吉祥寺の街外れにある御菓子司の看板を掲げる和菓子屋さんだ。まさに街外れで吉祥寺という賑やかさから随分外れたところにある小さな和菓子屋である。聞けばテレビ番組のお土産にしたい菓子ランキングの2位の人気商品をもつのだそうだ。たしかに「わざわざ」訪れるお客さんは多い。
ちょうどきんつばを焼いていた。親子二代で焼き、お母さんが袋詰兼検品だ。淡々と焼かれるその量に驚かされる。アンコと薄い皮の兼ね合いがきんつばの美味しさだと話してくれた、ついでデパートに卸すのはもう少し上品に焼くのだと笑って付け加えた。 季節の風雅の上生菓子の繊細さと、豪放なきんつば、どちらも甘いお菓子なのに甘さの味をまるで変えてくるのが和菓子屋の魅力だ。
Kobaido is a confectionery of Japanese traditional sweets. This small shop is located at the edge of Kichijoji, away from the center of the busy town.
This confectionery makes the sweets which was ranked the second best for the present in some TV show. In fact, there are many customers come all the way to buy that sweets.
When I visited them, they (a father and his son) were making the sweets called Kintsuba. Mother takes the part of inspection and packing.
It’s surprising to see so many Kintsubas made by those two and also they seem that they are uninterested about it.
The balance between the amount of An (red bean jam) and it’s thin skin is the secret of the taste, the father said. Then he smiled and added that he would make them a bit more elegant when they sell them to the department store.
The delicate taste of the finest soft fresh Japanese sweets and this simple Kintsuba, both are so called sweets, and yet they give us totally different taste, and that must be the appealing point of Japanese confectionerty.
