monna" is located at the end of a road one street off Chawan-zaka, which is crowded with tourists. The owner is Yusuke Kadona, who honed his skills as a wagashi craftsman at a famous Kyoto store and has been involved in the production of warabimochi for many years. He opened the store in 2022 with the concept of "bringing happiness to the mouths of people all over Japan and the world with wagashi," drawing on his past experience. [The specialty of [monna] is the strawbutter cake, which is made with domestically produced ingredients. The straw dough is produced in Kagoshima, the wasanbon in Hyogo, and other high-quality domestically produced ingredients are carefully selected. The golden ratio of warabi flour and wasanbon (a type of rice flour produced in Japan) is blended through a trial-and-error process. It is only through the skills of craftsmen cultivated over many years that they are able to knead this difficult-to-handle flour into perfect warabi-mochi. The store does not use machines, but carefully makes each one by hand, and the number of mochi made in a day is limited, so be sure to visit the store early.
Warabimochi are mainly for take-out, but can also be eaten in at the tables in front of the store. During the summer, shaved ice with strawbimochi is also available, and is recommended for cooling down after a day of strolling in Kiyomizu. In response to customer feedback, the shop has conducted extensive research and is now able to ship nationwide even strawbutter strawbimochi, which are difficult to keep for a long period of time. Enjoy monna's warabimochi as a souvenir of Kyoto, or order some to enjoy at home.