Pancakes, but make it savory
We’ve discussed soufflé pancakes, but now we dive into the savory side of pancakes
Another day, another post about food in Japan. This time, we’re back in Osaka and checking out the local favorite, okonomiyaki.
An okonomiyaki is a type of savory pancake that dates back into the Edo period. Now, I won’t go too in-depth into the history of the dish, but it was initially called Funoyaki, served as a special dessert at Buddhist ceremonies. It eventually evolved from being a dessert into a savory pancake during the Second World War, when rice was scarce and a full meal was difficult to come by. People created the okonomiyaki by using ingredients available at the time. A typical okonomiyaki normally has a few staple ingredients including a wheat pancake batter, eggs, pork and cabbage. However, there are 2 main types of okonomiyaki; the Kansai/Osaka style and Hiroshima style. The Kansai/Osaka type typically mixes the batter with the ingredients and is grilled on both sides, with other various toppings added on top of the dish. While the Hiroshima style has the ingredients layered, starting with the pancake batter, then cabbage and other ingredients such as pork and eggs, often ending with fried noodles. Both styles of okonomiyaki are grilled on both sides. As we’re in Osaka, we tried out the Kansai/Osaka style okonomiyaki.
It had been a busy day of travel, from waking up at 9AM to get our luggage shipped off to the next hotel, to taking the Shinkansen to Osaka and getting settled in our accommodation for the next few days. Nonetheless, as it was our first night in Osaka, we were excited to explore the famous Dotonbori district. From takoyaki stalls to the huge snow crab display menacingly overlooking the street, you’re always within touching distance of a food stall or restaurant that entices you with fake food displays and delicious food smells. As a result, we were starting to feel hungry and began looking for somewhere to have dinner. While walking up and down the street, we noticed this restaurant called Chibo located on the ground floor of a building. It didn’t look like there were many people inside so we decided to head in after looking at the menu on our phones.
The dining space inside was very small and cramped, however it seems they managed to put seating for at least 25—30 customers, with a few tables that sat between 2—4 customers, and a teppanyaki grill that had seating for 6 people. We were lucky to snag a couple seats in front of the teppanyaki grill. All that stood between us and the grill was a simple metal serving section, and you could definitely feel the heat radiating from the grill. Behind the grill was a kitchen, although it was mainly used for food preparation and drinks. Most of the cooking was done on the grill itself, with the staff at the back feeding the ingredients to the chefs in front. The only downside about sitting in front of the grill was how hot it could get, and that you’ll probably smell of food by the end of the night.
While there was a physical menu in Japanese available, menus in other languages were only available online via QR code. The menu was simple. The first page had 5 different types of okonomiyaki ranked in terms of popularity, The second page offered a pair set meal along with vegetarian and basic options and an a-la-carte menu, and there was a final page for drinks. We decided on the pair set meal that included the Chibo’s salad, a tonpei-yaki with cheese, Dotonbori okonomiyaki with green onion and sunny side-up egg topping, and seafood yakisoba noodles with green onion and sunny side-up egg topping. Whew, that was a mouthful (pun intended). It was recommended for 2 people, but from what we experienced, maybe they should adjust it to 3 people. As I don’t often eat my veggies (sorry), I won’t be reviewing the salad, but according to my partner, it tasted like any other salad commonly served in Japan. It had a yuzu salad dressing, with rocket leaves, baby corn, cherry tomatoes, shredded radish and sweet onions.
I’m not going to lie, I’m not exactly sure what a tonpei-yaki is. But after some excellent googling, it’s an egg omelet with thin slices of pork belly and shredded cabbage inside, topped with a homemade okonomi sauce. Chibo’s version of the tonpei-yaki included American cheese melted inside the omelet and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. The pork belly is cooked first before pouring the egg mixture onto the flat top. Then, the pork belly is placed in the omelet along with a couple slices of American cheese before folding the remaining egg mixture on top. While we thought it was ready to be served, it was curiously plated up and given to the waiting staff instead. It wasn’t long before we realized that they were topping the omelet up with more cheese before serving it to us. My initial thoughts on the dish was that it looked very messy, but visuals aren’t as important as the taste, and this tonpei-yaki definitely tasted good. The pork belly was cooked just right, no toughness and the cheese inside was melted and gooey. And for the people that don’t like runny eggs, the omelet is cooked through so you won’t see any egg mixture seeping out. However, I thought that it was a bit oily, as we noticed the chef poured a generous amount of cooking oil before pouring the egg mixture. The grated parmesan cheese was also perplexing (did I mention it was Kraft’s grated parmesan cheese?) If anything, I was glad that the serving was small, because what came next definitely needed the stomach space.
While we were having the tonpei-yaki, the chefs were already busy cooking our seafood yakisoba on the side. It wasn’t long before it was served to us directly onto the metal counter, beside the tonpei-yaki as the chef finished the dish off with a sprinkle of pepper and dried seaweed. Both of us took a generous serving of yakisoba onto our plates and dug in. It was incredibly flavorful, the noodles were chewy, with some bits a bit burnt but still had a great taste and a bit of crunch. The squid had a bite to it, and prawns were cooked well, none of which I could tell were overcooked. The cabbage was mixed, some soft, some still with a crunch, both providing a different texture to the dish. The yakisoba sauce itself was also great, it had a good balance of tangy and sweet, without overpowering the entire dish. I personally liked the fact that they didn’t go crazy on the sauce like other places do. I don’t particularly enjoy bean sprouts, but I did enjoy it in this dish as they had absorbed a lot of the sauce and there weren’t a lot of bean sprouts in the first place. The portion size was definitely a bit too much for the two of us, and the next dish, although the last one, wasn’t helping our waistline.
The star of the show, the okonomiyaki. It was definitely eye opening watching them prepare it, because the mixed batter looks very unappealing. Since the batter is mixed with pork, shrimp, squid, beef and konjac jelly, it doesn’t resemble anything like the final end result. Although I didn’t take any pictures of it in front of me, I managed to take a picture of the batter that was just poured onto the flat top. The final result however, looks amazing. The pancake was served directly to us on the metal counter, where the chef drizzled the okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayo in a zigzag pattern, and a generous serving of bonito flakes, green onion and a sunny side up to top it off. At this point, we were near our limits but we persevered as this was the reason why we ate at this restaurant. So, I grabbed the spatula and started cutting up a small piece for myself and my partner. The first bite welcomed a mouthful of cabbage and batter with some thinly sliced pork and beef. The cabbage had a bite to it and the batter was fully cooked through. The sauce was the same as the tonpei-yaki, but the mayonnaise provided a different taste to the dish itself. If you’ve never had Japanese mayo before, it’s amazing and nothing like the crap that you’d get from Heinz or God forbid, miracle whip. It’s tangy and sweet, but still has a savory taste to it, which compliments this okonomiyaki so well. The seafood within the pancake was sweet and so was the okonomiyaki sauce, but the savoriness (if this is a word) of the mayo balances with the sweetness. The bonito flakes were also surprisingly good, with a gentle breeze the bonito flakes sitting on top of the pancake would wave around as if they were alive. They have a much more solid texture when eaten, it’s definitely something to try out for yourself because describing it isn’t enough. It also doesn’t have as strong of a fishy flavor as one might expect. They also have sauce bottles by the table, should you want more sauce on your pancake.
The total cost at the end of the meal was ¥6820, or about S$61.93. I will add that we ordered 3 drinks which amounted to about ¥1320, but you could also have the complementary water. Was it worth it, and would I go again?
In my opinion, much of the price probably had to do with the restaurant located in Dotonbori district, and that’s understandable. Given the front row seats to the cooking show, I’m inclined to say it was worth it, but getting these seats isn’t guaranteed and there’s plenty of other seats available that have their own grill built into the table. The only difference is that the food isn’t cooked in front of you. Sadly, it’s not worth it to me. Like my previous review of tsukemen, I think it’s entirely possible to find another restaurant in Osaka that serves okonomiyaki for a much cheaper price and isn’t as busy as this restaurant. By the time we finished dinner, we were incredibly full and probably headed into a food coma. That is, until I looked to my left and saw a massive crowd outside queueing to get into the restaurant. It seemed that in our lucky encounter with Chibo, that this restaurant was actually quite popular and had more than just the ground floor for seating. It had a staggering 6 floors of dining space, and in the time we were having dinner, it was completely full. With that being said, I probably won’t be heading back to Chibo for another round of okonomiyaki. Considering the amount of people waiting in line to dine at Chibo, I think it’s popular for a reason, but I don’t share the same sentiment with them.
Overall, I’d rate this experience a 5/10. Despite the positive review of the okonomiyaki, I think the portion size for the pair set meal is enormous and the amount of cabbage in it had put me off eating a couple times during the meal.
Tsukemen? Suki! (I like it!)
Everyone talks about ramen, it’s time to share the spotlight on tsukemen!
Everyone knows about the classic Japanese noodles; ramen. But have you heard about its slightly less famous cousin, tsukemen? I won’t get into the etymology of the word, but it’s basically a noodle dish where the noodles and soup are separated. The noodles are served cold while the soup is served hot and serves as a dipping sauce. You eat it like how you would eat a cold soba, except you dip the cold noodles into a hot soup. The soup is typically saltier than the usual ramen soup, so it’s not recommended to consume it entirely without diluting it first. As such, some places even offer to top up your broth with hot water after consuming the noodles so you can drink it afterward.
It’s not as common as ramen, so it’s hardly ever found outside of Japan. With that said, I wanted to introduce it to my partner on our trip. Ironically, her introduction to tsukemen was by chance, as we were actually looking for a ramen place for lunch. During our Osaka leg of the trip, we mainly hit up the usual tourist spots, such as Dontonbori. As you can imagine, it’s incredibly busy throughout the day so even finding a place to eat at odd hours wasn’t an easy task. Nonetheless, we managed to find a small place tucked off the main Dontonbori shopping street called Kamakura Soup with Noodles (I did not know then. but apparently they have restaurants around Japan so not so small after all). It was a small tsukemen restaurant with around 9 counter seats surrounding the kitchen itself. There weren’t any waiting staff, just the 2 chefs working that day who handed out our menus. A simple no frills menu with just their special tsukemen and different toppings that you could add to it. You can also choose the size of the noodle portion with a small additional charge. Naturally, I ordered the full tsukemen with all the toppings available with a large portion of noodles. Because it’s a small restaurant, you’re almost rubbing shoulders with your seat neighbor. But it also provides an amazing view of the chefs at work. While we were waiting, we couldn’t help but watch with eagerness and curiosity as the chefs prepared our meals. You could feel the warmth of the boiling water meters away as they cook the noodles and immediately take them out and shake off the excess water to prevent it from bloating up. If you spoke any Japanese, you could probably even strike up a conversation with the chefs, like the elderly couple that sat beside my partner. Funny story, the elderly man thought that the younger of the 2 chefs weren’t Japanese and praised him for his proficiency in Japanese, only to be informed that the chef was indeed Japanese.
Anyway, a few minutes after ordering we were served our tsukemen. It’s normal for dishes to look amazing on the menu, and falling a little short when you get served them. But this tsukemen looked exactly the same as the one depicted in the menu. The chef instructed us on how to eat and proceeded to work on the next orders shortly after. I won’t be reviewing my partner’s tsukemen as it was basically the same, just without additional toppings. So onto the review, I tried the noodles and soup separately at first before trying them together. The noodles were cooked perfectly. It’s a weird way to describe them but they were very elastic in a good way, like how a rubber band stretches and snaps back. They had a nice bite to them, and they were also thicker than the usual ramen noodles which helps when absorbing the soup later. The soup itself had cabbage in them and meat in them, which I believe was pork belly. It was incredibly rich but light as the cabbage had soaked all the salt and fat of the pork belly rendered into the soup itself. Together, the noodles definitely absorbs the soup well and the difference in temperature definitely makes you go “ooohhh!” The longer you soak the noodles, the warmer they get (obviously) but I found that the best way to have it was to dip the noodles, get some soup on your spoon and eat the noodles with it. Served with the noodles was the usual cha shu (sliced pork) served cold which was odd, a ramen egg, some bamboo shoots, seaweed, some coriander and a couple yuzu zest sliced thinly . I thought it was a little dry, but it still tasted good with the soup. The half boiled egg was done to the usual standard; solid on the outside and gooey on the inside. The bamboo shoots were crunchy and cold, providing a different texture to the dish. The lemon zests were a peculiar addition, but when you have it with the noodles and soup, you soon understand why it’s there. The acidic and sour nature of the lemon cuts right through the richness of the soup and amazed me, as I’ve not encountered this before. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more lemon zest in ramen and tsukemen in the future.
I won’t lie, I could’ve had another bowl after my first one. It was that good. The total price of the meal was ¥2140, or about S$21. An incredible deal for lunch at a popular tourist shopping district in Osaka. So was it worth it, and would I go again?
Yes and yes. To be honest, you could probably order a variation with less toppings for a cheaper price, or you could even find somewhere that served cheaper tsukemen around Osaka or Japan. But I loved everything about the restaurant, from the cozy interior to the food itself. Everything about it screamed of a dining experience you would find on The Midnight Diner series on Netflix. Like I said before, the menu was simple and all of them were variations of the one dish the restaurant specialized in, tsukemen. I’d rather a restaurant have a couple items on the menu that are great, than a restaurant with over 100 items. I would definitely recommend anyone shopping around the Dontonbori area to try this place out, as opposed to the usual Ichiran ramen (which was located across the restaurant). Kamakura might be a national chain of ramen restaurants, but the waiting time to eat here is arguably lesser than Ichiran or Ippudo. The only downside is that there is limited seating. We were lucky to snag up the remaining 2 seats in the restaurant, but one can imagine the wait during dinner.
Overall, I would rate this experience a 8/10. I think it featured a great dish, a quiet and cozy interior with chefs that definitely knew what they were doing. If I’m ever in the vicinity of a Kamakura branch that serves tsukemen, I would definitely pop my head in for a meal, hopefully a seat will be waiting for me.
A fishing experience right in the heart of Tokyo
ZAUO restaurant brings fishing into the dining experience while keeping it unique and fun for it’s customers
“If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business.”
At ZAUO, you get to fish for your food, quite literally. It’s a fishing/dining experience where fishing for your food is cheaper than ordering straight off the menu. It’s obviously not like fishing in the ocean or a lake, but instead the fish are put into fish tanks where customers are allowed to “fish” them for a fixed price. Each fishing rod costs ¥110, and you can use them for as long as your dining time permits. There are two different sections of fish, one where a simple hook is enough to get the fish, and another where you actually need to fishing bait to catch your harvest. They offer a variety of seafood, from lobsters and prawns to sea bream and yellowtail. Of course, you can choose to opt out of the fishing experience, and order straight off the menu, but where’s the fun in that?
ZAUO is a relatively popular restaurant chain, and there are several of them located around Japan, including Tokyo. For our visit, we had reserved a table at their Shibuya branch, located within 5-10 minutes of walking distance from the Shibuya JR station. It was easy to locate as they had a big sign right outside where the stairs would take you straight down to the restaurant itself. I would definitely recommend reserving a table ahead of time, as walk-ins may not be accepted.
Upper deck fishing area
When you first enter the restaurant, you will notice that restaurant leans heavily toward the fishing theme. The restaurant was split into two different levels, separated by a small set of stairs. Both decks had tables for customers. The upper section of the restaurant is designed to be like the bow of a ship. There was a large taiko drum located near the stairs, and a small fishing section right as you walk up the stairs filled with fish. And, below the bow of the ship sits the other fish tanks where the fish are located. On top of that, the moment we felt like we just entered a port or the ocean. It didn’t smell like a restaurant, it smelled like a sea port. For context, we visited ZAUO during the winter, so we expected it to be warm. But it felt more like how you’d feel if you went to a tropical beach.
The first thing we did was to enquire on how the fishing experience worked. You can choose to add fishing to your reservation on their website, however we weren’t sure at the time of reserving a table if we wanted to do so. We were informed that it costs ¥110 to rent the fishing rod, and you can share the rod amongst your group, so we decided to go with 1 fishing rod. Each type of seafood has a specific menu that allows you to choose how you want your harvest to be prepared, however some ways may require additional fees. As we mentioned earlier, there are two different fishing areas: the upper and lower deck. The upper deck requires fishing bait, whilst the lower deck did not. Naturally, as two people with no fishing experience (apart from video games), we went to the lower deck and sought out our harvest.
The first thing that caught our eye was the lobster. Located in the tank closest to the entrance of the restaurant, we picked up our fishing rod and immediately tried our hand at catching a lobster. It took a bit of getting used to, as it’s not so much fishing, but rather hooking onto the lobster with the fishing rod. Once caught, the staff came over to put the lobster into a net. They also offered to take a picture for you with your phone so you have it as a commemorative photo. After that, they asked us how we’d like our lobster prepared, in which we answered that we’d like it baked with mayo (big mistake, but more on that later). Then they took the lobster into the kitchen and the next time we’d see it would be on our table, ready to be eaten. We had also caught 3 prawns to be prepared as tempura.
After the lobster and prawns, we turned our attention to the sea bream right under the bow of the ship. It turns out, many of the other customers were also interested in them and were taking turns catching their harvests! Naturally, we wanted to join in on the fun and employed our fishing rod again. After a couple minutes, we managed to snag a rather large and feisty sea bream. Like the lobster, the staff came to assist us and transferred the fish onto a larger hook where we could hold it up and take a picture with. I say feisty, because this sea bream was constantly wiggling, despite being out of the water for about 2 minutes at this point. What I didn’t notice was that since its mouth was gouged by the hook, each time it wiggled, there was blood splattering. The blood would end up on parts of my shirt (small droplets, nothing that would make me look suspicious) and I wouldn’t notice until toward the end of dinner. As the sea bream was a larger fish, it could be prepared in 2 ways, so we decided on getting half of it as deep fried (think, fish and chips) and the other half as sashimi.
Now that we’ve covered the fishing, let’s cover the dining.
The first item that was served was the deep fried sea bream. We were pleasantly surprised by this dish, as we didn’t expect it to be so good. The portion was admittedly smaller than I’d like, especially for two people. But the flavor of the fish was amazing, incredibly soft and juicy. It was cooked perfectly. The tartar sauce that came along with it paired very well, and a squeeze of lemon juice over the fish elevated the dish. We were left wanting more by the time we’d finish it.
The prawn tempura came soon after, and unlike the sea bream, we couldn’t complain about the portion size. After all, we were the ones that caught only 3. Unlike other places that I’ve tried in the past, this tempura was done perfectly. It wasn’t dripping with oil, neither did I feel heavy and greasy after eating it. It was incredibly light and I could’ve done with a few more pieces (should’ve caught more). With the crispy golden exterior and a piping hot interior, it’s easy to describe this as a great dish. However, I do have some complaints with it. Firstly, I’m the type of person that loves to eat the head of the prawn (don’t judge), so I appreciate it if the entire prawn is cooked. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t hot, it was warm, bordering on cold. I have no doubt that the prawns were cooked through, but it was disappointing to not be able to eat the heads.
Next up was an item that I had ordered off the menu, the Rich Crab Cream Croquette. I am a huge croquette fan, and when I saw it, I couldn’t help myself. Again, it came with a slice of lemon which I squeezed on top of the croquettes. Like the previous 2 items, the croquettes came out with a crispy golden exterior. I opened them up instead of biting into them, knowing they were piping hot, and I was right. A small amount of steam escaped with the cream oozing out onto the plate. Trying them made me remember why I love well-made croquettes; the warmth of the cream with the flavor of the crab is incredible. It tasted of the ocean, in a good way. My only complaint was that there was no sauce served alongside despite being in the menu, I wish the sauce was served so I could try the pairing together, but oh well.
Then came the sea bream sashimi, plated somewhat menacingly with the fish head on the side. With 20 pieces of sashimi between the 2 of us, we were excited to try it out. Each slice of sashimi was so thinly sliced, you could actually see the serving plate through the sashimi! It also came with wasabi on the side, should you enjoy your sashimi with it. After the first bite however, it became apparent that maybe sea bream sashimi was not the best choice for us. I felt that the fish was a bit too boney and perhaps it would be better if it was cooked instead. Maybe it was because it was sliced so thinly, but I also found out that when you dip it into soy sauce, it would just cover the entire slice. That meant that you wouldn’t be tasting the fish with some soy sauce, but instead soy sauce with some fish. Nonetheless, we finished the plate and a staff member soon came over to clear our table, but not before informing us that the sea bream carcass could be made into miso soup if we wanted. Naturally, we said yes!
About 20 minutes later, the miso soup arrived. From my experience, miso soup is normally a side dish to complete the ensemble. It’s not something that I order separately at a Japanese restaurant. But this miso soup definitely changed my perception. The miso soup I’ve had in the past is normally made with just miso and tofu, but since this had sea bream in it, the taste of the soup changes dramatically. The soup had the taste of the ocean, and the remaining flakes of fish from the carcass tasted so good, it melts in your mouth. Honestly, after the first sip, my partner and I looked at each other wide eyed because of how great it was. Needless to say, we drank the whole bowl and were left wanting for more.
You might be wondering, I’ve described all the food, except the baked lobster in mayo. Well that’s because it literally took about 2 hours for it to be served. Throughout dinner, I was so eagerly waiting for this and my eagerness turned into impatience. By the time it arrived, I was just happy we didn’t catch a lobster for naught. It was… disappointing. The meat was easy to peel from the shell since it was fresh, and the mayo was sweet and wasn’t overpowering. It was definitely delicious, but it was soured by the fact it took too long to be served.
By the end of dinner we were definitely stuffed. The total for the dinner (including drinks) was ¥22,517, or S$217. A hefty price to pay for a meal that included some hands-on work. So was it worth the price, and would I do it again?
In my opinion, it was definitely worth the price. Honestly, it was a very unique and satisfying experience. I will admit that a dinner that costs S$217 where you have to work for your food may seem odd and peculiar. But apart from actually fishing in the ocean, where could you go that lets you catch your own food and eat it within 2 hours? Given the chance on another trip, I would definitely visit ZAUO again, however I might choose a different branch, as the basement did feel a bit stuffy at times.
I would recommend anyone who’s into seafood to try this place out. It’s a popular restaurant chain with multiple branches throughout Tokyo and Japan. I would also recommend making reservations in advance to avoid disappointment. We made ours about 3 weeks in advance as we were visiting during the Christmas/year-end period. We also did not choose to select the fishing on our reservation, but doing it online gives you a selection of how you want your fish to be cooked after catching them. If you’re not into the whole fishing experience, you can always order from the menu like I did with the croquette. I would also advise on maybe not wearing white, in case you get blood on you like I did.
Overall, I’d definitely rate this a solid 7/10. The only downside was how slow it took for the lobster to arrive and some of the portions were a bit smaller than expected. The fishing was definitely new to me but a fun experience.
A Happy Pancake a day, leaves you wanting some more
Souffle pancakes, cozy interior vibes in Japan? Sign. Me. Up.
If there’s one thing that we all know about Japan and it’s amazing cuisine and culture, is that they absolutely love their sweet stuff. From delicious mochi, to parfaits with fresh fruits and crepes with countless amounts of toppings. But in the recent years, there was a new trend of desserts that have popped up in our social media feeds, called “fuwa fuwa pancakes”. I won’t go too much into how they are made, but they are essentially made using the usual pancake (or hotcakes as they are also called in Japan) batter way, but instead of mixing the eggs together with the batter, they separate the egg yolks and egg whites. By whipping the egg whites separately and then folding them into the batter carefully, you get a soufflé like pancake when cooked properly. They are cooked over a small flame to prevent them from burning, often taking up to 20 minutes to prevent them from deflating.
So of course, when we visited Japan, it was a no brainer to visit a café that not only serves these unique pancakes, but also specializes in them. And that’s when we found A Happy Pancake (幸せのパンケーキ in Japanese) in Ginza, Tokyo. I must first preface this by mentioning that they have several branches in Tokyo, and indeed throughout Japan as well as a couple branches in Hong Kong. Our visit to their Ginza branch was purely coincidental in that we were exploring Ginza and we happened to remember about these pancakes, so we started Googling for the nearest café.
Located between a side street in the busy shopping district of Ginza, A Happy Pancake wasn’t easy to find when navigating through Google Maps. Our navigating led us up and down the small street wondering where it was, only to find out that it wasn’t on the ground floor, it was actually on the 7th floor of a building that wasn’t easily locatable unless you were actively looking out for it. The only clues of the café was a simple sign stand outside the building’s lift lobby. It didn’t help that right beside the lift lobby was another cafe called NOA café, which served waffles!
After locating A Happy Pancake, we discovered that they used an online queue system, so we snapped the QR code on our phones and were given a waiting time of 45-60 minutes. It should be noted that we visited the café at around 4PM on a Monday, so we can only imagine how busy it would be during the weekends or public holidays. Given we had nothing to do around Ginza (it’s an expensive shopping district), we decided to wait outside along with other fellow café patrons. DO NOT WAIT IN THE LOBBY OR GO UP WITHOUT THE QUEUE SYSTEM INFORMING YOU SO. As the building is shared among other businesses (including a hair salon on the 7th floor), we would definitely suggest entering the online queue and then either walk around Ginza or wait outside in the building.
Interior of A Happy Pancake (Source: A Happy Pancake website)
After about 30 minutes, we were alerted by the system to enter the building and head up the 7th floor. There we queued up for another 20-25 minutes before being seated in the cafe itself. Upon entering, you will notice that there is a view of the kitchen from the dining area, only separated by a glass window. At the time of the visit, they were serving a special menu that was Christmas themed. Additionally, according to their website, it seems that each branch has their own special menu unique to their location. Since there were two of us, we ordered two separate desserts. For myself, I had the Rich cheese mousse pancake with berry sauce, while my partner ordered the pancake parfait with deliciously ripe strawberries. Unfortunately, they had ran out of the special menu for the day.
Because each pancake is made to order, the waiting time for your order would take roughly around 20 minutes. That would definitely give you time to head over to the window to watch them create your fluffy soufflé pancakes. Water is also provided free of charge and is self service with paper cups. On our visit there, we found a number of tourists like ourselves as well as a few locals. It was definitely a packed café, but it was still quiet enough that you could have a conversation without having to raise your voice because someone a few tables away was talking loudly. The vibe inside A Happy Pancake, was definitely a happy and cozy one with Instagrammable food being served.
After 20 minutes of patiently waiting, the stars of the show arrived. The first thing that I did after the server put down the plate (apart from taking a photo), was gently shake the plate to see if the pancake would jiggle. It definitely did. The initial impressions of the pancake were of the presentation and the visuals. The pancakes themselves had a very yellow exterior, which according to the café is due the fermented butter from Hokkaido and Manuka Honey from New Zealand that they use. The berry sauce had a sweet and mildly tangy taste which complemented the whipped butter and cream on top of the pancakes. The butter was very thick and fooled me initially for ice cream because of how it held it’s shape. On the other side of the table, my partner’s order looked much more colorful and albeit slightly messy. The pancakes were hidden beneath 2 scoops of ice cream (vanilla and strawberry) with strawberry sauce, cornflakes, white chocolate shavings and fresh strawberries.
Taste wise, they were pretty underwhelming. While the pancake was fluffy on the outside, I thought that they were quite dense and filling. Because they were all made to order, the pancakes were warm and everything else was placed on top of the pancake, they made the cream and sauce quite warm. On the other hand, my partner’s order tasted miles better than mine. The coldness of the ice cream in contrast to the pancake’s warm embrace were perfect together. Add in the cornflakes for a different texture made the experience even better. The sweetness of the fresh strawberries were also incredible, helping break down some of that richness from the pancakes. In my opinion, I would’ve rather had both the sauce and the cream to be cold in contrast to the pancake, or at least have the pancake sit at room temperature before serving. However, I understand that given the delicate nature of these pancakes, letting them sit would’ve deflated them and ruin the entire dish. In that regard, I would suggest to either order the items with ice cream in it, or order an extra scoop of ice cream with it.
In total, these two orders amounted to about ¥3,160, roughly around S$29 (at the time of posting). So the big question that this post was made to address, was it worth it and would I go again?
For that price, I think it was worth it. The pancakes were filling, the vibes were great in the café and I very much enjoyed my time at A Happy Pancake. I think it is a great place to go if you were visiting for the first time or really want to try soufflé pancakes or if you liked desserts, but I would not go again, unless it was absolutely certain I would get a table without waiting and/or there is a special menu item that I’m very interested in.
Like I mentioned at the start, these pancakes are quite popular on social media and they are beginning to pop up everywhere, not just in Japan. I think it is a great entry to a food blog (calling myself out here) and a great piece to post on Instagram. I would also recommend anyone visiting Japan to try it out if you like desserts, but only if you are willing to wait upwards of 30-45 minutes for a table. There are plenty of other places that offer soufflé pancakes that don’t necessarily require you to wait for that long and they may be similar in price. For example, we found that Hoshino Coffee - a coffee chain similar to Starbucks - also served similar pancakes. If you’re into desserts but not necessarily wanting to try soufflé pancakes, the café right beside the building where A Happy Pancake is in serves waffles, and didn’t have a queue at all.
Overall, I would rate my experience here about a 6.5/10. Definitely enjoyable, and I would bring someone here again, just not anytime soon.
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