Grill your own treats at Miyagi’s Japanese tea and dessert store

Savor your freshly grilled dango, dunked in matcha cream, or slather some mochi with zunda at this Miyagi tea shop.

Throughout the Tohoku region, you can find the Japanese tea and sweets shop Kikusuian, but Miyagi is home to special stores, known as the main stores. Unlike other locations that mainly offer takeout snacks and drinks, such as daifuku and dorayaki, the six main stores invite guests to relax in an attached restaurant and enjoy traditional Japanese meals like soba noodles and tempura rice bowls.

A particularly unique experience that you will discover on their menu is the charcoal-grilled dango, which involves grilling Miyagi specialties and dumplings yourself, creating a memorable experience that’s both tasty and fun.

With three tantalizing options available—ranging in price and luxuriousness according to the Japanese ranking system of Matsu (Pine, highest rank), Take (Bamboo, middle rank), and Ume (Plum, lowest rank)—travelers might find it difficult to choose which one to try. However, when traveling, there’s really only one option available when faced with such delicacies: the most expensive one! Once the premium Matsu set (1,580 yen [US$10.32]) is ordered via the tablet, a short wait brings forth a veritable feast of Japanese food, both savory and sweet.

What arrives at the table is an assortment of food that looks like it could form its own kaiseki meal, a traditional Japanese multi-course meal that is often seen as the ultimate form of Japanese cuisine.

The Matsu set includes two skewers of three dumplings, yomogi (mugwort) dango, two pieces of fried tofu, sasa kamaboko fish cake, square mochi, and Zao cheese baumkuchen. Accompanying your food, there is also matcha cream, mitarashi sauce (a sweet and savory sauce for dango), zunda, sweet red bean paste, soy sauce, and seasonings, like shichimi (a Japanese mixed spice) and wasabi.

Along with the food comes a personal charcoal grill, which makes the dango fluffier than cooking over an open flame would.

If that selection of food isn’t overwhelming enough, you can also choose from three drinks: green tea, coffee, or matcha. It’s also possible to have a refill for a small fee of 165 yen.

After being sufficiently impressed by the array of food, it is time to start cooking. Having so many options at once might be a nightmare for indecisive diners. Do you follow the rules of British afternoon tea and start savory, followed by sweet? Do you preserve some savory food until the end? Or do you constantly mix it up, switching back and forth between savory and sweet, constantly keeping your taste buds in suspense? It can be a difficult choice to make, but let’s start with fried tofu and fish cake for now.

The tofu soon gets a delicious-looking char and, when adorned with a splash of soy sauce and a sprinkle of shichimi, it turns into a heavenly treat with a crispy, light texture.

The sasa kamaboko fish cake, a popular souvenir from the region, is known to have a springy texture and a softness, which enhance the taste of the fish. However, grilling it lightly elevates this flavor to another level that will leave you wanting more.

Now it’s time for the sweets. First up are the dango.

After grilling them to suit your taste, it’s time to turn your eyes to the glasses of matcha cream and mitarashi sauce, which are perfectly-sized to coat them with ease.

The sweet dango and subtly bitter matcha cream make a divine pairing, showcasing that the shop’s reputation as a tea shop is well-deserved.

That’s not to say that the mitarashi sauce is any less delicious. The pleasant sweet-savory flavor is so moreish and leaves supermarket alternatives in the dust. Kikusuian has managed to balance the flavor so well that, no matter how much sauce you add, it never becomes overpowering.

That vivid green paste that’s been tempting you to taste it is zunda, a sweet edamame paste. While zunda products like ice cream and Kit Kats have become beloved nationwide throughout the years, Miyagi is their original home with its local dish of zunda mochi. This chunky edamame paste treats you to a rich, vegetable-like aftertaste. The sweet red bean taste is also able to hold its own and add a further sweetness to your dango.

With a nicely puffed-up mochi ready, your eyes turn back to the sauce and pastes. Some zunda? Sweet red bean? Soy sauce? You’re given a plentiful amount so the feeling of being spoiled for choice is present throughout the entire meal.

Wrapping it all up, there is the Zao cheese baumkuchen, which comes with a warning to watch it closely as it burns easily. The rich sweetness of this Western dessert is the perfect end to a gorgeous meal.

If the experience is still not enough for you, it’s possible to order extra food for an additional fee, although the amount you’re given is sufficient enough by itself.

The next time you’re in Miyagi, this DIY grilling experience is sure to be an unforgettable one. While the more affordable Take and Ume sets are available, it’s the Matsu set that will allow you to immerse yourself fully in the sweet and savory flavors that Kikusuian has to offer. However, if you can’t get out to Miyagi, while you’ll miss out on this fantastic experience, Kikusuian also has takeout stores selling tea and desserts in Tokyo and Yokohama.

Tagajo main store information
Kikusuian Tagajo Honten / 喜久水庵多賀城本店
Address: Miyagi-ken, Tagajo-shi, Machimae 2 chome 6-10
宮城県多賀城市町前二丁目6-10
Open: 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. (last order 7:00 p.m.)
Restaurant open: 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (last order 2:30 p.m.)

Tokyo store information
Saryo Kikusui Musashimurayama / 茶寮kikusui むさし村山店
Address: Tokyo-to, Musashimurayama-shi, Enoki 1-chome 1-3, AEON Mall Musashi Murayama 1F
東京都武蔵村山市榎一丁目1-3 イオンモールむさし村山1階
Open: 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. (last order 8:00 p.m.)

Yokohama store information
Saryo Kikusui Tressa Yokohama / 茶寮kikusui トレッサ横浜店
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama-shi, Kohoku-ku, Morookacho, 700 banchi TRESSA Yokohama Minamimune 1F
神奈川県横浜市港北区師岡町700番地 トレッサ横浜 南棟1階
Open: 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. (last order 7:00 p.m.)

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