Hey, everyone. Shiota here, the Director of the MOSHI MOSHI BOX Harajuku Tourist Information Center. Harajuku is a candy and sweets battleground, with many different stores lining the streets. Today, we take a look at Instagram-worthy goodies from much talked about newly opened stores!   “THE PARFAIT STAND” – Takeout Parfaits Located exactly ZERO minutes from the Takeshita Exit of Harajuku Station is THE PARFAIT STAND, the sister store to popular cheese tart shop BAKE CHEESE TART.   Topping the parfait isn’t fresh cream, but meringue! The taste and texture of the parfait is irresistible throughout, with ice cream, purin, mousse and more. Just holding it is kawaii and something new to take onto the streets of Harajuku with you♡   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/100198       “LONG! LONGER!! LONGEST!!!” – Japan’s Longest Food & Sweets Opening as Japan’s first shop to center around the ‘length’ of food, LONG! LONGER!! LONGEST!!! is located along Takeshita Street. The menu has three size variations, the same as in the store’s name. ‘LONGEST’ in fact offers the longest food product in Japan!   They have lots of products on offer, including soft serve ice cream, tornado potato, churros and more. You’ll never forget about their crazy length once you try one!   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/93395      

ｰ`, M☽ ‘､ｰさん(@m.lxiii)がシェアした投稿 - 2018年 4月月9日午前3時53分PDT

“GOMAYA KUKI” – Sesame Ice Cream GOMAYA KUKI is a store selling sesame ice cream which has received support from inside and outside Japan. They have opened a store in Ura-Harajuku. One serving is covered in close to 9,000 sesame seeds!   Their menu is full of new, unique products including ice cream made with sweets friend in sesame oil, Japanese-style parfaits sprinkled with sesame seeds, and more. They also offer takeaway ice cream in cups.      

Q-pot. & Q-pot CAFE. OFFICIALさん(@qpot_official)がシェアした投稿 - 2018年 4月月7日午後9時19分PDT

“Q-pot CAFE.” – Accessories Turned Into Sweets This café is inspired by Q-pot., an accessory brand who create kawaii products themed around sweets.   The café is decorated in all things sweet as far as the eye can see. The interior has a fairy-tale like atmosphere that female customers will love. The sweets here are both sweet in appearance and taste looking exactly Q-pot.’s necklaces, rings and so on.      

The Pie Hole Los Angeles™️さん(@thepieholela)がシェアした投稿 - 2018年 2月月22日午後4時43分PST

“The Pie Hole Los Angeles” – Original Pies from LA This popular store hails from Los Angeles and sells their own original pies and organic coffee, and it’s found its way to Takeshita Street in Harajuku!   Since April 4, they have been holding their second all-you-can-eat session for all their pie products every Wednesday. From sweet pies to classic pies, each and every one is handmade with care and attention. Why not head to one of their all-you-can-eats to try them yourself?       Are you hungry now? Be sure to use this list as reference if you’re looking for a café in Harajuku!   And if you’re unsure of how to get to any of these places, then pop into the MOSHI MOSHI BOX and we’d be happy to help!    

“Chushutsusha” which introduces the culture of Japanese tea to the world, has developed a new menu item of the demand center style café, “the AIRSTREAM GARDEN” named “Koini Ochiiru (fall in love) Ujimatcha Latte” released on the 6^th of April (Fri.)

Hibiki Fujioka (barista) and Yuya Koyama (Japan’s first “charista” – tea barista) developed “Chushutsusha” which is introducing the new café culture of Japan created based on the key word of “extracting technology.” They decided to develop and sell “Ujimatcha Latte” at “the AIRSTREAM GARDEN” created based on the key word of “creating a new community by extracting our passion.”

 

“Ujimatcha Latte” (550 yen – tax included) uses the single-origin matcha tea leaves produced in “Tsujiki,” the tea producing farm family in Ujishi, Kyoto. It is a brand new Japanese tea which has a rich flavor that goes well with the taste of milk.

 

“the AIRSTREAM GARDEN” is also selling many other kinds of drinks and food items. Their original blend of coffee created by a professional roaster will be served in two ways (espresso and hand drip). The café latte created with their special espresso machines is one of the most popular menu items they sell! For those of you who want to enjoy the real taste of coffee we recommend you choose the hand dripped coffee.

 

The lunch box menu items produced by the catering service, “Mo:take” will be offered on a day-by-day basis. Both main and side dishes can be chosen at your own will and you can eat your food on the wood deck or you can takeout your order.

 

Why not spend a splendid time at “the AIRSTREAM GARDEN” which will sell some very special menu items?

 

 

 

Hello, my name is Shiota. I am the curator of MOSHI MOSHI BOX Harajuku Information Center.

Ebisu is an area that tops my chart in “the area in which I want to reside.” I visited Ebisu, an area where many fashionable and food-loving people gather with one of my center staff, Ellie.

In this article, I will introduce to you the special coffee shop, “Sarutahiko Coffee” Ebisu Main Store which is gathering much attention nowadays.

 

The interior the shop has a warm atmosphere.

The inside of the store is small but it has a cozy atmosphere. The interior’s color coordination is very fashionable.

And the charm point of this shop is that the staff are all very friendly. They are not pushy with their customers but are very kind and thus the atmosphere of the shop is very good. I can tell that they are relating with their coffee and customers with love. I visited the shop before, privately and at that time I stayed in the shop for a long time.

Tomoyuki Otsuka – the head of the shop.

He used to be an actor but changed his job and started to sell coffee.

He studied about coffee very hard and has lots of knowledge about coffee.

He did not have enough money to install a counter when he first started the shop, so he made the counter himself. He said he sanded the planks used in his shop himself using sandpaper!

 

Official coffee shop of Sarutahiko Shrine in Ise

Many coffee shops in Japan have an English name but Sarutahiko Coffee uses Kanji characters for the shop’s name (猿田彦珈琲).The name “Sarutahiko” was officially bestowed by Sarutahiko Shrine in Ise.

So, the shop is officially approved by the shrine. They also sell souvenirs other than coffee. The shrine enshrines “Michihiraki” so the souvenirs are popular as gifts at wedding parties.

 

Michihiraki blend (5 packs) (959 yen, tax included)

 

Menu items which make you want to drink many cups of coffee

Sarutahiko Coffee offers hand-dripped coffee. It feels good to watch the staff making your coffee. Sarutahiko Coffee is a coffee shop which promotes the culture of “hand dripped coffee.” Before they started offering hand dripped coffee, such coffee was thought to be the “wrong” way to make coffee.

Classic French Short (399 yen, tax included)

The deep dripped hand dripped coffee is more bitter than other coffees. It has less sourness and it is easy to drink.

 

Caramel Flappe Short (529 yen, tax included)

This drink is not too sweet and has a strong coffee flavor. It is recommended for those of you who love sweet desserts and do not drink coffee so often. The ice melts tenderly inside your mouth so you won’t get a headache.

 

Coffee of the day, Sarutahiko French (300 yen, tax included)

When we see “coffee of the day,” it makes us think that we will only be able to drink this coffee today, so we had better not miss this chance.

The “coffee of the day” offered on the day I visited the shop was “Sarutahiko French,” a standard coffee of the shop which is bitter but fresh at the same time.

The Japanese-style design of the cup is very cute.

 

By the way, did you notice that the prices of the menu items noted above are cheaper than the usual prices in other shops? Very reasonable indeed!

 

This is because the head of the shop wants to create a community-based shop.

“I want my customers to visit my shop several times per day and feel that the shop is a part of their daily lives.”

The head of the shop is surely a passionate person who loves his coffee, customers and the local area he resides in.

 

I became a fan of Sarutahiko Coffee through this visit.

 

Currently, there are seven branches of Sarutahiko Coffee inside Tokyo. Let’s visit one of their shops and have a real good coffee!