Anmitsu — agar jelly with azuki paste & brown-sugar syrup
Mihashi is Ueno's benchmark kanmidokoro, a sit-down sweets parlour that has been slicing kanten jelly into its signature anmitsu since 1948, right across from the park's entrance near Keisei Ueno Station.
The dish that built the reputation is the anmitsu itself: cubes of firm, faintly grassy agar jelly (kanten, not gelatin, which is why the plain version is naturally free of animal products) topped with a mound of Hokkaido azuki anko, plus a small pitcher of dark Okinawan kuromitsu you pour over yourself at the table. Order the cream version and it arrives with a scoop of soft-serve; ask for shiratama and you get chewy mochi balls folded in instead -- either way it's a fuller dessert than the name suggests, closer to a light meal than a snack. The menu also rotates in seasonal kakigori shaved ice through summer (a blueberry version was on offer this July), and the roasted hojicha anmitsu is a quieter, less sweet alternative to the classic.
The room itself is unfussy: about 70 seats at simple tables, no reservations taken, and a queue that's near-constant around lunchtime but moves fast, since most people are in and out with a single dessert. There's an English menu with photos, so ordering doesn't require any Japanese, and the shop takes credit cards and electronic money alongside cash. Vegetarians should note the distinction that matters here: plain anmitsu is dairy-free by nature, but the moment cream or soft-serve gets added, it isn't. Hours run 10:30am to 9pm daily, last order 8:30pm.
✓ Last verified Jul 2026
Hours and details can change — please confirm before you visit.
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