The select shop "Gallery Basho" (Hirosaki-shi Sotozaki, TEL 0172-27-0033 ) started selling anmitsu on May 6th.

The same select shop that orders the works of artists from all over the country. Anmitsu had been sold only for takeout since September last year, but from the same day, it prepared a small rise for eat-in and started selling anmitsu inside the store.

"Gallery Basho" was opened in April 2004 by renovating the site of the tonkatsu restaurant "Tenkatsu" into a select shop. The owner, Yoko Ohira, said, "My father started the shop, but my mother changed the industry into a select shop, and my daughter and my son have continued it for three generations." The name of the shop comes from the Japanese word 'bashofu', which means 'lasting for a long time'.

Mr. Ohira said that he came up with the idea of anmitsu because he wanted to make people smile during the corona crisis, which had a sense of blockage. "In 2021, the 'Pink Bear' that I used to go to closed, and I wanted to eat the anmitsu from that store again, so I recreated it while remembering it," he said. "It's still far from being reproduced," he said.

The price is 770 yen. Take out is 550 yen. Eat-in comes with vanilla and matcha ice cream. The agar and honey are handmade, and the fruits vary according to the season. "Pink Bear's anmitsu always fills me up. Our goal is to make anmitsu that everyone will enjoy," says Mr. Ohira.

According to Mr. Ohira, the customer base expanded when he started serving anmitsu. "Previously, the main customer base was artists who liked handicrafts, but now men and children with a sweet tooth are also coming. We were only going to do take-out, but there were many requests for eat-in," he said with a smile. "The number of followers on SNS has more than tripled," he said.

The line-up of works changes depending on the season, and the store also plans events throughout the year. "It's important to have as many people as possible see the artist's handiwork," Ohira said.

Business hours are from 10:00 to 17:00. Closed on Mondays.