One of those things that’s huge in Asia and virtually unheard of in the west is putting beans in desserts. It’s a little bit off-putting at first, but then you quickly realize it’s delicious and wonder why you haven’t spent your whole life eating beany sweets.
These little bean-filled, fish-shaped cakes are particularly popular, and with good reason. And this place (this was a random discovery and the sign was all in Japanese, so I have no idea what it’s called) was particularly good.
It was warm and fresh, with a generous amount of sweet bean filling encased in a subtly sweet, pancake-like exterior. This particular place had a bit of extra cake around the edges (it’s usually just the fish) — this is actually kind of ingenious, because the extra part is nice and crispy, which contrasts nicely with the cake and the beans. It’s really good.