February 26, 2021 Post a Comment

Japanese Sweets Review: Marukyo Aji No Meisake Manju

What is Manju? Well, manju is a traditional Japanese steamed cake sweet. It is a confection made with a sweet filling thinly wrapped in a steamed/baked soft wheat dough. There are many variations of Manju; classic ones are typically made with anko (red bean paste) or chestnut filling and soba (buckwheat) or wheat wrapping.

Onto the product: The best place to get Manju would probably be straight from Japan, but these are a wonderful alternative – authentic (or as close as you can get in the US) Manju made in Japan.

Front of Packaging
Back of Packaging

Everything’s in Japanese – makes sense.

The goodies!

Now, to be honest, I can’t read Japanese, but I did a little bit of research and here’s what I found. There are 18 pieces total and 5 flavor varieties.

  1. Momoyama (2pc)  – Steamed manju w/ red bean & white bean paste filling
  2. Nyuka (4pc) – Baked manju w/ sweet white bean filling wrapped in milk flavored cake
  3. Matcha manju (5pc) – Steamed manju with matcha (green tea) bean paste filling
  4. Soba manju (5pc) –  Steamed maju with white bean paste filling
  5. Kuriman (2pc)– Baked manju w/ white bean paste with chestnut pieces filling

See below for the number to picture matching.

Display of all 5 flavors, labeled.

Taste Test!! – Love this part

  1. Momoyama – Tighly wrapped filling. Very smooth overall and prominent red bean flavor.
  2. Nyuka – I’m personally a fan of milk flavors so I really enjoyed the delicate milky sweetness of this one.
  3. Matcha manju – I could taste the matcha flavor, but also with it was a pugnent, ever-so-slightly spicy flavor.
  4. Soba manju – Since the filling was white bean, the faint taste of the soba wrapping was able to come through.
  5. Kuriman – This one had the fluffiest cake wrapping and had nice bits of chestnut running through the filling.

The Verdict…

Overall, I thought these sweets were lovely and my favorites were the Momoyama and Nyuka. They would go great with tea (particularly green, I think) or make a nice little treat, especially the small ones. If you’re craving a sweet that’s not too sweet or wanting to try Japanese snacks, definitely give these a go! You can get these on Amazon or at Costco (same brand, slight variation).