Best specialist cafés in Tokyo

Speciality: sesame 

Sesame is the quintessential Japanese ice cream flavour, and at this Shibuya scooper which gets an awful lot of attention from customers’ camera phones – check out those amazing charcoal- black colours – you’ll see just how versatile and delicious it can be. They use premium Kiku Sangyo sesame from Mie prefecture to craft their six options: black and white sesame ice cream, each available in three degrees of intensity. We always go for the signature super-rich black sesame: it’s thick yet surprisingly smooth like ganache, while the nuttiness of the black sesame is the perfect foil to the sweetness.

The eat-in menu pushes the envelope even further with dazzlingly inventive sesame creations. There are ice cream buns, fluffy pancakes, parfaits, a sesame latte that’s made with no fewer than 6,000 sesame seeds, and our favourite – the sesame and hazelnut marble cheesecake, which often sells out quickly. For drinks, think hand-drip coffee and hojicha.

Speciality: fruit parfait

Nestled in the backstreets of trendy Jiyugaoka, The Tokyo Fruits produces some of the best fruit parfaits around. The combination of sliced fruit, mousse, fruit jelly, whipped cream and sorbet has oodles of flavour, a winning texture and tastes every bit as good as it looks. The selection is informed by what’s in season, so you’re likely to find cherry and peach parfaits in summer, grape and sweet potato in autumn and strawberry in winter.

To maintain quality, owner and fruit expert Maeda frequently travels across the country to source from the best orchards – and that attention to detail and obsession with provenance is reflected in the prices, which range between ¥2,000 to ¥2,400 per glass. As all parfaits are made to order, expect a 20-minute wait during peak hours – but Maeda helps you pass the time by serving some fresh-cut fruit at no extra charge in the interim. The menu also offers freshly squeezed juices, coffee, fruit sandwiches, French toast and sponge cake.

Speciality: chiffon sandwich

The chiffon sandwich is quite the crowd pleaser – two pieces of beautifully light and cloud-like chiffon cake, wedged together with fruit jam and whipped cream. And given a seasonal twist at Foodmood, it’s even more heavenly than usual. Two chiffon options are always on the menu as new flavours are introduced monthly and stay available for two months – July’s apricot and anko (red bean paste), and August’s apricot and blueberry were both excellent. As expected, this café is extremely popular and fills up the moment it opens – strangely, though, it’s less crowded in the middle of the day. There’s no rule saying you can’t have cake for lunch.

Speciality: onigiri

Combining artisanal coffee with onigiri rice balls is certainly a novel approach – and it seems to be working. Tucked away in the backstreets of Higashi-Ginza, this tiny café features a clean and elegant Japanese-style interior: think plaster walls, cedar wood fixtures, coffered ceiling plus a lone bonsai poised behind the counter for a cool visual impact.

The onigiri are simple but satisfying; the rice triangles have no fillings but are dusted with salt, wasabi or ume plum powder. For drinks, there are the usual café staples including drip coffee, Americano and mocha, plus a peculiar latte made by combining matcha with a shot of espresso. There’s a soy milk option too for the lactose intolerant.

Speciality: gelato

Thanks to the Italians, coffee and gelato go hand-in-hand: what’s better than pairing a strong, bitter espresso with a scoop of sweet frozen creaminess? Located a short walk away from Yoyogi Park, Floto’s gelato display will tempt you with its striking array of colourful options: there’s everything from classic chocolate and caramel to seasonal fruit flavours such as peach, kiwi and Japanese beni hoppe strawberry.

As for the joe, Floto’s beans are sourced from the famed Aalto Coffee and the Rooster in Tokushima. We suggest getting the best of both worlds by ordering either the coffee float or affogato with your choice of gelato. When it’s pleasant outside, take a seat at the outdoor patio and enjoy the perfect afternoon treat.

Speciality: anko (red bean paste)

For its latest venture, one of Japan’s most venerable purveyors of wagashi has stripped the sugary confections of their pomp and splendour and instead focused on the traditional teatime treat’s key ingredient – the humble anko, or red bean paste.

This specialist café, conveniently connected to Shinjuku Station, has a modern vibe and it’s not just confined to the cool glass and wood interior. Its signature ‘an paste’ is made by kneading red bean paste with unrefined brown sugar and maple syrup, and is featured in several original creations. There’s the éclair-like An Coupé that’s filled with cream cheese and an paste, as well as the an paste cafe au lait. You can even get a jar of the silky smooth red bean paste to go, and watch out for the limited edition fruit-flavoured ones as well. A new An Stand recently opened in Ginza.

Speciality: cupcake

One of the many independent cafés in Setagaya, Brick Lane stands out with its highly coveted ‘cupcakes’ that are only available on weekends and holidays. Don’t expect the usual mini round cakes with a crown of icing, though. Brick Lane’s take is more cheeky, with fluffy chunks of sponge cake folded in with whipped cream and served in a cute paper cup.

Unlike your standard cupcake, these use light brown sugar for a more mellowed, natural sweetness. The flavour changes regularly too; we’ve seen strawberry, peach, melon, cherry and even a Mont Blanc version (chocolate and chestnut flavour). Brick Lane also offers a range of inventive coffee drinks – caramel nut latte, coffee jelly float and espresso tonic – and they have recently started selling beans from Nagasaki’s Kariomons Coffee Roaster.

Speciality: Mont Blanc

While the café’s eponymous dessert is French in origin, over the years Mont Blanc has become a classic Japanese confection. Built on a cake base, this dessert piles on the chestnut and whipped cream before finishing off with strings of chestnut puree, which gives it a noodle-like appearance.

At this Shibuya haunt for the sweet-toothed, this dessert is made using premium, locally-sourced chestnuts, and your order will be prepared fresh in front of you. There are only two options available – Mont Blanc in cake and parfait forms – and they both go well with hojicha, sencha or even sake (which is on the menu). Pair your sweet stop with a stroll in the nearby Yoyogi Park.