Otabe Yatsuhashi おたべ生八つ橋

I never thought that my first try of Kyoto’s famous traditional rice cake will be from a vending machine. But here I am, having fun slotting in the dollar note and watch a box of yatsuhashi dropped into the retrieval compartment for my taking. Well, I forgot to get some breakfast before setting out to take Shinkansen to Kobe. So the vending machine of yatsuhashi is exactly what I need at the moment.

And this cute little box of yatsuhashi turns out to the best yatsuhashi I have tried.

The thin glutinous rice dough skin is raw, thus features a lovely mix of powdery and sticky texture, which is very different from that of the sticky mochi. I actually prefer this texture of yatsuhashi over that of mochi.

Sandwiched within the raw rice dough is a ganache of bean paste mixed with matcha. It is slightly sweet, taste very pleasant with the light astringent aroma of matcha.

This combination of raw rice dough and bean paste works so well together. And the yatsuhashi is so good that we finish it real fast.

Heartened by this good experience with yatsuhashi, I go on to buy 4 boxes of yatsuhashi of brands, but otabe still comes out top.