Popular Dessert Shop on Tokyo’s Omotesando: Tangy Puff Pastry & Toasted Marshmallows!

Text & Photos byPaine Little One

This time when I visited Tokyo, I set aside a whole day to explore Omotesando. Besides trying the lobster sandwich that has a long queue, this DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY dessert shop was also super popular, and there were quite a few tourists (haha). First off, I’d like to warn you—this dessert shop is very busy. On the day we went, you could only sit down after placing your order. At that time, I saw an elderly lady who took a seat first while her younger companion went to queue up for food. But a staff member came over and told them that saving seats (by sitting down) wasn’t allowed. The old lady didn’t understand Japanese and got a bit upset. I guess this situation arises because the place is really popular—people in line are those who arrived first, and some might be solo visitors who can’t both queue and look for seats at the same time. That’s probably why they have such a rule... anyway, just sharing what I experienced that day.

You can find DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY on Google Maps—the location is clear and easy to spot.

When we went, the place was doing well but not completely packed. Many people took photos of the desserts as soon as they saw them, haha.

This seems to be where you can pay in advance when it's super crowded (sorry, my Japanese isn’t great...)

We ordered drinks first, then explained which desserts we wanted. We used photos to show the staff which cake we wanted.

There are so many cake options at DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY!

Each one looks “so pretty~”. After much hesitation, we made the tough choice to go with a Paris-Tokyo flavor and the supposedly unique toasted marshmallow.

Apart from cakes and pastries, they also have bread products, all with a very design-forward look.

Tomato bread—what does it look like and what does it taste like? The top part really does look like a real tomato!

I seriously thought, is this supposed to be a Bread Head (Anpanman) reference?

Coffee bean bread!

This is a dessert that’s been featured in magazines—the inside reveals melted chocolate when cut.

Skewered toasted marshmallows. The wooden sticks look a lot like chocolate, but they’re actually real wood (some kind of plant material), not edible!

Also, as soon as you walk into the store, you’ll see this pineapple-flavored dessert. Not sure if it’s because it stands out, but every table that was dining in had ordered this—except ours. Every single table, in fact. One table of four even ordered two. Just this one item!

It seems super popular because I saw them continuously baking batches of these pastries non-stop.

Since we couldn’t eat too much, we passed on this dessert.

After ordering, we went to find a seat—the seating is really limited, with only about eight or nine two-person tables. Also, the second floor is not for dessert customers—it’s another restaurant entirely!

Here’s the price list for everyone to see.

Also, if you order the toasted marshmallow, the staff will keep calling you to the counter. At first I wondered what was going on. The first time I went up, I got a cup of coffee; the second time, another cup. I ran back and forth three times before realizing he just wanted me to wait nearby because he was going to roast it fresh in front of me.

The staff member who roasted it for us even turned it toward us for the photo—but—because of the photos, it ended up getting a bit burnt (ugh). Everyone, take your photos quickly—he’ll keep roasting until you give up on taking pictures.

Iced/hot latte—pretty good.

Two desserts. We’d just had a lobster sandwich, so two were enough!

Paris-Tokyo—that’s the name of this dessert.

We kept guessing why it’s called that—does matcha represent Tokyo, and ginkgo represent Paris? Or is it meant to look like the Eiffel Tower?

The puff pastry is filled not only with matcha and cream but also has a tangy fruit jam to balance the sweetness.

Poor burnt marshmallow...

It's cotton candy on the outside and ice cream inside, oh my goodness！ All I can say is, it's super sweet—so sweet, that cotton candy is really sweet.

I went to the restroom and happened to check out the second floor, which was actually not very crowded.

DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY
Address: 5-7-14 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Phone: +81 3-3486-1329
Business hours: 10:00–19:00
Official website:http://www.transit-web.com/shop/dominique_ansel_bakery/
Coordinates:35.666308, 139.708634

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