My Tokyo Dessert Rallye inspired by Saboriman Kantarou
Last year, I spent a night in Tokyo because… I did a Tokyo Dessert Rallye. No tone where you collect stamps but I was inspired by the Sweet-toothed Salaryman. Come to think of it a stamp would have made a neat memento!
I hadn’t been to Tokyo in nearly 20 years, Tokyo was included in my regional rail pass and I wanted to buy one of those fabulous lightly used lenses for my new camera. But let me tell you, Tokyo and I did not gel that well. It’s not like didn’t know what to expect. I was on a repeat trip to Tokyo, and told myself I only want to buy the camera lens, visit Nippori Fabric Town and then return to Kyoto where I feel much more comfortable. So perhaps I was not paying paying the city its due respect?
What I loved, though, was following (partially) in the footsteps of Salaryman Kantarou, a fictional character with a sweet tooth, who bunks off work to visit dessert shops around Tokyo. I love desserts and have visited a fair number of dessert shops in Kyoto, so let’s see if Tokyo is a match!
I stayed in Ueno, visited Nippori, Yanaka, Asakusa, Nihonbashi, Ningyocho, Nakano and Shinjuku. Perhaps not the best route to explore places that aren’t totally crowded.
Table of Contents
Who is Saboriman Kantarou??
Ever since we got Netflix, I have been watching Japanese films and drama series. So, once night I came across “Kantaro: The Sweet-toothed Salaryman” (“さぼリーマン甘太朗”), a TV Tokyo and Netflix collaboration from 2017. The story is a bit contrived as many TV series based on manga, and some scenes are downright ridiculous for my German sense of humor, but I really enjoyed the series anyway for its drawn-out visits to Tokyo dessert shops.
So, I took the opportunity to visit as many places mentioned in Saboriman Kantarou in the day and a half I spent in Tokyo. I managed two out of the twelve places, along with a place that got mentioned but did not have a full episode dedicated to is. Given that some places are now permanently closed, I felt it was okay for such a short visit?
So, here are , in the order visited, the dessert places visited, with a few words about the area. More to follow! I will fly to Narita on my next Japan trip where I will visit Tohoku, and my husband will be duly dragged to some more Kantarou-associated places.
Habutae Dango, Nippori
The first place I came across when walking from Nippori Station to Nippori Fabric Town. Iw as on crutches, and after a very early morning trip all the way from Yudanaka in the beautiful Nagano countryside, I felt I really need a rest and pick-me-up. This small corner cafe is a branch of the main shop to the south of Nippori Station. The ladies said they’ll be closing for lunch in half an hour, would that be a problem? No, I said I eat very fast.
I sat down by a nice window seat and ordered a set of their signature dango and a kakigori with lemon and pineapple. I had to hurry a bit, and devoured the thing in twenty minutes. It was delicious! The dango are a trademark of Habbutae, grilled on a charcoal fire, and some are mixed with sweet adzuki beans. The sharp and tart lemon-pineapple ice perfectly balanced off the sweet dango. A definite recommendation.
And while I was just visiting a branch because my head was already full of fabric shopping, the main Habutae Dango shop has been in existence for over 200 years, and several literati came and enjoyed the sweets. You can read more about the main shop here. The branch cafe was fine for me, you will pass it on the way to Nippori Fabric Town, so it is ideal for a pre- or post- fabric shopping treat. ON the whole, I loved Nippori, it isn’t touristy at all, there are some hotels, but not a lot, same for restaurants, but it is super easy to go sightseeing as it’s on the Yamanote Line.
The address of the main shop is 〒116-0014, Tōkyō-to, Arakawa-ku, 5 Chome-54-3, Higashinippori . The branch cafe is at the intersection of Ayama and Nippori Central Streets, impossible to miss when you are heading to Nippori Fabric Town, address is 〒116-0014, Tōkyō-to, Arakawa-ku, 6 Chome-60-6-103 Higashinippori.
Waguriya, Yanaka
Having eaten a dessert already at Habutae, and shopped till the bags dragged me down at Tomato, I hobbled to Nippori Station, put my fabric haul in a coin locker and went down Yanaka Ginza. My, my, this street had changed a lot since I last stayed there in 2005. Very crowded, lots of tourist shops. IN the middle, this small cafe, with a long-ish queue outside. About half Japanese, half foreigners, some of them munching on takeaway food. At least there were benches we could wait on. After about half an hour, I was seated at a table and ordered my Montblanc.
Waguriya is just over 10 years old and is modern but also styled like a traditional shop – an old building, traditional Noren curtain, a small tatami and a Western Style area with tables.
The menu, basically, is Montblanc in all variations and permutations. Montblanc is a popular dessert in Japan. Its origins are French and the classic Montblanc consists of pureed chestnut pushed though a vermicelli press on a biscuit base, often garnished with whipped cream. The Japanese definitely made it their own, offering versions with matcha, Sweet Potato, adding things like meringue, and come autumn, you can buy it everywhere. At Waguriya, you geta standard Montblanc, a premium version (different chestnut callled Hitomaru which is highly seasonal), Montblanc Parfait, seasonal fruit Montblanc, Montblanc soft serve (takeaway)… it’s all things Montblanc, served with tea or coffee.
I liked my standard Montblanc, but it did not blow me away. I had had one a day earlier in Obuse in Nagano Prefecture, which was cheaper and way better.
I also barely recognized Yanaka Ginza where I had stayed and often strolled years ago. “Normal” shops are almost totally given over to tourist shops and cafes. I did not bother going further towards Sendagi, but the Yanaka I loved for its relaxed smalltown atmosphere, traditional shops and mom and pop restaurants seemed gone.
The address of Waguriya is: 〒110-0001 Tōkyō-to, Taitō-ku, Yanaka, 3 Chome−9−１４ 谷中銀座商店街内. No English menu, but helpful servers, you will get by.
Kanmidokoro Hatsune, Ningyocho
Day One successfully accomplished dessert-wise (and with a ton of fabric in temporary storage), I visited Nakano Broadway, had a med dinner at Ameyokocho and an early night.
After a short sleep in my capsule hotel, I had a huge Komeda’s Coffee breakfast, then walked a long way from Ueno to Asakusa, and once I tired of the tourist crowds at Asakusa, I took the Metro to Ningyocho. I definitely should have come here sooner – although there are no specific sights in Ningyocho, it was a really pleasant area, with lots of small restaurants and some shops. A kind of everyday mid-range Tokyo without tourists. An anmitsu for lunch to enhance the experience would be fabulous.
The shop, relatively small, looks pleasingly retro, and this time, it was moderately busy. The older ladies serving proudly spoke English and translated parts of the Japanese-only menu for me.
I had two portions of anmitsu… the classic version and the modern (with ice cream) version. They are the shops signature dish and best seller, so if you look at the menu somewhat confused, the servers will point you to the anmitsu.
Anmitsu is a classic Japanese dessert dating back to the Meiji era. It is made on a base of clear Agar jelly cubes (kanten) topped with red bean paste (anko), mikan (mandarin), red peas, gyuhi (a fluffy rice flour confection ) and shiratama dango and bits of fresh fruit and sometimes ice cream.
The chefs at Hatsune pride themselves in importing the best ingredients from all over Japan, Okinawan sugar, Hokkaido sweet beans, etc. They tasted… extremely good. This was also a nice place to linger a bit, with its retro brown wood interior, and it was not overly busy, so no pressure freeing up the table and they kept refilling the green tea very generously.
The address of Hatsune is 〒 103-0013 Tōkyō-to, Chuo-ku, 1 Chome-15-6 Nihonbashiningyocho or in Japanese, 東京都中央区日本橋人形町1-15-6 五番街ビル
To be continued…
Of course I will try to visit as many more places as I can, and return to the ones I loved. I took the list of places from this blog, which conveniently has the locations as well.
I shall be making plans to visit Kooriya Peace since I love kakigori, and also Kajitsuen, because a Japan trip without parfait is not complete, and who says you cannot revisit?
- Kanmidokoro Hatsune (Anmitsu) – DONE! A definite recommendation
- Kooriya Peace (Kakigori). This is really high on my to-visit list, as I love Kakigori
- Mamekan Triathlon: Kanmidokoro Irie, Umemura, Sagamiya. Bit spread out these three locations
- Kajitsuen (Parfait) and Seijuken (Dorayaki). Kajitsues is conveniently located at Tokyo and Shibuya Stations. Seijuken is in Nihonbashi. High on my wish list.
- Coffee Tengoku (Pancakes). In the touristiest area of Asakusa, reviews are so-so, I give it a miss.
- Kinozen (Matcha Bavarian Cream). This place in Iidabashi closed down.
- Café Recherche (Savarin). This one’s in Yokohama.
- Takeno to Ohagi (Ohagi), Trip to the suburbs, anyone? It’s in Setagaya
- Rue de Passy (Eclair). This place in Meguro is permanently closed.
- Esse Due (Caramel Pudding). An Italian restaurant. Italy is an hour and a half from home. Backburner.
- Minimal (Chocolate)- Hmmm, a chocolate shop. I love chocolate, and Europe has good chocolate.
- Waguriya (Mont Blanc) DONE! Not bad, but not outstanding either.
Practicalities
As the Netflix series is a few years old now, I was not under the impression that any of these places are super hyped or crowded. Only at Waguriya did I have to queue and wait, but this may be owed to the fact that Yanaka Ginza is very touristy and crowded these days.
As a solo traveller, I was welcomed with open arms everywhere and given a choice of seating, often at a table. Solo dining at any of the places I visited – it seems common and is expected. Hatsune is cash only; the other places I visited accepted credit cards.
Make sure you check the opening hours – these aren’t massively big places. I used Google Maps to check opening hours, they were quite accurate.
Where I stayed
Prepare for a non glamorous hotel… this Tokyo outing was booked late, as I had bought the Hokuriku Arch Pass and decided I will scour the used camera shops if Ueno, Akihabara and Shinjuku for a not-so-cheap lens for my new camera. As I was a bit mobility-challenged, I wanted to stay close to Ueno Station.
Even a bare basics hotel with meh reviews cost 15k JPY and more, so I decided to go budget and I stayed at SmartStay Shizuku. This was a smart choice indeed! I paid 5000 JPY (about 30 Euro) for a super super clean, orderly if somewhat small accommodation, 5 minutes walk from Ueno Station. With a women only floor, this was not only cheap but really comfortable was well.
My capsule was spacious, and the bathrooms are huge – including a communal bath and sauna! Beds in the capsules are a bit on the hard side, though, and expect some people coming and leaving at night. With a mostly Japanese clientele, everyone was super polite and quiet, but with about 100 capsules to a room you will hear a little bit. There is another Smart Stay in Shinagawa as well, relatively convenient for the Shinkansen and Haneda Airport.
In general, I love Northern Central Tokyo, but I found Ueno and Asakusa incredibly touristy and busy. Yanaka has changed beyond recognition in comparison to my earlier trips, too. So, my future stay will be in Nippori, vis-a-vis from Habutae, at the Almont Hotel Nippori. This modern upmarket Business Hotel has Western Style room with Japanese aesthetics, and a lot of amenities like communal bath, great breakfasts, and yes, it is super convenient for Narita Airport, being just a minute from Nippori Station.
The Small Print
I visited in 2024, on a trip I organised and paid for myself. No freebies etc. etc. I paid full price for everything including all meals in this Tokyo Dessert Rallye and I never, ever reveal that I blog… I don’t even engage in the “Follow us on Instagram and get a free something” advertising that some places do.
I use Booking.com to book my accommodation for this trip and included some affiliate links to Booking.com in this post. This means that I may earn a small commission if you decide to book through any of the links. I use Booking.com for most of my hotel bookings, and with free cancellation policy, good customer service they are my top booking site for booking accommodations.
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