Springtime and Matcha Pizza at Max Brenner

My laptop has life support again! Bring out the champagne! (Just kidding. I don’t know how to drink.)

I mentioned the Max Brenner Chocolate Bar in passing on my blog once, but I’ve been back there three more times since then. Each time at the branch in Omotesando, with an hour-long queue. It’s a pretty justifiable wait though because Max Brenner is the mother of all chocolate shops. And it’s the spring season now! That means new desserts, new drinks, and new excuses to spend your money on chocolate.

The marshmallow chocolate pizza’s always been the favourite child here, but recently they released two more kinds—green tea and strawberryThey both come with white chocolate and roasted marshmallows on top of the fluffy pizza base, though I liked the matcha better (maybe it just felt more exclusive getting to eat it in Japan).

The other spring dessert I got was the chocolate egg pavlova! So named because it looks there’s an egg on top of the meringue, but is really passionfruit sorbet on white chocolate. This was delicious, but it was fairly mortifying trying to eat this because the knife just would not penetrate the chocolate and I got lots of crumbs everywhereBut was it worth all that effort and embarrassing myself? Yes. 10/10 would recommend!

For this season’s drink they have this cherry blossom choctail! Which I tried and was mildly disappointed by just because I couldn’t see the pink part of the smoothie below. If you have a cute pastel pink and green drink that girls would order just to photograph for social media, wouldn’t you want to show it off a little more?! But to give it credit, it did taste good. Actually I ended up finishing it myself

The Hug Mug is really just hot chocolate with a cuter name. But I recommend everyone to try one of these because it’s hot and chocolatey (way to go, me) and does kind of feel like a warm hug in beverage form. The best part is, it’s always on the menu! It’s always there for you.

This time I tried the salted caramel hug mugThat’s proof of my guarantee. Like, it will be yummy. You will love it.

Another year-round item at Max Brenner Chocolate Bar is their chocolate chip cookie, which is huge and literally half the size of my face (I held it up just to measure). It was chewy and crumbly and fulfilled every cookie craving I might have had for the foreseeable future

I’m always impressed every time I visit Max Brenner because everything is delicious and photo-worthy—highly important requisite—and people are willing to spend a chunk of their day waiting in line outside the storeMost of the time the majority of customers I see are girls, with the occasional boyfriend thrown into the mix. Once there was a couple sitting next to me and they actually ate two whole chocolate pizzas between the two of them. Intense dating.

But the pizzas are really that good, so I probably wouldn’t be above doing that myself

Happy Monday with Sumikko Gurashi madeleines

Hi it’s me again on a Monday morning, but unfortunately this is where I have to stop at because—long story short—I went back to Singapore for spring break and forgot to bring back my laptop charger with me to Japan. So until my laptop’s life support is back I have to severely ration its usage.

Commercial break: Here’re some Sumikko Gurashi madeleines I made at home

Once I get the charger I’ll post again next week as usual, so till then

Crayon House, a taste of childhood in Japan

Greetings, friendsUsually I blog about the new cafes and food I find in Japan, but today’s is an old place; it’s a restaurant that I first went to ten years ago (a decade already, unbelievable). Crayon House is a cafe in Omotesando that believes in healthy food and having a happy life by eating said healthy food.

For as long as I can remember they’ve always served lunch in an all-you-can-eat style, and everything is homemade and supposed to be good for you. The menu changes everyday—every time I go there’re different dishes, from roast potatoes to creamy chicken gratin to tofu steak.

It’s kind of like eating at a cosy school cafeteria, with warm lights shining down on the trays of food and keeping them nice and toasty. I always have a lot of fun getting in line and choosing what I want to eat

There’s outdoors seating too, and I like it better than just staying indoors (unless it’s 0℃ out or something). Sometimes it gets chilly but they have blankets outside so it’s not bad at all. I mean, you get fresh air with your fresh food.

They make their desserts from scratch, and since the kitchen can be seen from outside sometimes you can see the sweet old ladies inside making the cakes. And it just makes you feel extra loved when you eat those cakes.

Well, everything in this restaurant makes you feel like you’re eating it with love. Coming here always make me happy, kind of like I’m coming home for a home-cooked lunchThere’re a lot of women and mothers with young children who come, but I usually see a pretty good number of businessmen there too just quietly eating their meal in their suits. I’m sure that’d help them get through a long day at the office.

And that’s a picture of me over ten years ago at my first visit to Crayon House (complete with date to seal the photographic evidence). Back then I liked playing with all the toys they had for the kids and being little enough for the children’s lunch priceSince that first time, my mom’s been going to Crayon House every single trip she makes to Japan (it’s almost like a pilgrimage, even).

The menu always changes, but the taste is always just as goodThey’re not pretentious at all and genuinely just want to fill people up with good food.

Maybe in ten years’ time I’ll still be going there to eat lunch. I’d probably be there with the businessmen just silently enjoying my nutritious food made with love.

Crayon House is special to me and one of my favourite places in Japan, especially because it’s been around since the first time I ever went thereTen years ago I bought these cookies (baked in the shape of their mascot), and even now I still get these little packs to bring home and eat.

They taste like butter and nostalgia.

Cute food at the AKB48 Cafe in Akihabara

I went to the AKB48 Cafe & Shop in Akihabara! You might already know about AKB—that girl group with over a hundred members and their own theatre in Akiba? A few years ago I used to be a big fan (when they actually had only 48 members and not a whole choir).

I liked them so much I even went for the events they used to hold in Singapore. This was when I met Sashihara Rino in 2011Back then she was still only the ninth most popular member. Who knew one day she’d become AKB’s number one? (And later HKT48’s manager, but that’s another story)

Back on topic. My friend and I visited the AKB48 Cafe for dinner and it kind of brought back some memories of those years!

The cafe menu is themed after several of the members, with dishes modelled by them. I got Watanabe Mayu’s Favourite Fried Chicken with Muchichi! That’s the rabbit in the middle (a character she’s always drawing). And Mayuyu was my oshimenI might not follow AKB48 anymore but I’ll still buy my favourite member’s dish haha.

Gude-mina—a limited season katsudon with Gudetama lying on top of crispy pork cutlet and rice. Wearing a big ribbon like Takahashi Minami too, since she’s the one who produced this collaboration dish with Sanrio.

We ended off with Yukirin-daruma Daifuku! It’s basically Yukirin-daruma surrounded by lots of fruits and mochi. Simple and light enough to enjoy after a full meal

Since we topped up our meal with the drink bar too, we got free drink coasters! The only thing is that unless you are a serious follower of AKB you will likely not recognise the members you actually get on your coasters (I did not know who any of these girls were except Takamina). But well, a gift’s a gift

Even if you’re not a fan though, the AKB48 Cafe’s still a nice place to have a meal at! There are TV screens on the walls playing concert DVDs and lots of Japanese fans sitting at the tables eating and exchanging goods with each other, so it gets pretty festive here.

It’s right outside the Akihabara JR station, so you should give this place a tryI wasn’t sure at first if I’d be interested in coming here, but it was a lot more fun than I expected! They have a shop corner that sells member goods right next to the cafe too, which is convenient if you end up becoming a fan over the course of your dinner.