Dominique Ansel Bakery

I spent a lot more time exploring Ginza on this trip, and I’m glad I did, because in the basement of the Mitsukoshi department store I discovered the new Tokyo branch of New York’s Dominique Ansel Bakery. I arrived late in the day so there were no cronuts left, but I did snare this little guy – a strawberry and sake daruma cake (¥756), which was so Japanese I couldn’t resist. The cake was a reasonable size, and (being in Japan) packaged carefully to avoid any damage while being transported (no dine-in at this location). The daruma is traditionally designed to help with wishes – one eye is filled in when you make the wish, the other once it is fulfilled. Luckily I could just eat both. They were white chocolate discs, and a perfect start to the flavour festival of this cake. The majority of the inside is made up of a strawberry gel, plus sake lees and lime zest mousse, which was creamy, tangy and with a subtle sake flavour. The textures were soft and springy, and when I wanted something firmer, I could slice into the almond financier cake at the bottom for balance. Yum, yum, yum.

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Mitsukoshi, B2F, 4-6-16, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, http://dominiqueanseljapan.com/en