Shopping at Asakusa is such a delightful experience since this place is so full of character. The low-rise buildings of structure unique to Japan, the cute, stylish lamps and meticulously furnished, aesthetically pleasing interiors. And 舟和本店, Funawa, catches my attention due to the rickshaw guy’s recommendation and the specialisation in sweet potato snacks, a rarity for Japanese finds in Singapore.
After looking around, I cannot resist buying a box of assorted manju since a lemon-based manju and a manju with sweet potato filling are so rare. And it’s a good thing hat I buy them because they are delicious!
Cute Sugu Lemon has a nice sweet lemony taste with a good balance between the sweetness and tangy flavour. There is a lovely hidden secret in this manju in the form of a layer of lemon jam within the bean paste, thus introducing a hint of moisture to the bean paste and extra lemony goodness to the taste. Best to savour this on clean palates. I absolutely love this on 2nd try without eating something else with a strong taste beforehand.
Oimo Pie is my second favourite of the quartet because the sweet potato filling is slightly savoury with the right amount of sweetness. The skin is like thin soft millefeuille, making this cake unique in texture and pairing really with the slightly buttery filling. I’m really surprised by how good it is.
人形焼 aka Ningyouyaki with Koshian aka red bean filling also impresses me with its moist filling and supper fluffy manju skin.
人形焼 with Imoan aka sweet potato filling is also delicious, with its light earthy moist core. In fact, I slightly prefer this version due its slightly lighter taste.
Thoughts: I wish I have tried more of this shop’s products!
