A note on the words: dango are small chewy dumplings of pounded rice flour, threaded onto a bamboo skewer and eaten a few at a time. Some are grilled over coals and brushed with soy sauce; others are coated in the sweet red bean paste that is the backbone of Japanese confectionery. Dagashi are the cheap penny sweets Japanese children buy with pocket money, and a dagashi shop sells nothing else. Kishimojin is a guardian deity of children and childbirth in Japanese Buddhism.
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Osendango on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. So, I had something to take care of in Ikebukuro. I turned up a little earlier than I’d arranged, so to kill the time I wandered over to Kishimojin. It’s a fair way from Ikebukuro Station, but from Higashi-Ikebukuro you can walk it no problem. Step into the temple grounds and there they still are, unchanged: the dagashi shop selling penny sweets, and the dango shop. Still going, then! So I decided to have a little dango.
Two skewers: 648 yen
That’s gone up by about 40 yen since I was last here four years ago, but given how prices have been lately it’s almost too kind.
The menu is the same as ever: grilled dango and sweet red bean dango. It seems you can have one of each, or make them both red bean, whatever you like. Taking a package home is nice too, but if you eat here they treat you to a cup of hot tea, which is lovely! For now I decided to have two skewers on the spot.
And after a little while, two skewers of dango.
Mmm, that looks good.
Grilled dango with a nice bit of char on it, and dango wrapped in red bean paste. I take a bite of the charred one and — yes, that’s good. The soy sauce flavor is faint. Not salty at all, a plain, unfussy taste that lets you enjoy the dango itself. I’m sure it would be even better straight off the grill, but even gone cold it’s properly good, and soft and pleasant. As for the red bean one, the paste isn’t too sweet either — plainly seasoned in the same way. If I had to pick, I think I like the red bean one more. That not-too-sweet paste is really good.
A very good dango to have along on a walk. On the tray there’s the history of Osendango.
If reading it makes you curious, do go and pay them a visit. For a place in Ikebukuro it’s quiet, and it’s lovely!
From the Edo period onward the grounds of Zoshigaya Kishimojin were lined with many teahouses and eating places. With the passing of time they disappeared one by one, and voices began to be heard asking for the return of the “osendango” that one of those teahouses had sold. Kishimojin is said to have had a thousand children, and the name “Osen” comes from that. The small dumplings, five to a skewer, carry a prayer for safe childbirth, for the raising of children, and for the prospering of one’s line.
The Osendango leaflet
Osendango (Japanese sweets cafe / Zoshigaya Station (Tokyo Metro), Kishibojinmae Station, Toden-Zoshigaya Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
