Since I actually managed to go to all of the restaurants featured in Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman, I figured I’d rank them. Everybody loves a list, right?
Unlike pretty much every other place from Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman, Esse Due Akasaka is a full-out restaurant, not just a dessert shop. It’s an Italian joint that specializes in pizza and pasta, and based on what I saw from my table, everything looks quite good.
Ohagi is a traditional Japanese dessert that typically features a ball of glutinous rice surrounded by a sweet red bean paste. Takeno To Ohagi is admirably focused; they sell seven rotating varieties of ohagi, and that’s it.
I think the thing that stands out the most about Kooriya Peace — a place that specializes in elaborate shaved ice desserts — is the ice itself.
The savarin at Cafe Recherche might have been the booziest dessert that I’ve ever had. If you like liquor-infused desserts, then this is something you’re going to need to try. If you don’t, you might want to stay away.
I don’t think I’ve ever wished that I liked matcha quite as much as I did while I was eating the matcha Bavarian cream at Kinozen.
Rue de Passy actually does a pretty great job of recapturing the vibe of a Parisian patisserie (apparently the owner learned to make pastries in France).
Yes, technically Kantaro eats three bowls of mamekan in this particular episode, but I don’t think I quite have the stamina for that, and I definitely don’t have time to visit the three restaurants over multiple days. As much as I wish I had unlimited time in Tokyo, the clock is ticking.
When you think about it, it’s odd that we consider pancakes to be breakfast when really, they’re obviously dessert. I mean, “cake” is right there in the name. They’re doused in syrup. They’re dessert.
In the episode where Kantaro goes to Minimal, a high-end chocolate shop, he gets a chocolate bar and a chocolate fondant tart. I was really hoping to get that tart, but apparently they only serve one type of dessert per month (it’s a very small shop) and this month it was a chocolate parfait.