Visiting Japan’s famous HARBS for its most popular “Strawberry Tart”

Text & Photos /Xiaohu’s Dream Food Blog

As a dessert enthusiast, I had heard of HARBS more than a year ago when I wasn’t traveling to Japan often. I even saw long lines at several counters in Tokyo department stores but never got to try it—until I finally visited its home base in Nagoya. Let me start by saying it’s not the best dessert I’ve ever had, but in terms of portion size and price, it’s fairly decent. Unless you’re extremely picky about desserts, you probably won’t be too disappointed.

After researching HARBS in Nagoya online, I found out there are as many as six branches in the city alone—that explains why we kept getting confused while searching on Google. But remember, the one in Nagoya’s Sakae area is said to be the main store.

In the end, we found the Nagoya LaLaport store, located on the second floor of the building shown in the photo in Nagoya’s Sakae district. It shouldn’t be hard to find if you’re heading in the right direction (just look toward Nagoya Tower).

That said, if you can find the main store and get a seat, based on my experience, I’d still recommend going to the main store (Nagoya City, Naka Ward, Nishiki 3-6-17, Central Park Building). The distance between the two is about a 15- to 20-minute walk.

We visited at the end of March, right during the Strawberry Festival, which features various strawberry cakes made with six different varieties of strawberries. I think strawberry lovers will have a hard time resisting, especially since strawberries are arguably the most reliable fruit for any cake.

Before going in, let’s take a look at the cake display. Among them, this signature strawberry tart is particularly tempting—it’s also said to be the most popular strawberry cake. Don’t miss it if you see it.

There’s cream strawberry tart, strawberry cheesecake, and strawberry whipped cream—but unfortunately, there were just the two of us, so we ended up choosing only one strawberry cake.

Of course, there are also several classic cheesecake options to choose from.

Two different flavors and styles of chocolate cake.

The Mont Blanc tart I really wanted to try but was afraid would be too sweet—I ended up skipping it.

In the end, I chose this cream banana tart because it looked simply irresistible.

I gave up on the fruit mille-feuille just for this cream banana tart.

I originally wanted to order one or two more cakes, but first, I was already quite full, second, we were getting close to our meeting time and didn’t want to risk not finishing, and third, the portions of these cakes are really quite large.

The herbal tea isn’t overly sweet, so it pairs perfectly with the slightly sweet cakes. I remember all the drinks were a flat rate of 750 yen.

The iced apple juice tastes very similar to the Japanese apple juice you can buy at convenience stores—it’s good, but if I could have used my limited money on more cake instead, that would’ve been better. Anyway, there’s no minimum drink purchase here.

Speaking of which, my favorite fruit mille-feuille (780 yen)—there’s one thing I don’t understand: why is it wrapped in aluminum foil when it’s for dine-in? When you unwrap it, it looks terrible in photos... Texture-wise, though, the large amount of whipped cream makes it incredibly smooth, and the pastry layers are so thin you can barely notice them. The slightly sweet whipped cream combined with the tangy juiciness of the fruits is satisfying both visually and taste-wise. If I had to point out a flaw, it’s that the quality of the whipped cream isn’t the best, so eating too much can get a little cloying—but at this price and portion size, it’s really nothing to complain about.

This is like an upgraded version of a strawberry cream puff—the crust and the custard-filled cream are both great, but what I love most is the puff-pastry-like crust that’s nicely baked and even delicious on its own.

Also, this strawberry tart priced at 860 yen really does have quite a lot of strawberries, which should satisfy any strawberry lover. The cream filling is smooth with a pleasing hint of stickiness. Overall, it’s quite good, at least the texture is quite unique, and of course, the strawberries are delicious.

Finally, there’s this banana cream tart (680 yen), topped with a generous amount of whipped cream, layered with an equally generous amount of cream custard, and stuffed with pieces of very fresh banana. Even more enticing is the flaky, multi-layered crust on the outside. One spoonful from top to bottom brings different levels of sweetness and melt-in-your-mouth textures—it’s extremely satisfying. A must-try for banana dessert lovers.

Overall, the flavor is a bit better than I expected, but the texture is slightly rough. It relies on the emulsifying effect of a lot of whipped cream, but given the portion size and price in Japan, it’s definitely worth a visit. But if you’re used to higher-end, pricier cakes, I can’t make any promises. Simply put, it’s an affordable and reasonably priced cake shop.

Nagoya LaLaport Store
HARBS Nagoya City, Naka Ward, Sakae 3-6-1, LaLaport 2F
Phone: 052-259-6350
Business Hours: 11:00–21:00
HARBS Official Website:http://www.harbs.co.jp/harbs/concept.html

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