This is an ice lolly with sakura-flavored and salty sakura-flavored ice cream, sakura-flavored shaved ice, "mochi sauce", and red bean paste. Limited quantity and seasonal flavors.
I also found it at a convenience store in the neighborhood. There was also a limited-time ice cream "Sakura Mochi Monaka" (140 yen including tax) sold by Sentan right next to it, so I decided to compare it with Gari-gari-kun. Today (March 3rd) was the Doll's Festival.
● There is no "Sakura leaf", but almost Sakura mochi
Gari-gari-kun Rich Sakuramochi is made from the outside in four layers: pink (sakura-flavored ice cream), pink (sakura-flavored shaved ice), white (mochi sauce), and brown (bean paste). At first glance, it's all pink, but when you look at the components, you can expect a taste that is very close to the real Sakuramochi.
On the other hand, Sentan's Sakura Mochi Monaka is made by layering sakura-flavored ice cream with mochi sauce and cherry bean paste with cherry leaves and sandwiching it with monaka skin. It's bigger than Gari-gari and has a little more calories.
● I prefer Sakuramochi Monaka
I'm sorry, Gari-gari. I liked Sakuramochi Monaka better. But in the first half, Gari-gari was a better impression.
Gari-gari has a strong cherry blossom flavor as a whole. And the mochi sauce is only in the upper half. This mochi sauce is mochi-mochi and delicious! When I bite into it, the cherry-flavored ice cream and the sticky glutinous sauce were entwined in my mouth, and it certainly seemed like I was eating sakura mochi.
In addition, the bean paste in the center contains the grains of azuki beans, which gives it a salty taste. Since there are no leaves of cherry blossoms, this saltiness perfectly reproduces the saltiness (leaf part) of sakura mochi.
... However, the time to enjoy mochi sauce, red bean paste and cherry ice cream at the same time is a little short. Only when these three are combined will it be completed as Sakuramochi. I finish eating the mochi sauce in the first half, so if I compare it to a movie, I couldn't deny the feeling that I had already reached the climax 30 minutes after the start and watched it with inertia in the second half.
On the other hand, I was impressed by the fact that Sentan's Sakuramochi Monaka enjoyed the taste of Sakuramochi almost anywhere.
The creamy ice cream and the smooth cherry blossom bean paste are modest in their claims. It has an elegant taste with a fluffy scent that comes out of your nose after you eat it. Also, the glutinous sauce sandwiched between the ice cream and the skin was inferior to Gari-gari in the chewy texture, but I was happy that it was evenly contained in the whole. It is also delicious to eat by combining it with monaka skin.
● If you look closely, it was "Kanto style" and "Kansai style"!
So, after I finished eating, I noticed that the image of Sakuramochi drawn on each package was a different type.
Gari-gari is Kanto style, and Sakuramochi Monaka is Kansai style. If you ask, Akagi Nyugyo, which sells Gari-gari, is Saitama, and Sentan (Hayashikazuji), who sells cherry blossoms, is an Osaka company. It was made with the image of a different sakuramochi in the first place, so it was natural that the taste was different.
Which do you like better?