August 25, 2009

Hogetsu and a Hiatus

Here is a story about my last stop from my past SD trip earlier this month.

I had read about Hogetsu Bakery on mmm-yoso!!! and had been wanting to check them out for a bit. Read about Kirk's visit here or just search "hogetsu" on the site...you will find many posts there.

It was a pretty far drive from Pacific Beach...at least it felt like it. As I got off the exit and onto 3rd Avenue, I realized I hadn't written down the address. *#$*@$! By some miracle, I turned into a plaza that I thought it was in and got very very lucky. I should have immediately taken that as a sign to drive straight to Barona to test my luck even further at the tables (damn I've had some fun and sad (mostly sad) times there), but I had to get home.

It's a small little mom and pops store that makes and sells manjoo, mochi, and other Japanese snacks/candies/drinks. Can someone tell me the difference between manjoo and mochi? Are they the same? Is mochi a type of manjoo?


I selected a little bit of this and that and went home. I got 12, and I think the total price was around $15.


Some of these were too pretty to eat. I only had one or two mochi (the two in the center), and I found the outside to be very soft, unlike the chewy ones I've only had. The rest were for my parents. My dad liked it, but my mom thought the stuff they sell in Little Tokyo was better.

Hogetsu
1210 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911
Tues-Sat 10:00 - 4:00 PM

I've also read that Mitsuwa, Nijiya, and even Zion sell stuff from Hogetsu if you don't want to drive down to Chula Vista. Depends where you're coming from I suppose, but I think it's a cool spot to check out.


Summer break is over, and school and work are back in session. I've also got Brazilian Jujitsu tonight. I signed up to have a break from the monotony of my science classes. Should be pretty fun.

4 posts in a row, I've got a nice streak going on here, but it's only because I've been putting off the inevitable. I'm going to take a break from blogging in an effort to get on my apps...I hope to finish within the next two weeks, God willing. See ya in a bit.

6 rah rah rahs:

Dennis K. said...

Cool Sawyer, I still haven't had a chance to check out the place though I've tried their sweets.
As far as I know Manju is more flaky cake like with the sweet bean paste filling but I'm not exactly sure of the ingredients of this outer "cake" would be.
Mochi is rice cake (tteok?). Since it's sometimes filled with the bean paste as well I can see how the two can be confused. Good luck with your apps!

Anonymous said...

I haven't drove down that far to try Hogetsu either. Although I have the address on a sticky note sitting at the bottom of my purse for months now.

Good luck on the apps!

kirbie said...

Good luck on apps!
As far as I know, mochi are made of rice flour. So all the ones with the sticky, chewy rice flour are mochi. The ones with the cookie, flaky crust outside or the pretty jelly outside are manju. My mom explained this to me better last time, but I forgot what she told me. Heh.

KirkK said...

Hey Sawyer - From what I understand... Mochi = rice cakes made from rice flour (mochiko) without filling. Most of the time Manju = confections made with either wheat or rice flour that has been filled, usually with some sweet bean paste, and either steamed or baked. In Hawaii it is different, and I was confused when I first moved to the mainland. BTW, the person who makes the manju at Hogetsu used to work at Fu-getsu Do in Little Tokyo before moving on to San Diego a few decades ago.

imjustatree said...

hey all thanks for the help. now i know the diff! my grandpa just got me some manjoo from little tokyo a little while ago and it was pretty fresh and good! gres are done and apps are left, can't wait to finish

Mary said...

I love mochi so much. Haven't driven to Chula Vista to get it, but I might be inspired to. So many places to try, so little time.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin