6 best cafés in Tokyo for Japanese mochi desserts

Locals queue up at Kanmi Mitsuya in Asakusa to get a taste of its delicious shiratama dango mochi. The mochi is freshly made daily and comes in different flavours — kuromitsu kinako (black honey and roasted soybean powder), mitarashi (sweet soy sauce glaze), zunda (sweet bean) and matcha. 

One plate (¥980) includes five mochi balls of a single flavour, but you can upgrade it to six mochi balls with two flavours (¥1,130). For an additional ¥150, you can add red bean paste or a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Every order comes with tea and a side of kanten jelly topped with a seasonal syrup. 

You can also take some mochi home from Kanmi Mitsuya’s takeout store, which is located just a few minutes away. 

Founded in 1805, Funabashiya Koyomi is all about a Tokyo speciality: kuzumochi. This light Japanese dessert is made with wheat starch dissolved in sweetened water, and left to ferment for about 450 days. It might sound strange for a sweet treat, but trust us: once you’ve sat in the café and sampled this refreshing dessert, you’ll be hooked.

The classic kuzumochi set is served with brown sugar syrup, kinako soybean powder and matcha tea for ¥670. The café also has a bunch of other kuzumochi desserts, like anmitsu (jelly dessert) with kuzumochi (¥760), matcha cream kuzumochi (¥900), kuzumochi pudding (¥670) and even four types of kakigori shaved ice with kuzumochi (brown sugar and kinako, matcha, strawberry, white peach; from ¥930).

Mican Club is a traditional Japanese sweet café that’s particularly popular for its Angel’s Tear, a purely transparent warabimochi jelly that resembles a water drop. The warabimochi is made with agar derived from seaweed and served with plenty of kinako (roasted soybean powder) and brown sugar syrup.

Mitarashi dango is another popular mochi dish at Mican Club. You can grill shiratama (sweet rice dumplings) on a small charcoal grill in front of you, and pair them with three of your favourite sauces from the 11 types available on the menu, such as yuzu kosho (fermented yuzu and chili), cinnamon and sour plum. If you don’t feel like cooking your own dango, you can order one of the two sets pre-prepared by the chef, featuring Hokkaido kinako or Mican Club’s special seasoning.

Don’t let the price decide for you – every dessert here is ¥1,100.

Oiwake Dango Honpo Café in Shinjuku is well known for its incredibly large variety of dango rice dumplings. Dango is served on a stick (three dumplings per stick) and can be ordered individually or as part of a set, which includes two sticks (from ¥583) with the sauce or topping of your choice.

The café’s most popular options are mitarashi (sweet and spicy sauce; ¥183 per stick), koshian (thick bean paste from Hokkaido; ¥183 per stick) and anmitsu (agar and brown sugar syrup from Okinawa; ¥432 per stick). 

The store also has savoury options like sour plum and seaweed (¥291) or shichimi seaweed (¥194) dango. The shop is worth repeat visits as new limited-time flavours are often added to the menu. You can eat-in or order for takeout.

Originally from Kyoto, this matcha café offers sticky Uji matcha warabimochi (bracken starch jelly) and is certain to satisfy both green tea and mochi lovers.

Saryo Suisen’s warabimochi are served hot or cold and you can choose a stronger level of matcha flavour for more bitterness. It comes in a set with a pot of tea (gyokuro hojicha or sencha), shiratama (sweet white rice dumpling), red bean paste, kinako powder and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup). The classic warabimochi set costs ¥1,180 (or ¥1,380 for a stronger matcha flavour). Other options include a bitter matcha soft cream and warabimochi covered in kinako (roasted soybean powder; ¥1,080), or strong matcha warabimochi in zenzai (sweet red bean soup; ¥990). 

You can accompany your meal with matcha beer (¥880) or an exclusive 3D matcha latte (¥780) with the design of your choice.