Eating in Tokyo: Musa Shimo Sabo

with SYT in Tokyo

The Japanese have a knack for taking something totally alien, and through obsession and hard work, refine the product to their own. I already said that in an earlier post...

Anyway, what I truly love about the Japanese people is their obsession to anything they put their minds to. The best magazines on any product, be it handmade shoes, or shirts, or pens, or watches, or cars, or food...are Japanese. Many of the best food is found in Japan...indeed, when the Michelin team went to Japan, they only managed to cover less than 1% of the best restaurants on the land, and yet, when they totalled the stars awarded...the total for Japan is higher than the total of both France and Italy combined.

Japanese cuisine is refined...treats all the senses...and none more so than dessert. Just a few doors away from my favourite tonkatsu place in Tokyo lies Musashimo Sabo...a great red bean dessert place.

I always eat dessert here after my tonkatsu meal. I always order the same dessert...red bean with mochi and green tea ice cream.



The red bean is different and higher quality than any I have found in Singapore...it is somewhat larger, and cooked soft, but not so soft as to be mushy. I understand the beans are boiled for 8 hours in each store. The sweetness is just right...not too sweet as red bean can tend to be.

The mochi is simply a lump of glutinous rice ball...made so that the texture is spongy, springy...offering some resistance to the bite, but eventually gives way...wonderful texture.

And finally, the green tea ice cream. Made from powdered green tea of very high quality...known as Myukure and milk from the Aichi Prefecture, the ice cream is special. Not too sweet, the slightly astringent green tea blends well with the cream used it is full of green tea flavour, and smooth, creamy. Excellent.

But how all these seemingly disparate ingredients come together is yet another tale...each complimenting the other. Each adding and never taking away from the other's flavour. Symphonic is the word which comes to mind. Harmony. Lovely. Oishi.


Higashishinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
1-5-2　汐留シティセンターB111
B111 Shiodome City Center 1-5-2
105-7190 ZIP 105-7190
http://www.musashinosabo.com/intro/index.html#siodome
TEL:03-5568-6340 TEL :03-5568-6340
Opening hours 10：30～23：00 Sunday 10:30 to 23:00 Sunday closed