TOOTH TOOTH TOKYO, a French bistro located in Ebisu, will offer three unique parfaits perfect for adult palates starting June 1, 2022 for a limited time.

These three sweet treats are perfect for an after-meal snack or a reward for a hard day’s work. As delicious as they may be, they’re also delightful to look at, each made with care and filled with seasonal fruits. An evening at TOOTH TOOTH TOKYO will be a luxurious and colorful experience this summer.

White Peach Fromage Parfait with Honey Tuile: ¥2,000 (Tax Included)
The melt-in-your-mouth parfait includes sweet peach covered with Earl Grey tea leaves, homemade apricot pound cake, lemon mousse, and a crispy honey tuile for a touch of luxury.

Parfait Exotica ~Mango Quenelle and Coconut Blancmange & Pistachio: ¥1,900 (Tax Included)
This mango treat with a dollop of coconut blancmange is made extra delicious with a pairing of pistachio ice cream. Dried pineapple and lotus flowers garnish this mature summer dessert. Enjoy the rum-soaked dried fruits!

Caramelized Figs & Red Wine Spiced Chocolat: ¥1,600 (Tax Included)
Juicy caramelized figs doused with spiced sangria make up the heart of this dish. The Belgian chocolate ice cream is served with a light cheese tuile, an accent with just the right amount of texture and saltiness.

Cafe Accueil Ebisu is currently offering a limited Sakura-themed menu featuring pancakes, afternoon tea, and drinks until April 10, 2022.

Sakura & Strawberry Pancakes

Sakura Afternoon Tea

Special Latte with Cherry Blossoms

The seasonal menu includes Sakura & Strawberry Pancakes with pale pink and strawberry red accents, and savory items such as a croissant with cherry cheese cream. Guests can also enjoy Sakura Afternoon Tea, a colorful 12-item menu featuring cherry and strawberry delights. Come enjoy the coming of spring at this gorgeous Tokyo cafe!

Hailing originally from Brooklyn, the 130-year-old Peter Luger Steak House has announced the opening of its first-ever Japanese branch which will welcome customers at Ebisu Garden Place in Tokyo this September with its 3-storeys of red brick.

Peter Luger is credited with spreading the mouth-watering wonder of dry-aged beef steak to the world which has made the restaurant’s name globally famous. The restaurant of course wields a Michelin Star and has been featured high on the Zagat Survey for over 30 years.

The secret behind Peter Luger’s signature ingredient

The restaurant’s beef fillet and New York strip are signature items on the menu, both of which are made from porterhouse steak. Their steak is also made from USDA Prime beef which is dry-aged by hand to intensify the flavour and aroma.

The porterhouse is placed directly onto the broiler and seasoned solely with salt. The steak is flipped only once during the broiling process. A knob of melted butter is added to a serving platter and the steak is sliced atop it. It’s then placed back into the broiler for a few minutes depending on the doneness requested by the customer. It’s this process that gives Peter Luger’s steaks their deliciousness. 

Brooklyn red brick building and theatre decor

The Japanese branch takes inspiration from the Brooklyn restaurant with its red brick exterior.

The first floor is home to the bar where customers can enjoy food and cocktails. There’s also a takeout shop with gifts and other items.

The second floor is the spacious dining space which is home to Peter Ruger’s first-ever open kitchen. The third floor is another seating area with balcony-like seats so you can look out over the city.

There are seven private dining rooms of varying sizes for those looking a little more intimacy and privacy. The restaurant’s lighting was also designed by a New York designer.

Fuji TV’s ongoing drama series Renai Mangaka opened a theme cafe in Ebisu on April 8 with dishes inspired by the series.

The Menu

Renai Pancakes | ¥1,892 (Tax Included)

Renai Fondant Chocolate | ¥1,122 (Tax Included)

Renai Lemon Sour | ¥660 (Tax Included)

Renai Strawberry Milk | ¥990 (Tax Included)

Renai Bread Gratin | ¥2,805 (Tax Included)

Renai Bread Dessert | ¥990 (Tax Included)

Renai Dessert Plate | ¥1,232 (Tax Included) | Available Early May 2021

Renai Omurice | ¥1,452 (Tax Included) | Available Early May 2021

The story of Renai Mangaka follows Karibe Seiichiro, a manga artist who’s not the best at socializing. He rarely goes outdoors and has a strange way of thinking. One day, he meets his late-brother’s former girlfriend Kuon Aiko, and asks her to be his pseudo-romance partner.

The fruit sandwich eatery Maruichi Seika has opened a pop-up shop on the second floor of Kita-Senju Marui in Adachi, Tokyo. The shop is a collaboration between the popular local restaurant Ippo Ippo and Maruichi, a long-standing and much-loved fruit shop.

Fruit is the key ingredient at Maruichi Seika where they want customers stuffing their cheeks with strawberries, oranges, pineapple, and more. Fruit is packed into fat sandwiches and combined with mascarpone cheese for a filling treat. The bread is provided by Furansuya, a local bakery in Kita-Senju that has been running for over 10 years.

A Select Look at the Line-Up

Sky Berry | ¥740 (Tax Included)

This sandwich is named after a particular variety of strawberry is known as the Sky Berry. It’s sourced from Tochigi Prefecture and is known for its superior sweetness, juiciness, and the fact that it’s low in acidity. Ordering this lets you enjoy three different kinds of well-known strawberry: the titular Sky Berry, the Tochiotome which is also from Tochigi, and the classic Amaou from Fukuoka.

Setoka | ¥840 (Tax Included)

The Setoka is a rare and super sweet, full-bodied citrus fruit that’s normally given as a gift in Japan. In sandwich form, it enjoys a perfect balance of sweetness and tanginess.

Pineapple | ¥630 (Tax Included)

The Golden Pineapple from the Philippines is the variety used in this sandwich, packed with mouth-watering sweetness and offering a rich fruity fragrance.

Maruichi Mix | ¥740 (Tax Included)

This sandwich is a combination of fruits including the Amaou strawberry from Fukuoka, the Kanjuku Kiwi from Ehime, and the Premium Banana from the Philippines. It also contains the best picked mikan which are bought fresh from the market every day.

If you’ve never tried a fruit sandwich in Japan and are in Tokyo this winter, then don’t miss out on Maruichi Seika’s limited-time line-up.

Tokyo Saryo was the world’s first ever hand drip tea specialist shop. This year, they’re celebrating the first tea of the season with the reopening of Ochazuke stand Tokyo Saryo. The Ochazuke stand was a big hit last year, and this year it will be open for a three month period from Wednesday 24th April to Wednesday 31st July.

Ochazuke is a Japanese dish that every Japanese person must have had at least once in their life. For many, it is a normal option for a light breakfast that you can make at home. It’s just green tea poured over cooked rice. Simple! However, in recent years, replacing the green tea with dashi stock has become the most popular form of this breakfast. The Ochazuke stand hopes to encourage people to use green tea for their ochazuke in their daily lives more often by creating an original ochazuke dish which really carries the flavour of green tea. The recipe has been specially made to fit in with modern daily lifestyle.

This ochazuke is sprinkled with lots of green tea so you can really enjoy “eating” tea! Soft sprouting tea leaves that resemble the appearance of nori seaweed are collected and ground into a powder called tencha. This tea remains in its unground form of matcha. Pour water over the original green tea powder and the fragrance of the tea will be released!

Teahouse original ochazuke: Eel ¥500　Teahouse original ochazuke: Salmon ¥500
Teahouse original ochazuke: Scallop ¥500 　Teahouse original ochazuke: Plum ¥500 (*tax included in prices stated)

 You can also add olive oil to your dish afterwards for just ¥50.

Order Tokyo Saryo’s hand drip tea on top of your order (+¥150) and you will be presented with the first tea of the season that uses tea leaves freshly collected from Kagoshima. The leaves were collected on 7th April 2019 and a special recipe is used to make this tea.

It’s not just tea they serve here! As an important base flavour, the stand also serves up dashi. This is made by combining bonito fish flakes and kombu kelp sourced from Makurazaki to produce a high quality and delicious flavour.

You can also choose to add a topping of Nicomaru Genmai which is made from brown rice. This is very popular among adults as it adds a luxurious fragrance to your meal.

You can eat in or take out for the same price. Every day, sales will end when they run out of rice, so get there as fast as you can!

Have you ever heard of jukusei sushi?

Jukusei sushi is aged or matured sushi. It overturns the idea of fresh fish and instead tries to bring out the maximum possible flavour out of the fish through ageing. Just how does the flavour of aged sushi change from the other sushi I’ve eaten?

Today I visited Wadanoya, an aged sushi shop in Ebisu, Tokyo that receives direct deliveries from Kyushu.

The restaurant is located between Daikanyama Station and Ebisu Station, just a 5-minute walk from either. It’s located on the lower first floor of a building.

They offer both relaxing counter seats and horigotatsu, or sunken kotatsu seats. When there aren’t a lot of customers in I recommend eating at the counter where you can chat with the owner.

The meal I ate was a set course. The starter was sashimi which I had with white wine. This fish was caught in the Goto Islands.

Next up was tempura – Satsuma chicken and seasonal vegetables. The chicken was juicy with a light dressing. It’s eaten with salt and ponzu. The summer vegetables were okura and eggplant. These were also grown in Kyushu.

This was followed by horse-meat sashimi from Kumamoto served with hot Kabosu Kosho. Adding even just a little to the meat allows for enjoyment of a completely different flavour. The meat is soft, melts in your mouth and doesn’t smell.

Next was sea urchin from Nagasaki Prefecture topped with butter shoyu and fish offcuts. The butter shoyu gives the sea urchin and offcuts an extremely rich flavour. It was a luxurious dish with a hearty serving of fresh sea urchin.

And then the star of the show which I couldn’t wait for – aged sushi!

This fish is meichidai, or grey large-eye bream, which had been aged for one week. My first impression was “How rich!” It’s a little thick and has a deep flavour. Its good, rich taste fills your entire mouth.

I also ate other aged sushi too including mackerel and tuna. The mackerel I had was aged in the refrigerator for 3 days and the tuna one week. It might have been the first time I had ever eaten such thick, smooth tuna.

The owner said that each respective fish is aged for the right period under the right temperature conditions. They go to such lengths to create these rich flavours!

Having enjoyed my fill with a full belly the last item on the course was a large serving of dagoshiru soup. It contains lots of ingredients like chewy dango, carrots and greater burdock. It had a subtle and mild taste.

Wadanoya is a popular restaurant that originates from Osaka. It’s sure to end up popular in no time in Ebisu too. The restaurant is celebrating its opening until the end of October 2018 by serving their 28-item sushi course for ¥10,000 down from the regular price of ¥12,000.

Take advantage of this special price and try aged sushi for yourself.

The Alley is a tea stand in Japan hailing from Taiwan. They have just added a new beverage to their Brown Sugar Tapioca Series: the Brown Sugar Matcha Latte. The drink was released at all branches across Japan on April 2nd.

Raw Organic Cane Sugar in a Bowl

The series uses brown sugar tapioca which is made from The Alley’s own original tapioca and brown sugar syrup from Okinawa. They are bigger than the usual size tapioca and once bitten into fill your mouth with deliciously sweet brown sugar syrup. What’s even better is that the store’s brown sugar tapioca lattes are served with twice the amount of tapioca to the normal tapioca teas they sell.

The Brown Sugar Matcha Latte is a combination of bright springtime matcha and milk giving it a two-tone colour. The bitter flavour of the matcha draws out the sweetness of the brown sugar tapioca. Both the drinks’ appearance and taste are immensely satisfying!

Enjoy this exquisite harmony of brown sugar tapioca and matcha.

 “essence café” which was opened at Ebisu on April 2017 has started a “One shot Buffet” from December which offers food and desserts in a “buffet style” to correspond the needs of the customers who want enjoy dessert time. They are offering freshly baked breads, special cakes made by dedicated pattisiers and seasonal fruits.

From 8:00 to 11:00, they offer breads and fruits for 500 yen, (11:00 to 17:00 – 980 yen) (tax included / drinks are not included / customers can place as much food as they want on one plate). The breads are freshly baked (three times per day) and fruits are delivered from a fruit market every morning.

Also, they started a “bar time” after 17:00 which offers unique alcohol drinks like home-made coffee distilled spirit using special coffee beans and fruits cocktails using fresh fruits for 500 yen (per drink).

Let’s enjoy a wonderful dessert time at this buffet-style café.

Kurogi is a Japanese restaurant that is said to be the most difficult in Tokyo to get a reservation. The owner, Jun Kurogi, has a group company called A KUROGI HALAL FOODS, who is releasing a new brand of caviar called CAVIAR PURE together with JAPAN CAVIAR, Inc – the biggest producer of caviar in Miyazaki Prefecture – with the hope of global expansion. CAVIAR PURE will go on sale starting December 13th.

JAPAN CAVIAR’s caviar brand “CAVIAR PURE” uses leading edge techniques and delicate skill that has been handed down through the years to produce a great flavour unique to Japan that was born from the Japanese mindset to deliver only the best of the best.

A lot of high grade imported caviar uses preservatives, pasteurization and high salinity (5-7%) to prioritize the prolongation of food storage. However, using this process reduces the flavour and freshness of the caviar. That’s where “CAVIAR PURE” comes in. Only sturgeons that are raised healthily are harvested for their fresh roe which is processed into caviar. The company is also able to produce a low salt concentration thanks to blending low mineral salt. This is where the real flavour of the caviar comes in: as once it has been cured to bring out the good flavour it is quickly put in cold storage producing fresh caviar for you to enjoy.

Moreover, everything from harvesting to the production of the caviar is consistent in Miyazaki Prefecture. No chemicals are used at any point during the rearing of the sturgeons – they are reared within strict guidelines which are are firmly adhered to so as to not spoil the flavour.

The deciding factor of the caviar’s great taste is the natural flavour of the caviar brought out by blended low mineral salt. The seasoning uses only the best blended salt selected by the caviar masters around the world. Jun Kurogi is one of those masters and demonstrates excellence of his seasoning with the harvested caviar.

If you’re feeling a little bit luxurious then why not try some high quality caviar obtainable only in Japan?

 “Café accueil” which won first place (※) in the 2015 pancake shop ranking will release “Christmas Tree Pancake” (1,850 yen – tax not included) from the 1^st of December 2017 (Fri.) to the 25^th of December (Mon.)

The information was released by the largest pancake information site in Japan called “Minna no Pancake Bu’s” “Pancake Restaurant Popular Ranking 2015.”

Christmas Tree Pancake 1,850 yen (tax not included)

Pistachio cream and pancakes will turn into a Christmas tree! It is a popular limited time offer pancake item with lots of fresh fruits placed on top. The special caramel sauce that comes with the pancakes is so delicious.

Let’s enjoy the Christmas-limited pancake at “accueil.”

The travel reservation site, “Rakuten Travel” announced  its“2017 / Ranking of accommodations which offer game dishes.” They calculated the number of the users and days the users stayed targeting the plans including the word “game (gibier)”and announced that “Shinjo Kanko Hotel” won first place.

 “Gibier” is a French word meaning the flesh of wild animals and it has developed as a food culture of aristocracies in Europe since old days.

No.1 / Aichi Prefecture / Shinjo Kanko Hotel

No.2 / Shizuoka Prefecture / Gensen Kakenagashi no Yu Oyado Sakaya

No.3 / Nara Prefecture / Totsugawa Onsen Seikyo no Yado Sansui

No.4 / Wakayama Prefecture / Ryujin Onsen Bijin Tei

No.5 / Ishikawa Prefecture / Shiramine Onsen Hotel Happo

 “Shinjo Kanko Hotel” which won first place offers a curry using venison every morning. Okumikawa is an area near the hotel rich in nature and the meat of the animals living in this area is tasty since it does not contain much fat. Venison contains less fat than other kinds of meat and contains lots of protein and iron. Also, venison is not smelly, so it is suitable for beginners of game dishes.

“Gensen Kakenagashi no Yu Oyado Sakaya” which won second place has been offering “Daimyoyaki,” a famous dish which grills brawn, pork and beef with vegetable produced locally (Amagi). Their brawn nabe (Japanese hot pot) made with miso sauce which takes about a week to make is known as the local dish of Amagi and you can enjoy it during the autumn and winter seasons. The users of the accommodation are saying “Daimyoyaki is a simple dish where you grill meat and vegetables together but it is very tasty.”

 “Totsugawa Onsen Seikyo no Yado Sansui” in Nara Prefecture which won the third place is an accommodation which offers local foods located in Totsugawa Village rich in nature. The brawn nabe using the natural brawn of Totsugawa and the tea ceremony dishes where you can enjoy venison, brawn and Chinese soft-shelled turtles at once are offered. They use clean spring, locally grown vegetables and meat. The users of the accommodation are saying, “I heard some game dishes are smelly but the dishes offered by this accommodation were very good.”

Why don’t you enjoy full-fledged game dishes at Japanese accommodations?