Love of Japanese Cakes

Recently, NTUC have imported several brands of Japanese cakes, to my delight, so there is no need to fly up to Japan to get a bite of these morsels of delice. Take note that despite the impossibly beautiful packaging, I find that not all are extremely good in taste. So I spent lots of moolahs to try out all and buy extra boxes of the nice ones to give to my loved ones. And here are my findings:

Nagoya Tamogo Manjū (名古屋たまごまんじゅう)

This snack is the only one I remember from my days of working in a Japanese company where my Japanese colleagues would buy Japanese snacks for us. I still recognize this product from the adorable picture of a chick with big head.

Sweet egg bean paste wrapped in thin crepe-like dough skin, this manjū hits the right spots of sweets lovers.

The white bean paste is fine in texture and the egg adds a nice aroma to it. A tad too sweet, but the rich flavours are good enough to indulge in once in a while.

A hot seller in NTUC.

Yubari Melon Steam Cake

Whiffs of the sweet aroma of Hokkaido melon immediately filled the air when biting into this cake with a molten centre that is infused with premium melon. This actually tastes way better than those slices of tasteless melon on sale in fruit stalls.

The cake is fluffy and soft though a bit on the dry side. I guess packaged cakes cannot be as moist and buttery as those freshly made ones. But the molten melon incorporates the needed moisture into the cake when eaten together. So the end result is a blissfully sweet fruity treat.

Another hot seller. All were sold out five days later when I wanted to get more.

Hokkaido Cheesecake

This is basically the light Japanese Cheesecake with a hidden treasure of a molten cream cheese ganache. The cake itself is that decent but ordinary cheesecake. When paired with the creamy, aromatic cream cheese in the centre, it is oh so good. I have no problem finishing five in one go.

Boxes of these fly off the shelves at a pretty fast rate.

Osaka Sachimaneki (大坂幸まねき)

This is an assortment of Japanese cakes that makes very impressive gift. The delicate paper wrappings of pastel colours and hues are so pretty that every time I take one of the snacks to eat, I take a second to admire the packaging.

The one with a cute cartoon of a chick is very similar to Nagoya Tamago manjū in terms of taste, especially the intense sweetness. Though the bean bun in this box of treasures is slightly drier in texture. But it still makes for an addictive treat.

The red bean dorayaki is very sweet, but the rich aroma of the crepe and relatively smooth red bean filling renders this enjoyable snack to tuck into.

The chestnut puff is kind of meh. I think packaged puffs are simply not comparable to freshly made ones since the filling used is of starchy consistency instead of the creamy one. I am no fan of mochi, so it is not exactly fair for me to comment too much on it. One thing is for sure: it did not convert me into a mochi lover.

The green tea cake is between the two ends of the spectrum of taste: not bad in taste and quite moist in texture, but not outstanding in any way.

Well, the manjū and dorayaki make it worthwhile to try this selection of cakes.

Akai Bohshi (赤い帽子)

The biscuits look really good, and the dark and gold packaging impart a royal feel.

Most of the selection are of butter cookies base though the texture is drier than that of Danish cookies. What makes some of these biscuits better than the Danish cookies is the addition of other ingredients. So for the milk roll and tea roll: the ones with no chocolate or almonds, they taste like those ordinary cookies. Surprisingly, the rose cookie, which looks yummy and catches my attention straightaway, disappoints since it is just another cookie with the very faint aroma of rose.

My favourite one is, unexpectedly, the Coffee Macaroon since I have no love for coffee. It is very crunchy, and the thin layer of hardened syrup on top adds extra bite and moisture to this confectionary.

Other favourites are White Chocolate cookie and Almond Leaf. The aroma of roasted almonds really do a lot to add dimension to the taste. The white chocolate imparts the creaminess to buy biscuit, making a whole lot of differences.

Those biscuits wrapped in candy style make nice little bites due to the chocolate coating the wafer.

The strawberry cookie looks absolutely sweet. Taste wise, I like the strawberry cream with dried strawberry bits sprinkled on top since the tart taste and the mild aroma of strawberries speaks of authentic flavourings and ingredients.

This box of cookies makes absolutely wonderful and impressive gift.

New Banner and Avatar

Time for a face lift in this New Year!

Basically, I had changed the top banner and avatar. The Corelle plate is one of the tell-tale signs that the crème caramel is homemade. Yes, it is, and by me.

As much as I like the previous banner, I want to put up a banner that features a creation that is solely my work. So I finally get around to it. Cheers.

By the way, CNY is coming. Prepare some cooling soups to counter the heaty CNY goodies.

Here is one of my favourite soups, this is prepared by me also.

Hirota Ice Cream Puffs

Every now and then, I can spot some gems in NTUC, not as often as in the case of Cold Storage though. Hirota ice cream puffs are one of them.

Generous big dollop of creamy flavourful ice cream wrapped in a thin puff pastry puff, it trumps over those generic custard cream puffs whose filling is made from custard mix instead of egg and milk. The matcha one is saturated with the aroma and slight bitter taste of matcha. In fact, the matcha ice cream puff is probably one of the few supermarket matcha products that really has the strong taste of matcha. Other matcha desserts and snacks mostly bear resemblance to matcha in colour only. So not surprisingly, the boxes of matcha puffs are snapped up pretty fast when stocked up at the ice cream section of NTUC Xtra. Strawberry and vanilla ones are good also.

Since I had seen this product and brought two boxes, I had went on to buy twenty boxes to treat others. Everyone in the family loves these puffs.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: NTUC

Fruits that one cannot get enough of

Some fruits are so good that they can be hailed as desserts, and I just simply have to list them down here. The good part is that now, those yummy premium fruits are available in big supermarkets.

The general rule of thumb is to buy fruits in season and preferably the first pick of the season since those are way sweeter. Though the first pick will be more expensive also.

Cherry - Rainier Cherries have milder taste—not as tart, yet have a more pronounced aroma than the dark red ones. In addition, the flesh of Rainier is slightly firmer so one can gets the shiok feeling of biting into the cherry and feels the sweet juices gushing out from the fruit. Japanese cherries, shown below, is the best of the bunch due to the fragrance and the right balance of acidity and sweetness.

Strawberry - I once had the best strawberry in the world during an omakase meal at Shinji.

I had tried a box of Japanese Sachinoka strawberries near the end of strawberry season, and they were disappointingly sour.

So what I am trying to say is that avoid buying strawberries at the end of season. The differences in taste are vast.

Honoka strawberries have very pale colour flesh, but the level of sweetness is pretty out of this world, for a strawberry that is. I highly recommend getting this variety of strawberries despite the steep price. It is worth a try.

The next best strawberries is Japanese Benihoppe and Kanagawa strawberries. The sweetness of this strawberry accentuates the nectar-like aroma. Ten can be gone in less than two minutes!

Korean Maehyang strawberries considered the best among the readily available, not so expensive varieties. While the fragrance is not as pronounced, the sweetness makes them a great treat.

Yantai's strawberries are not bad since they are not sour though not as flavourful as Japanese and Koreans ones.

Apple - I always feel Royal Gala is better in texture than Fuji, and oh boy, I found out how misguided I was when I tried the Fuji apple from Japan. The Japanese one is way sweeter than the others of the same cultivar. Just when I thought that no apple can be better than Japanese Fuji, Shinano from Japan proved me wrong.

Crispy yet slightly powdery apple flesh is packed with sweet juices imbued with floral fragrances, plus the very thin skin, Shinona is a very blissful treat for fruit lovers.

Jonagold is pretty good, but it pales in comparison to Shinano and Fuji since the aroma is not as pronounced and has a slight tart taste, which does not match with the typical fragrance of apples.

Japanese apples aside, for more wallet-friendly alternatives, there are France and Brazil Royal Galas.

Asian Pear - Japan's Honsui pears are the best, hands down. These pears are crispy and exceedingly juicy. And the sweet aroma of this variety of pears is very strong. It is almost like biting into honeycomb to enjoy the refreshing honey.

China's Nam Shui pears are great alternatives since these are sweeter than Korea's Shingo pears. But take note that the pears sold at end of season do not have that distinctive sweetness and flavour.

European Pear - I have always preferred the round Asian pears over the European gourd-shaped ones since the European pears I had in childhood are harder and drier in texture. It is only recently that I discovered that there are gems among this fruit. And the Australia Bosc pears can rival the Asian pears in terms of taste and texture. The flesh of this variety is firm yet soft, so this is winning points with me already. While the cells are not packed with as much juice, it is juicy enough to be a refreshing treat. The best part is the intense sweetness and robust flavours of this pear. No wonder Bosc is the "aristocrat of pears".

Abate Fetel from Africa is pretty good too. Wait until the skin turns yellow, and the flesh of the pear will become sweet, intense, smooth while retaining some of the firm texture. It tastes a bit bitter when it is green.

I had tried a number of other varieties of European pears after this, and none can match up to the Bosc and Abate Fetel—I need to emphasize that I have not tried all kinds of pears.

Tangerine - Again, Japanese fruit takes the top spot for this category. I always dislike the sharp, offensive orangey smell of oranges, tangerines and mandarin oranges. The mikan from Japan turned me into a fan of tangerines. The smell is muted, and the fruit is very sweet with just a hint of tangy taste. Too bad, the season of Japanese mikan is the only time I will eat this class of fruits.

Mango - The Indian mango is unrivalled in terms of texture and taste. Smooth, juicy, intensely sweet, not fibrous flesh makes this mango a gem. The Benishan mango is so sinful to bite into, and this gets snapped up in supermarkets pretty fast, to the point that I used to think these are not available in local supermarkets. Indian Apple Mango is good too, but Benishan wins due to its exceedingly smooth flesh.

Next best variety is the Australian mango.

Grapes - Japanese Kyoho grapes taste like wine, and coupled with the sweetness, it is pure indulgence to have them as decadent snacks. But go for the first pick because those on sale at end of season are quite sour.

Taiwanese ones are the cheaper version. Though not as flavourful, they still bursting with the aroma of the wine. I always go for these when in cost saving mood or I am not sure if the Japanese grapes on sale are the first picks—Japanese kyoho is too expensive for me to risk buying a box of less-than-heavenly grapes.

The main issues I have with the Kyoho variety are that the skin is very thick and the flesh is soft.

This is why I consider the beautiful jade-green Shine Muscat from Okayama as the best grapes of them all. The texture of Shine Muscat is absolutely perfect with thin skin and firm flesh. Even the taste is perfect—amazingly sweet and very subtle touches of flavours of wine, melon and flower. 

Aurora Black grapes from Okayama are great choices also since the taste is very similar to that of Kyoho, minus the seeds and bitter skin.

Other more readily available good options for delicious, crunchy, sweet grapes with very thin skin are Autumn Royal and Black Ardor black seedless grapes.

Blueberries - For sweet blueberries, check out African Blue from Morocco. Best enjoyed in spoonfuls.

Here are some of good finds I got from the supermarkets