The last spot to highlight from our Japan trip this past winter, is Takeno to Ohagi. A place to pick up traditional Japanese sweets, Ohagi, also called Botamochi. It is made with glutinous rice, white rice, and sweet azuki paste. The cooked rice is coated with thick azuki paste by hand. It usually looks like a ball of dark purplish brown thing, but here at Takeno to Ohagi, they transform the traditional Ohagi into beautiful artworks.
We pre-ordered two boxes of their Daily Set of 7 ohagi (日替わり7種おはぎセット), (2,000 yen/~$14 January 2024). The kind of ohagi are pre-selected by the store. The inside was simple and almost like some sort of art gallery. Each wooden box contained different kinds of ohagi. At the back, you can see the staffs creating the artwork, one at a time. While your box was getting filled by a staff, you can choose which washi tape to decorate the box. How awesome! They were all so pretty, it was hard to choose!
Look at this beauties!!! The round, bamboo boxes contained artistic ohagi of all sorts, like a jewelry box! It was then taped up with the washi tapes of my choices. They gave us some wooden forks in the packages. When we brought these back home, my family was very surprised too. The Daily Set of this day contained Tsubuan, Koshian, Hemp Seed & Kinako, Velvet Rose, Kumquat & Peanut Paste, Japanese White Pine, and Pomegranate & Coconut.
Although ohagi is not large, but since they are mostly made with rice, they are quite filling. So, we shared one box among two people. The Daily Set always contains two of the most traditional types of ohagi, with just the red bean paste around white rice. One is with smooth read bean paste, and another one that still have some of the red beans left whole. This is where you get to taste how good their ohagi is, with the very basic kinds. There is nowhere to hide behind any extra flavor or fancy exterior. And yes, they were pretty darn good! The glutenous rice were perfectly cooked and formed into a ball. Not too loose nor tight. Then the sweet bean, again, cooked perfectly. The other ones, although they contain other ingredients like pomegranate, peanut paste, etc., they don’t overpower the traditional flavor.
The most impressive one was the Velvet Rose. It looks like a beautiful cupcake or something. The rice had nice little purple color, with azuki beans cooked with the rice. So pretty! It is made with Dried Apricot and Raspberry Purée. I was a bit concerned about the fruity flavors, but it was actually really nice! Just a hint of fruity flavor. The candied kumquat with peanut paste was interesting, but again, not overpowering the basic flavor. Instead of fighting against the base flavor, it elevated it to the next level.
Hemp Seed and Kinako was nice too. As you can see, some of them were made with white sweet bean paste. Easier to color, or leave it as is, which is more like mashed potato color. Whoever came up with the idea to elevate traditional, dare I say, boring looking ohagi into something that look like they belong to art studio, is a genius! Japanese White Pine is just made to look like the pine, but the ingredients are Naruto Kintoki, a special sweet potato, and Matcha. Every single one was different and unique, I was so excited to try them all.
We had a great experience with Takeno to Ohagi. The staffs were super nice and courteous, friendly and polite. Each of their ohagi was delicious. We got to enjoy such elevated ohagi like never before. I love how they balanced out the other flavors with the base flavor, in perfectly harmony. They also make a great gift too! If you are looking for a modern, delicious, and beautiful ohagi, head over to Takeno to Ohagi.
Takeno to Ohagi – Yoga, 3 Chome−5−6, Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan
タケノとおはぎ – 東京都世田谷区用賀3丁目5−6, アーニ出版ビル1階