Riding the bus for about 8-minutes from Kintetsu Nara Station a cute sweets looking building comes into view.

Purin no Mori café was created due to the president’s dream of, well, making pudding in a pudding. This is the main shop for Mahoroba Daibutsu Pudding, which is now a Nara Prefecture standard.

The Nara pudding was originally a dessert that a couple served at their pasta restaurant and became commercialized. In 2007 it received the Nara Prefecture Tourism Gift Award and after receiving so much praise they converted the shop into a pudding specialty shop.

Mahoroba Daibutsu Pudding was made by the couple filled with love, they made it so it has a “kind motherly flavor” so even otherwise picky eaters would enjoy it. Pudding come cute jars which can be used for other stuff later. There are big and small sizes and the flavor and texture changes slightly.

The large size puddings are made with simple ingredients: milk, fresh cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla beans. They have a nostalgic taste—something like what a mother would make for her child; they have a slightly thick texture. The large size comes in 2 flavors: standard custard and Nara Prefecture’s tea, Yamato Cha.

Compared to the large size puddings, the small size has a silkier and smoother texture. If you have to compare them, the large size reminds us of a moms country cooking and the small one has more of a fancy city style.

There are 6 flavors: custard, Yamato Cha, rare cheesecake, chocolate, cappuccino, and local sake from Yamato. Each has different qualities; for instance, the Yamato Tea uses red bean paste instead of caramel at the bottom to give a more Japanese sweetness. The cappuccino flavor has a freshly ground espresso aroma which gives the pudding great taste.

Another popular product is the Shiroi Shika no Purin (White Deer Pudding) with a cute picture of a deer. It is a white pudding made with the image of a white deer, which is considered to be god’s messenger.

They have 3 different flavors of Mont Blanc chestnut, yogurt, and white coffee. The gap between the white color and coffee flavor is somewhat shocking to the senses, also the recipe is a secret. It is very unique and we recommend it.

They also have cherry blossom flavored Sakura Pudding and rice pudding made from 4 colored ancient rice, Shishinju Kodaimai Pudding

Also, you can forget about the soft ice cream that is limited to the main store. Depending on the day 70% of the customers will order it.

There are other stores that sell Mahoroba Daibutsu Pudding, however, the soft cream can only be enjoyed here.

They have three flavors of ice cream: pudding, custard, and caramel. The pudding flavor is a mix of caramel and custard, by eating both flavors at once it creates a pudding flavor.

You can get the pudding and soft serve to go, however we recommend eating at the store. The wellhole style store has counter seats, table seats, and booth seats on the first and second floor.

Each seat is made from different kinds of wood, such as walnut, cherry, Japanese zelkova and monkeypod. It’s like a maze and almost like entering a Nara pudding forest.

On a nice day, you can also eat on the lawn outside. It is equipped with swings and hammocks, a perfect place for adults and children to have fun.

Mr. Takagishi said, “pudding doesn’t last long, so we have other Nara gifts that will last longer.” They sell coffee, sundries with the Mahoroba Pudding Daibutsu picture, jam that looks like pudding and pudding flavored tea—so make sure to check it out!

Fun, delicious and cute! Mahoroba Daibutsu Pudding Honten Purin no Mori Café. Come visit for a sweet relaxing time.