[Kouda Confectionery Store in Setana] Iwashu Cream Puff with Only A Hour of Flavor Expiration Date

Kouda Confectionery Store

Kouda Confectionery Store (甲田菓子店) is a long-established Japanese confectionery store founded in 1900 in Setana town located in the northwest part of Hakodate city, and is near Risshozan Park (立象山公園), Sanbonsugi-iwa Rocks (三本杉) and Setana Isaribi Park (せたな漁火公園). Mr. Kazuya Kouda (甲田 和也) is a store owner at present. The store is well-known for Iwashu Cream Puff (岩シュー) using the Sanbonsugi-iwa Rocks, a symbol of the Setana, as a motif. The rugged appearance looks like rocks, and cream puff dough is crispy. A shop clerk puts fresh custard cream into it just after odering, and its flavor expiration date is only a hour, so it is famous as very short flavor expiration date. Except it, they also sereve baked confectioneries, Japanese confectioneries and rice crackers.

Risshozan Observation Deck

Risshozan Observation Deck (立象山展望台) is a viewing point in the center of Setana town located in the northwest part of Hakodate city, and 2-story observation deck is built on the mountaintop of Mt. Risshozan (立象山) of about 95 m elevation. Setana town and windmills, Okushiri Island and the Sea of Japan, Sanbonsugi-iwa Rocks (三本杉), a symbol of Setana, can be viewed from here. Views are very comfortable if it is the fine weather. The starry sky and the sunset seem to look beautiful. By the way, its name was named after its shape in the distance, and Ri (立) means "Stand" in English, and sho (象) means "An elephant" in English. The Setana Youth Travel Village (せたな青少年旅行村) is near the Risshozan Observation Deck. Admission free. A parking lot is free of charge. Read More

The apperance of the store has a typical atmosphere of an old Japanese confectionery store. The store is not large, but the sunny store with large windows is feeling good. A place for custmers to enjoy foods and drinks is not provided.

Iwashu Cream Puff

I visited here to eat the Iwashu Cream Puff around 14:00 on a weekday. 3 types of the Iwashu Cream Puff, White Iwashu Cream Puff (白岩シュー), Mocha Iwashu Cream Puff (モカ岩シュー) and Saku-saku-custar Pie (サクサクカスター) are sold for JPY 140 per one. Those are not sold every day, and are sold only on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and National Holidays. Customers come from whole Hokkaido and outside Hokkaido, and form a line at the store on weekends. They come to buy the Iwashu Cream Puff, so that is great! Since I was there, I bought all types of the Iwashu Cream Puff. Then I went to the Sanbonsugiiwa Rocks for 5 minutes on foot.

First I ate the White Iwashu Cream Puff. Its diameter was around 5 cm, and the appearance looked like colummer joint of the Sanbonsugi-iwa Rocks, and the texture was like a crispy cookie. The fresh custard cream with vanilla beans was very rich taste, and was not too sweet. It was very tasty!

The appearance of the Mocha Iwashu Cream Puff was same as the White Iwashu Cream Puff. Those were sold separately, so I gussed that there was a difference. But the texture was same as the White Iwashu Cream Puff. The mocha custard cream was less sweet than the custard cream of the White Iwashu Cream Puff, and I felt that the mocha custard cream was not as rich as the custard cream, so I liked the White Iwashu Cream Puff.

As for the Saku-saku-custar Pie, crispy pie crust had the rich custard cream inside, too. I thougt that it was same as the rich custard cream of the White Iwashu Cream Puff. The crispy texture went well with the custard cream. This was tasty, too! Thanks for the tasty cream puffs.

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Setana. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.

Kitahiyama Onsen

Onsen Hotel Kitahiyama(温泉ホテル きたひやま)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten

Kaitorima Onsen

Awabisan-so(あわび山荘)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Taisei Campsite(大成野営場)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten