Warabimochi Kamakura (East Vic Park)

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Before reading ❗️

The details 📝

Disclaimer
We were invited to a tasting at Warabimochi Kamakura. We did not pay for the food and drink shown. All opinions are ours and have not been shared with Warabimochi Kamakura prior to posting.

Warabimochi Kamakura (Kamakura) is a Japanese chain specialising in warabimochi, with over 50 stores in Japan since its 1991 founding. It has expanded to Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and most recently, Perth, Australia.

At time of writing, Warabimochi Kamakura is the newest addition to Perth's expanding specialty Japanese food scene (with Perth's first Japanese Chinese machi chuka restaurant - Senchan, that also opened the week earlier).

The chain, as the name implies, specialises in warabi mochi, one of the many types of mochi. Warabi mochi is one of the lesser known types of mochi outside of Japan and is made of warabi starch or bracken starch (a type of fern). Consistency wise, it differs from your typical sticky, glutinous mochi. Rather, it has a jelly, chewy like texture.

We sat down with Jason, one of the partners behind Warabimochi Kamakura.

"The Perth Kamakura store acts as the master franchise" he tells us.

"One of my business partners was the first to franchise Kamakura outside of Japan. She operates the branches in Hong Kong."

"The plan is to eventually expand to Sydney and Melbourne. Perth will act as the central kitchen where the mochi is produced and then shipped out".

"Specialty equipment was imported from Japan to produce the mochi and it had to be rewired to work with the Australian 240V power. It set us back over $20,000 AUD".

Most ingredients are sourced directly from Japan. For example, Kamakura’s kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) is brewed in-store using black rock sugar from Okinawa, and their kinako (soy powder) is roasted at higher temperatures for a richer flavour

Given the fact that the ingredients literally are flown from Japan, I think Kamakura's pricing is reasonable.

Using a year old menu, 10 pieces of Kamakura's mochi will set you back the equivalent of $14.14 AUD in Japan (at current exchange rate of 1 AUD = 99 JPY in late September 2024). Kamakura's pricing in Australia is $16.8. Not a bad deal at all.

Drink pricing isn't too far off what one would pay at bubble tea competitors. You can expect to pay around $9 - $10 for some drinks at Machi Machi and around $8 - $9 for a yoghurt drink with mochi toppings at Yomoo.

As for matcha, Kamakura use Niigata based Asakawaen matcha, who've been around since 1936. Houjicha (roasted green tea) comes from Tenku no Hojicha.

When we visited, the store was still preparing for grand opening so I didn't really take any of my usual interior snaps. But the one thing that caught my eye was this beautiful lampshade.

Upon further research, I discovered that the shade is crafted by Hiyoshiya, a Kyoto-based artisan with a legacy of producing traditional Japanese umbrellas (wagasa) for 160 years and across five generations.

Although the exact lampshade can't be purchased as it's a original design for Kamakura, similar ones can be. They'll set you back around $700 alone and are crafted from the finest handmade Japanese paper and select bamboo sourced from Kyoto. I love this attention to detail and consistency across their stores.

Food & drink

Onto the mochi itself. Being a large Japanese franchise, I had a confidence that the quality of the product would be there from the get go. And it was. Each bite was soft and jelly-like while maintaining the characteristic chewiness of mochi.

Apparently there will be a Japanese representative from Kamakura Japan on opening day and on-going, who will ensure quality standards are met.

Each box of mochi was dusted in a generous layer of kinako, adding a rich flavour to each bite. The concentrated brown sugar syrup adds hints of sweetness. We didn't need much of it.

Each box of mochi was generously dusted with kinako, giving a rich flavour to every bite, while the concentrated brown sugar syrup provided just the right hint of sweetness. We didn't find it necessary to use much syrup.

We appreciated the small details, such as the hybrid Japanese-Chinese sticker sealing each box, which includes the use-by date and identifies it as a product of Warabimochi Kamakura Perth.

We'll definitely come back for their warabi mochi with matcha. I think their 2pc warabi mochi with vanilla ice-cream might the "sweet spot" thing to get as a dessert / sweet treat.

Kakigori, or shaved ice, is relatively rare in Perth. Unlike bingsu, which has a finer powdery texture, kakigori features coarser layers of ice.

Matcha flavour here was lovely and paired well with the chewy shiratama mochi and sweet redbean. Clean, light and "not too sweet" overall.

Moe over at Yunomi, did an excellent write up on Uji kintoki if you'd like to read more on it.

With over a dozen flavours available, I’ve heard that their fresh tomato (yes, tomato) flavour comes highly recommended—definitely one to try next time!

And lastly, the drinks.

Frankly, we didn't pay as much attention on them, but both were good 😅. Hit up our friend @brb.bbt as I'm sure she'll post about it at some point.

Here are my quick tasting notes: the Asakawaen matcha had a strong, earthy, grassy flavour, while the Luxury strawberry milk was pleasantly sweetened by the strawberries. The silky smooth warabi mochi added a lovely texture to each drink.

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