Takayama Street Food: Owara Tamaten

20071009TakayamaStreetFoodOwaraTamatenVendor.jpg

I just fell in love with this happy chappy, the purveyor of owara tamaten, little cubes of grilled honey-flavoured meringuey/marshmallowy goodness. His cheeky chuckle brought a smile to our faces as I held up two fingers and said “owara tamaten o futatsu kudasai” (”I’ll have two please”).

20071009TakayamaStreetFoodOwaraTamatenSign.jpg

A delightful translation of this unusual little treat was posted above the street stall for the benefit of tourists (such as us). Interesting to note that agar-agar, a vegetable gelatin derived from seaweed, is used as the setting agent.

20071009TakayamaStreetFoodOwaraTamatenPreparation.jpg

The dexterity he displayed as he picked up the soft meringue cubes with chopsticks was very impressive. They were submerged into a mixture of egg yolk, honey and mirin (for colour and taste), allowed to drip dry and then deposited on a hot plate to toast.

They taste as amazing as they sound and look - cloudy puffs of eggy sweetness, tinged with a sweet honeyed outer coating. You can purchase them in take-away packs, but to eat them straight off the grill became one of those eye-closing, mouth-savouring moments.

20071009TakayamaStreetFoodOwaraTamaten.jpg


4 Responses to “Takayama Street Food: Owara Tamaten”

  1. Anna said...

    Double-oooohhhh… I’m salivating. It’s true that there is simply too much good food in the world.

    11:36 pm - April 27th, 2008
  2. mellie said...

    Uh huh…I think that every time I walk past the doughtnut van at the Vic Market ;-)

    6:35 am - April 28th, 2008
  3. Anonymous said...

    I want to shove my face into that cube of gooey crispy looking goodness. Is that wrong?

    12:45 pm - April 28th, 2008
  4. mellie said...

    Hey anon - Not wrong at all…cause that is exactly what I did when I saw them :-)

    12:22 pm - April 29th, 2008

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