Are you planning to head to Asakusa to check out the popular Sensoji Temple?
If you are coming out from the #2 Exit of Asakusa Station at Ginza Line or right across the street from Kaminarimon in Asakusa, check out Asakusa Nishiyama.
Asakusa Nishiyama is a Japanese sweets cafe which was established back in 1852. Not many cafe’s have been around that long and for 160 years, the cafe is managed by the sixth generation of the Nishiyama family and they specialize in a dish called anmitsu, oshiruko and zenkai.
Anmitsu is a jelly dessert with red bean paste served with fruit, zenzai is a sweet red bean soup and also served are manju (sweet red bean buns) and azuki (sweet red beans) are a major component for this cafe.
The restaurant carefully selects their azuki from Hokkaido Tokachi and make sure that sweetness and the touch is just right.
To make anan (bean paste), they select one gran of azuki and with a machine that converts to paste with precision and put into a big pot made of copper known as “sabi”. The bean paste is heated and is used to make the popular sweets at Asakusa Nishiyama.
And the recipe and preparation has been handed down from generation to generation.
If you want to experience Japanese sweets at a historic location, definitely visit Asakusa Nishiyama.
Sweets image courtesy of Zentou from Tabelog.
