Comparison of the Top 3 Strawberry Mochi Spots in Tokyo for a Hotel Stay Trip. The Best Benzaiten, the Excellent Suzukake, and the Ordinary Akebono Senbei. Recommended Tokyo Dessert Spots.

Hello.

I’m Dentist Dr. Baek, dreaming of becoming a master of implants and a gourmet.

At the end of 2024, I posted a two-part review of my Christmas-season Conrad Tokyo hotel stay trip.

If you book in advance, I’d say it’s the definition of incredible value.

With its excellent location, Conrad Tokyo is a 5-star hotel near Shiodome Station that I would recommend to anyone.

For those with Hilton Honors Gold status or higher, it’s a place I highly recommend because you can enjoy a decent-quality free breakfast for two.

To qualify for Hilton Honors Gold status or higher, you need either the Hyundai Card the Platinum Card or the Lotte Hilton Honors Amex card.

I like organizing things and making good use of them.. so I worked hard on this post like this.. haha. It feels like I’m exposing my own fandom..

I’m the kind of person who believes dental treatment should be done with that same kind of dedication, like a fan working hard at something they love.. hehe..

Let’s look for a hot Tokyo strawberry mochi spot.

We also went during our Osaka trip, and we like Isshindo-style mochi.

Honestly.. after trying fruit mochi in Japan, I came to firmly believe that no mochi sold in Seoul.. not even the Yeosu strawberry mochi.. can compare in quality. From the quality of the fruit to the red bean paste and the glutinous rice cake, the difference in craftsmanship is incomparable.

Patriotism is patriotism, and objective evaluation is objective evaluation. So after a lot of searching, I chose three strawberry mochi spots currently considered among the best in Tokyo and visited them. You could call them some of Tokyo’s top dessert spots.

If you know Osaka’s Isshindo.. then you know that taste, so you’ll probably understand why I look for fruit mochi spots every time I go to Japan. Haha.

3. Akebono Senbei Ginza Main Store

銀座あけぼの 銀座本店

The evaluation is, of course, subjective. But I tried to judge as objectively as possible.

I’ll include the prices as well, but in a place like Tokyo that’s hard to visit more than once, I ranked them purely by taste without factoring in “value for money.” Of course it’s delicious, but I’ll start with the place I felt was third.

Exterior

It’s located on the corner of a Ginza intersection.

If you go there, you’ll understand—it’s an area with so many people that you simply can’t walk past it without noticing.

It has a solid Google rating of 4.4, and it’s a great place that usually operates from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Interior

Of course strawberry mochi is featured heavily as the main item, but there are actually many mochi made with other fruits too.

Roughly speaking, one strawberry mochi costs about 4,000 KRW.

I used to love Yeosu strawberry mochi, but not anymore. It’s not like I’m going all the way to Yeosu just to eat it anyway....

This feels a little cheaper than that. Yen weakness is a blessing.

The place where you order and the place where you pay are separate.

Busy places always seem to have this kind of process set up.

One strawberry mochi is exactly 432 yen. As of the date this post was written, that’s exactly 4,060 KRW.

They sell a variety of fruit mochi like this.

Personally, compared to Isshindo in Osaka, the mochi felt slightly smaller.

A notable feature is the black bean paste inside~

Because the point is to compare them little by little as you eat, I didn’t buy many and instead got one more apricot mochi.

There is no place to eat the mochi at any of the three locations covered in this post.

So.. you’ll need to eat it at a nearby café or at your accommodation~!!

It has a refined appearance, and the size is average. If you look at the small spoon beside it, you can compare the size.

The left is apricot mochi, and the right is strawberry mochi.

It has even more red bean paste inside than the model shown in the store.

The outer layer of the glutinous rice cake is not thin. Personally, I think the more red bean paste and the thicker the rice cake, the more ordinary the taste becomes.

Still, with this kind of appearance, it’s very good.

It’s obviously pretty. Haha. The strawberries are a little smaller than those at other stores.

Based on my experience, strawberries bought at a supermarket in Korea and strawberries bought at a department store are completely different in taste and quality.

Likewise, strawberries bought in Japan are generally high in fruit quality. I think they’re similar to department store strawberries.

(That may be because there are limits to what I can access as a tourist.)

In that case, the strawberry inside the strawberry mochi from Akebono Senbei Ginza Main Store felt slightly inferior to strawberries from Korean department stores.

Japanese strawberries usually have a slightly firm texture that gives a crisp feeling, but that was somewhat lacking here.

Still, overall, it’s definitely tasty enough. But not enough to stand in line that long for..

The apricot mochi was priced similarly!

Mochi usually pairs well with juicy fruits, and since this is a fruit mochi you can’t easily find in Korea, I ordered it.

For me, it wasn’t especially impressive. Haha...

As expected, strawberry mochi seems to be the best.. lol.

I’ll leave this one out of the Tokyo dessert recommendations..

2. Suzukake Azabudai Hills Branch

鈴懸 麻布台ヒルズ店

A dessert spot that came up from Fukuoka.

I ranked it second, but in fact it’s a dessert spot that would not be out of place even when compared with first place.

I ended up visiting twice during my trip!

The place I’m introducing today is the Azabudai Hills branch, and I also visited the Isetan branch.

Anyway.. here’s my review after trying various desserts~

Exterior

Azabudai Hills, created with tremendous investment and technology by the Mori Group.

By now, it has become one of the must-visit spots on a trip. At the time, the Christmas market was open, so even more people had gathered.

This place also has a Google rating of 4.4. It’s a little expensive ^^;

Even with so many people around, Suzukake Azabudai Hills Branch was still not very well known, so the line wasn’t long.

Strawberry mochi was my main target, but this place is actually famous for its other desserts too!!

Interior

Here is today’s main character, the strawberry mochi, right? Haha. It’s 378 yen each.

At today’s exchange rate, that’s 3,551 KRW. The strawberries may look a little small, but they’re about the same size as the ones at Akebono Senbei Ginza Main Store.

I visited in the evening, and thankfully there were still some left~!

As I waited in line, I couldn’t help but order another type of dessert....

That one looked like a chestnut dessert, just as it appeared.

So I got hooked... and bought this much. Haha.

Actually, a secret follow-up: I also went to the Isetan department store branch and bought that much again.

As you know, the four items are strawberry mochi.

Since this place is famous as a Tokyo dessert spot, I picked up one of just about everything.. lol

As mentioned above, the size is average. It’s similar to Akebono Senbei.

It’s a little too big to eat in one bite, and a little too small if you split it into two bites...

I ate it at the Azabudai Hills observatory~!

I had to take a bite shot so I could show the cross-section.

Personally, I thought the strawberry was firmer, more sweet-and-tart, and tastier than the one at Akebono Senbei Ginza Main Store!!!

The size is similar, but it tastes better~ and the red bean paste isn’t visible haha.

The less red bean paste there is, or the better if there’s none at all, the cleaner the flavor becomes. That’s probably why I felt it was better.!!

This one looks like a snack from our childhood.

It’s called dorayaki~ The outside is like a wheat flour cake, and the inside is filled with red bean paste.

It’s simple but sweet, and so delicious that you really don’t get tired of eating it, no matter how much you have!

This one is a dessert made from chestnuts.

It contains steamed chestnuts in whole grain form, and if I had to compare it to something, I’d say it’s like chestnut jelly.

I think it’s called kuri kinton.

It’s less sweet than the chestnut jelly we eat in Korea, but it has a distinctive rich, deep nuttiness.

Even though it’s quite large, you can eat the whole thing alone without feeling overwhelmed by sweetness. It’s delicious, delicious.....

Making a dessert that never gets boring is a skill.

The last dessert I’ll introduce is monaka.

It looks like a bell, and it has sweet red bean paste inside.

It’s the kind of menu item you’d make when you’re confident in the taste of sweet red bean powder.

It was really delicious. I’m not sure how else to describe the flavor of the red bean powder..

“Refined sweetness” seems like the most natural description. This too is a taste you don’t get tired of...

There was a reason they came all the way from Fukuoka to here.

1. Kakuōzan Furūtsu Daifuku Benzaiten Ginza Shop (Benzaiten)

覚王山フルーツ大福弁才天 銀座店

This place boasts a Google rating of 3.3.

I would boldly say this is the tastiest of all.

The reasons for the 3.3 rating are:

the price is high,

it sells out quickly so you can’t buy it by lunchtime,

there’s no space to eat inside the store, and

it’s packaged too simply.

There are many reasons for the reviews to be bad, and the only real advantage is that it tastes good.

Exterior

In Korea, people seem to call it Benzaiten a lot.

I don’t know why.. it’s a very small store located in Ginza.

From the outside, you can see these display models that look delicious.

First of all, Benzaiten’s mochi is large.

And somehow.. it has a neat, premium feel.

Interior

The store is so small that there isn’t much to photograph inside.

If you look to the right, the strawberry mochi is.. a whopping 840 yen.

That’s 7,892 KRW.

White strawberries are 1,700 yen, which is 16,000 KRW.

That’s why the rating is 3.3....

They also carry many kinds of fruit mochi, including melon and tangerine.

Just like Isshindo in Osaka. But from the appearance alone, it really feels like a luxury item.

Since it was expensive, I couldn’t buy many, so I only got two. Haha.

One was strawberry mochi and the other was pineapple mochi.

What’s unique is that they give you a string, and tell you to cut it with the string.

But because the outer layer of the glutinous rice cake is thin and soft, it cuts really cleanly, which was surprising.

Now I even think I should have tried cutting the strawberry mochi I bought elsewhere with this string...

Anyway, the fruit inside looks...

It’s truly amazing.

Can you see the vividness of that premium strawberry? This really isn’t the kind of mochi you’d eat from a convenience store......

It’s the best dessert spot in Tokyo.. and the best fruit mochi spot too..

As you know, Japanese strawberries really vary a lot depending on the product. So if they use good strawberries, the price of strawberry mochi would naturally have to be higher.

The pineapple was also incredibly substantial.

An indescribably delicious taste....

Strawberry mochi just looks delicious even when you’re only looking at it.

It tastes even better when you eat it. Japanese people often call it “ofuku,” but honestly I’m not sure what the exact meaning or difference is..

The white coating lined inside the outermost layer of mochi creates synergy with the strawberry and delivers incredible deliciousness.

Ah.. it’s hard to describe any further—my life’s best strawberry mochi. I’ll just call it strawberry mochi.

I can confidently say the pineapple mochi was also the most delicious pineapple mochi of my life.

Of course that’s because the fruit itself was delicious, right? Even now, my mouth is watering as I look at it... it had such a substantial texture, was sweet, and refreshing...

I think it was mochi in its most perfect form.

I was happy..

When you go to Japan, there are so many really delicious foods, right? You’re busy trying this and that, and desserts are probably one of them.

There are many stylish and delicious cafés, and plenty of dessert streets too, but no matter when I visit, I always make sure to eat plenty of strawberry mochi before coming back. It’s also a dessert you can’t bring back to Korea~

The goal of this Tokyo strawberry mochi tour was to find strawberry mochi that tastes better than Osaka’s Isshindo.

Actually, since mochi gets better when it’s filled with excellent fruit, I know southern regions have the advantage... but I somehow thought Tokyo might have it too...

Benzaiten (Kakuōzan Furūtsu Daifuku Benzaiten Ginza Shop), which I found in Ginza, is a place I’m grateful to for letting me try the mochi of a lifetime.

If you look at the Google reviews, they also make them with Shine Muscat grapes, persimmons, mangoes, peaches, and more.. If I get the chance, I definitely want to go back and try more of them!

It’s really, really, incredibly delicious, but you should know before visiting that it costs more than twice as much. Haha. (And the service isn’t that great..)

I thought Benzaiten was the tastiest, but Suzukake is also an outstanding place. And since it’s in Isetan Department Store and Azabudai Hills, it’s easy to get to.

The prices are excellent, and the other desserts are really tasty too, so if you want something easy to enjoy again and again - and in larger amounts - Suzukake is the one to choose.

Lastly, Akebono Senbei Ginza Main Store had the biggest crowd, and it’s also fairly well known in Korea, so I stopped by there for comparison.

In the end, I don’t think I’ll revisit this one. If you can go to Suzukake or Benzaiten, I wouldn’t really recommend it. Haha..

I’m planning to write a few additional posts about restaurants I visited during my trip to Japan.

See you in the next post~!

Thank you for reading my personally paid-for restaurant reviews today as well,

I’ll continue to become a memorable restaurant curator with carefully selected posts. :)

This has been Dentist Dr. Baek, dreaming of becoming a master of implants and a gourmet.

Thank you.!!