Today’s torrential rain cancelled a tour I had planned and left me craving some comfort. I decided to head to Minamoto Kitchoan, a Japanese bakery by the Rockefeller Center that I’d spotted on my way to the Easter Parade, and which I’d been saving for a rainy day.

The store was ridiculously serene and lined with gorgeously-presented desserts that came individually wrapped or in expensive gift boxes. They were so beautiful and perfectly crafted, and I was oohing and ahhing as if I were in a museum.

I decided to buy three – a Wagashi (a cute fish-shaped sponge filled with sweet beans), a Fukuwatashi (two thick, ridged wafers with a scrape of sweet vanilla cream between) and a Hakutoshigure (a jelly-looking cake made from beans). The three desserts came to around $9.

The Wagashi was particularly delicious, with the beans being mashed into a sort of sticky, strawberry-flavoured jam, and the sponge was gorgeously light. The Fukuwatashi was the most like a Western dessert and something I’d get again, while the bean cake was better than I thought but sill pretty bizarre. I couldn’t really figure out the consistency (which was not as jelly-like as I thought) and it wasn’t as sweet as I’d have liked.

But they were so, so pretty. I loved how the shop treated the candies as real treats, rather than just something to munch on without appreciating. What a fun experience – and a perfect pick-me-up on a rainy day.