might look the same, but tamba kuromame beans, which are black, are much, much larger than the regular beans, which are dark brown.

How Did it Taste?
Demachi Futaba’s kuromame seemed more sweet than salty. The taste is big, earthy and rich, the sweetness is subtle and complex and had a slight maple-like syrupiness. I don’t recall ever having mame-mochi that tasted like that.

Kuromame Daifuku

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

For Comparison: ‘Regular’ Mame Mochi

This image is from Mame-mochi and Kuzu-manju, our article we did last summer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Cross Section

Demachiyanagi Neighborhood
Demachiyanagi is the jump-off point if you are going up to Kurama, Kibune, Hanase and probably Ohara. If you are heading up that direction, you will probably change trains at Demachiyanagi, so this is a good opportunity to purchase some yummies to take up to the mountains with you. Also, if you are going to the Imperial Palace, Demachi Futaba is less than a 10 minute walk from the north-east side of the palace grounds.

If you are looking for a place to live in Kyoto, the Demachiyanagi neighborhood is a great place. This is north Kyoto and is considered the nicest part of the city, the mountains are always in sight and historic shines and temples abound, including a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Demachiyanagi is right next to the Kamo River and not too far from Higashiyma (the East Mountains) and the Imperial Palace grounds, so there is plenty of green space nearby. There are several universities in neighborhood so there are plenty of reasonably priced apartments and restaurants. The Demachuyanagi shopping arcade has about 35 shops and two grocery stores that are among the cheapest in Kyoto. Demachiyanagi is just a 10 minute bicycle ride from the center of the city.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone:  075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

Map

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Demachi Futaba is one of Kyoto’s most popular shinise mochi shops, famous for tasty confections and long lines! It is common to see taxis waiting while tourists make a last minute purchase of Kyoto yummies before jumping on a bullet train and going back home. Backpacker tourists can often be seen down at the nearby Kamo River bank munching away on some seasonal mochi too.

Mame-mochi is Demachi Futaba’s undisputed favorite. It is a favorite of Kyoto residents and well known throughout Japan. It has big, black beans in soft, chewy mochi. Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is nadai (名代), or ‘famous’.

We picked up some mame-mochi and a summery kuzu-manju.

Kuzu
Kuzu-manju is a lightly sweetened gelatin made from the starch of the kuzu root and is filled with azuki paste, this all wrapped in a fresh tree leaf. (We think it is sakura, but are not positive.) Kuzu is well-loved by Japanese and the most sought after kuzu comes from Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, just next door to Kyoto.

Kuzu is appealing to Japanese sensibilities as a cool and refreshing summer treat because chilled, it looks ice-like and contains a lot of water. Things that not only are cool, but look cool, water or ice-like do the trick for Japanese, it seems.

Demachi Futaba is located in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood up on the north-east side of the Imperial Palace, next to the Kamo River. It is near Keihan Demachiyanagi Station. If you are heading up to Kurama and Kibune or Ohara and Yase, in the north mountains, this is a great place to pick up some shinise snacks to take a long. We have also reviewed several restaurants in the neighborhood that serve fine dinners.

Throughout the year, Demachi Futaba has a wide assortment of seasonal mochi treats, be sure to sample some of them in addition to the ‘nadai‘ mame-mochi. (And come back to KyotoFoodie and tell us what you thought!)

Demachi Futaba Package

Your order is nicely packaged and the blue sticker reads; “Nadai (famous product) mame-mochi Demachi Futaba”. And on the upper right; “Please eat today”.

Mame-mochi

Kuzu-manju

Cooling, light, summery and fresh.

Demachi Futaba Showcase

The showcase contains a variety yummies that changes throughout the year.

Demachi Futaba Shop

Production is done just behind the counter, in plain view and it is a beehive of activity. Demachi Futaba is far and away the busiest mochi shop I have seen in Kyoto.

Demachi Futaba Shop

It is not uncommon for their to be 30 or 40 customers waiting in line, especially in the late afternoon. (This photo was taken first thing in the morning.)

Demachi Futaba

This detailed Japanese language map is printed on the wrapping paper.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone: 075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

Map

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