[Tengu Manju Honpo in Iwamizawa] Tengu Manju and Deep Fried Manju with Meat Filling Are Called Local Specialty of Iwamizawa

Tengu Manju Honpo

Tengu Manju Honpo (天狗まんじゅう本舗) is a long-established manju (steam bun) shop in Iwamizawa city located in the northeastern part of Sapporo city, and has been founded since 1951. Tengu Manju (天狗まんじゅう * Tengu Steamed Bun) called a local specialty of the Iwamizawa is famous. They have 2 branches, and my visited brach is Ekimae Branch renewed in 2014, and it is near Iwamizawa Station. A place for custmers to enjoy foods and drinks is provided at the building, too, and free tea can be drunk. Counter seats and table seats are provided, so I guess that even family customers enjoy sweets.

Tengu Manju

I visited here around 09:00, just opening time, on Saturday. Visitors already came to the shop one after another, and bought a little less than 20 manju (steamed buns). I bought 3 types of the Tengu Manju (JPY 95 per one) that the most popular Manju is named from the name of the shop and 1 Deep Fried Maju with Meat Filling (あげ肉まん * JPY 110 per one) at a cash register. The prices were JPY 395 in total. It is a very reasonable price. I carried the manju to a table, and prepared for free tea myself.

I ate a pink manju immediately. The manju was the size with around 6-7 cm in diameter, and I bited it, and cherry blossom flavored strained bean paste using adzuki bean produced in Tokachi appeared. I felt that it was very sweet. Then I ate a light brown manju. It tasted brown sugar flavor, and was very sweet, too. Then I ate a white manju. Judging from manju's appearance, I did not know what did taste like. I felt that it was a little salty, and it might be salt tasted strained bean paste. Colors of thin wrapping of dough might be related to each flavors. Those strained bean pastes were too sweet to me, but it might be suitable to a sweet tooth.

Finally I ate a deep fried manju with meat filling, and it was very tasty! It was salt flavor, and was just like piroshki. By the way, a soft serve ice cream seemed to be popular. A child ate a soft serve ice cream on that day. Eating the soft serve ice cream was a typical Hokkaido style in a winter. Thanks for the tasty manju!