Hogetsu Bakery
1210 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911
(619) 422-6677
So after many, many posts about manju and mochi that I bought at Nijiya but are made at Hogetsu Bakery, I finally paid Hogetsu a visit! Previous posts on the manju and mochi I have bought can be found here, here, here and here.
I first heard about Hogetsu Bakery from Kirk of mmm-yoso. It’s a little bakery in Chula Vista where the husband makes delicious mochi and crafts beautiful manju. I love mochi and manju and have been wanting to pay this bakery a visit for a very long time, but it’s a bit out of the way, so I’ve never gotten around to it.
With the holidays coming up, I thought some handcrafted manju and fresh made mochi would make some nice gifts. So this past weekend Boyfriend and I took the trip. The bakery hours are a bit short. They are closed Sunday and Mondays and close early on the other days. On Saturday, they are open until 5:30.
It took us a while to find because the store is quite small and there was no sign on the outside! I think the signs above are under construction, so they were not up. In my excitement, I completely forgot to take any pictures of the storefront, inside or anything else other than the mochi and manju I purchased.
I arrived a bit too late on Saturday. Most of the trays were empty =(. Next time I go, I will definitely go in the morning. Since most of the trays were empty, my idea of getting boxes full of manju and mochi went out the door. Instead, I just got a few pieces.
All these beautiful treats are $1 each, which is cheaper than the ones I get from Nijiya.
After getting one of each, Boyfriend and I were making the drive home and I kept staring at all the pretty treats and was itching to try one. But I wanted to snap pictures first! Boyfriend commented that I should have gotten two of each so I could eat one in the car and then still be able to take pictures of them all. Ah well. Now I know for next time.
Well, it’s a long car ride. And unfortunately, I don’t have much self-restraint. So I did eat one of these before taking a picture. I chose a pink one, similar to the pink one in the picture. One bite, and I knew I would have to come back to Hogetsu again, and soon! Normally, I like my mochi to be very chewy. In fact, one of the problems I’ve found with japanese mochi is that it is not chewy enough. The mochi I bit into was soft. Really soft. It wasn’t chewy at all. But I loved it. It tasted so fresh and it practically melted in my mouth.
I thought these three were the prettiest:
Hogetsu Bakery on Urbanspoon
Thanks for the tip! I can’t wait to go back. The only thing keeping me from going the next day was that they were closed. We did try out a place to eat to make the drive worthwhile. I was thinking of stopping by Mariscos after seeing all your posts. Next time I go, i’ll visit it. On the drive down I was commenting to Boyfriend, “I can’t believe Kirk and the Missus make this drive so often!” It’s definitely a bit far, but I think it’s worth the drive, and it helps if you do something else in the area.
Hey Kirbie – I’m glad you finally made it doen to Hogetsu. It is a bit of a drive, even for us, so we try to make a couple of stops…usually at the Mariscos El Pescador Truck or El Poblano for a bite to make it worth our while. BTW, the weeks leading up to New Year is the important time for Manju in the Japanese household, so if you go early the selection will be among the best you’ll have all year long.
They were really good. I plan on visiting again to get more!
Hello
Wow all these manju and mochi look so delicious and mouth watering.After reading this post I must say that you have enjoyed so much.I like that you have shared all this with us.