Minamoto Kitchoan - New York City

If you love Japanese confectionary, this is a great place to wander into.  They have a few branches in some of the big cities such as: Tokyo, NY, SFO, Singapore, Shanghai and of course London.  Here in London, it 's just located a few steps away from Fortnum Mason.  I was quite happy to discover this cute little gem.  Great for sampling by buying home or just having them for tea there. From the outside it looks promising enough, showcasing cute little samples in boxes.  Perfect for souvenirs or as gifts. Minamoto Kitchen 44PICCADILLY, LONDON, W1J 0DS UK TEL 44 207 437 3135 MAIL  [hidden email] Here, they serve 'Wagashi ' which is a Japanese sweet filled with natural goodness.  Filled with goodness such as red bean, glutinous rice, powdered rice, sesame, fruits etc.. They go well with hot green tea.  Great chewy texture, this is a lovely healthy snack, although sometimes it can be too sweet for some, hence the hot green tea goes well with it.  Me?  I have a sweet tooth, so,

My boyfriend and I make a special trip here every time we go to the city. Neither of us has never gotten anything we didn't love, and we splurge and get a big bag every time. It's not the most... welcoming place, the staff is lovely, but it's so quiet and pristine that it's sort of hard to get used to, but it's worth it. Delicious.

High quality Japanese sweets made mainly with rice flower and bean paste, walnuts, matcha powder, and other fresh ingredients. They have a very short shelf life due to their freshness and mostly absence of preservatives. They are imported directly from Japan. If you like this kind of non-too-sweet-sweets, this is a pretty amazing experience. Expensive, but you pay for quality.

From the packing to the first bite, this was a welcome sweet stop for us. This is a Red Bean snack paradise that was fresh tasting even though they were packaged. The green leaf rice party was velvet soft. Some of their sweets look like snow globes with Gold Fish or glass souvenirs, enticing. You can pick up a nice gift here if you are stuck on ideas. Very opulent cravings

Excellent desserts. I would highly recommend the ones which expire in 1-2 days (the in-store pick up ones). The sakura mochi is my favourite! The others which are packed (and have a shelf life of 1-2 months) simply have too many ingredients like various gums and preservatives. Even if these ingredients are extracts of natural substances, the end result feels too not-natural.