Japanese Sweets

At the South Bay Chowhound we ate at a Japanese Sweet Shop,Shuei-do Manju Shop, 217 Jackson St., (between Fifth and Sixth Streets),San Jose; [phone]. Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday; noon-6 p.m. Wednesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday; closedTuesday. Choose from a daily selection of 14-16 kinds of pastries.

Just wanted to report there are other Japanese pastry places that makes these manju's, haven't been.

Benkyo-do, 1747 Buchanan St. (at Sutter Street) , San Francisco; [phone]. Open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. A wide array of manju,wagashi and daifuku.(From SF Chronicle Oct 18, 2000 Linda Furiya)

Also from SF Chronicle Oct 18, 2000 by Linda Furiya
Kansendo Japanese Pastry Shop, Kintetsu Building, lower level, 1825 Post St., San Francisco; [phone]. Open noon-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. A
smaller selection of pastries, with a minimum purchase of four pieces. (Is this still in business?)
--May's Coffee Shop, Kintetsu Mall, lower level, 1737 Post St. (at Buchanan Street), San Francisco; [phone]. Open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.
For $1.25 apiece, I get my quick okashi fix from a fish-shaped waffle called taiyaki. Cooked on a griddle before your eyes, then wrapped in wax paper, be careful not to burn your tongue on the hot filling.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

A clarification, did you get the taiyaki from the Shuei-do Manju shop? If not, what did you try on Saturday?

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

Melanie,
We had manju at Shuei-do Manju shop. 217 Jackson St., (between Fifth and Sixth Streets),San Jose; [phone]. Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday; noon-6 p.m. Wednesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday; closed Tuesday. Choose from a daily selection of 14-16 kinds of pastries.

If you want taiyaki you need to go to May's Coffee Shop, 1737 Post St (at Buchanan St) SF. That bit was copied and pasted from the SF Chronicle Oct 18, 2000 article by Linda Furiya).

Sorry for the confusion.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

I posted the following before. The link will lead to the Chronicle's article about Benkyodo.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

Thanks for this very complete listing of places to get fresh o-manju. As far as I know, these places you mentioned are the only shops where you can buy o-manju in the Bay Area. Alas, the best one, Yamada Seika, formerly on Sutter Street near Fillmore closed several years ago. They were the main suppliers of sweets for the Urasenke Tea School.

I went to Yamada Seika many times. I do not know what went wrong.

On the other hand, Shuei-do in San Jose has been promoting it store in many ways including the following Web page.

Link: http://www.japantownsanjose.org/merch...

The couple who ran Yamada Seika retired and returned to Japan. Their children were not interested in carrying on the business. The latter reason is likely to sink the remaining o-manju shops in the Bay Area eventually. This type of business is really just a labor of love.