For those whom have been looking around social media and actively scrolling through food-related content on the F&B establishments all across the island, it is likely so that one would have come across Warabimochi Kamakura at one point of time. A brand that hails from Japan with more than 50 outlets operating within the country, Warabimochi Kamakura had opened their first outpost in Singapore a couple of months ago at the new One Holland Village shopping mall; itself garnering a sizeable crowd that resulted in long queues for their Warabimochi and Warabimochi drinks that often sees the outlet sold out of their products before closing time. Warabimochi Kamakura had since opened their second location in Singapore; this time round situated at the ground floor of Taste Orchard (i.e. the building formerly known as OG Orchard Point), and itself taking a kiosk space that is located beside the outlet of Chirashi King Kong there and also in front of YUGO Marshmallow Biscuits 小玉雪Q酥. Whilst being a kiosk that operates as a takeaway shop much like its One Holland Village location, patrons can still possibly do a dine-in for Warabimochi Kamakura’s Taste Orchard location due to sheer amount of communal dine-in seating space situated within Taste Orchard — all that without the mad queues that one might experience at the outlet at One Holland Village. The menu at Warabimochi Kamakura’s location at Taste Orchard is pretty much the same as that of their One Holland Village location; the menu is being split into categories consisting of Warabimochi, Warabimochi Drinks and Drinks; the former two being mostly the reason why crowds have been forming up at the One Holland Village location ever since its opening.

Having read quite a fair bit about Warabimochi Kamakura via the various posts mentioning the establishment on social media, one thing of which that w could not miss out on was the Warabimochi; this is especially so considering how we are pretty much fans of Warabimochi, and have been craving for one for quite sometime prior to our visit to Warabimochi Kamakura at their Taste Orchard location. Warabimochi Kamakura primarily serves their Warabimochi in three sizes — 2-piece cup, 5-piece box or a 10-piece box. Other options include the ability to add a scoop of ice-cream for the 2-piece cup, as well as the option to have the 10-piece box served in a Paulownia Wooden Box. We went with 5-piece box for our order. All orders for the Warabimochi comes with a small container of Kuromitsu Syrup on the side; any requests for more Kuromitsu Syrup would be considered chargeable. Coming in a paper box, the Warabimochi comes in slabs arranged neatly in the box; the Warabimochi also coming with a good portion of Kinako powder that coats the Warabimochi. Whilst the Warabimochi is suitably dense and rather sticky making it a little difficult to break them into smaller bite-sized pieces. That being said, each piece is soft and sticky — we were quite surprised by its consistency considering how it was not particularly squishy nor chewy when compared to other more commercially-made Warabimochi that we have had in the past; itself, for a lack of a better term, being more slime-like. It is also well noted that the Warabimochi also does not stick to the teeth as well. The addition of Kinako powder and Kuronitsu is a very classic combination to the Warabimochi; one that adds a nutty note and an earthy and sweet flavour profile to the Warabimochi.

There has also been quite a lot of mentions on the Warabimochi Drinks which Warabimochi Kamakura serves up — while most of the posts mentioned about the Strawberry Milk variant, the Strawberry variants of the Warabimochi Drink were sold out during our visit. We found ourselves going for the Tenku No Houjicha which is essentially unsweetened Houjicha with whipped cream featuring a brown sugar mochi base. Patrons are instructed to give the Warabimochi Drink a good stir before taking a sip to break up the mochi; the addition of the mochi adds sweetness to the roasty and earthy Houjicha; all that with some soft, chewy and slurpy mochi bits to chew on. Considering the quality of the Warabimochi that is being served at Warabimochi Kamakura, it is little surprise how the establishment has garnered such a crowd that are looking forward to give their offerings a try — their Warabimochi would come off as one of the best, if not the best Warabimochi that we have come across around the island thus far. That being said, we would probably prefer to give them a go at their Taste Orchard location — there is lesser of a crowd that translate to significantly shorter waiting times with lesser chances of items selling out in the middle of the day; we also probably would not choose to queue in-line for extensive periods of time over it (or any food item in particular). One can only wonder if the brand will make a further expansion across the island given its popularity here; though definitely a place to add to the bucket list of places to try especially for Warabimochi lovers out there!