The truck is only open for five hours a day during the weekend…but we had to have it!!
There’s a mysterious little sweets food truck in Tokyo that only appears on the weekends: it’s called Mrs. Charlotte, and it’s themed on the color purple. The whole truck is decked out in purple and much of what they serve is purple, so Mrs. Charlotte has made a name for itself for being the cutest little sweet shop in town.
Our Japanese-language reporter Ayaka Idate’s favorite color is purple, so when she heard about Mrs. Charlotte, she knew she had to go check it out. She heard that their purple crepes are especially popular, but as it turns out, they’re so popular it was rather hard for her to get her hands on one. It took her three tries to taste them!
Ayaka found Mrs. Charlotte parked in front of the Sato Sakura Museum in the Nakameguro neighborhood of Tokyo. Its cute, soft purple color attracted the attention of passersby, who couldn’t help but stop to look at it. The menu–which was purple–did have some items that weren’t purple, but of course, Ayaka was set on trying some of Mrs. Charlotte’s purple fare.
She chose to try the Lavender Milk Ice Cream (580 yen/US$5.37) and the Berry and Cream Cheese Crepe (540 yen). After receiving a number card that was–of course–purple, Ayaka waited just a few minutes for her order.
First up was the Lavender Milk Ice Cream. What a pretty shade of pastel purple! It was a slightly more purple-y periwinkle, and prettily decorated with edible purple elderflowers. Even Ayaka, who isn’t much of a social media user, found the look very Instagrammable.
Since the ice cream was “Lavender Milk” flavored, Ayaka expected it to have a nice scent of lavender to it, but it really didn’t. Hoping it had a taste of lavender, she took a bite, but what really came through instead was a deliciously rich milky flavor.
As it turns out, the “lavender” in the name comes not from the use of lavender in the recipe, but rather from the color of the ice cream. The actual flavor of the Lavender Milk Ice Cream is, in fact, milk. While the refreshing pastel color implies something on the lighter side, this ice cream is actually quite rich and sweet.
The elusive Berry and Cream Cheese Crepe, by the way, was also a delightful shade of pastel purple, and was also decorated with colorful elderflowers. It was very appealing to Ayaka, who could not wait to try it.
The crepe seemed nicely cooked, and when Ayaka peeled back the paper around the crepe, she noticed a nice golden-brown coloring to it, which had her mouth watering. But you may have already guessed that while it looked pretty, this purple crepe did not have any special flavor to it–it just tasted like a regular crepe. Just like the ice cream, the flavor of the crepe did not match the color.
The berries and cream cheese flavor on the inside, however, did fit the bill. It was lightly sweet and quite pleasant–tasty, and yet not moreish. Very delicious!
Ayaka also ordered a cute pink crepe called the “Sakura” (650 yen). It’s only available while Mrs. Charlotte is in front of the Sato Sakura Museum, so if you want to try this beauty, you’ll want to keep an eye out for them there.
Unlike the purple offerings, this one actually had a cherry blossom flavor that matched its cute pink coloring. Of course, both crepes were very tasty, so you might have a hard time choosing which one to get if you visit!
Did you notice that the Sakura Crepe has ice cream on top? That’s because you can choose to add ice cream to your crepe for just 150 yen. Now, the reason why Ayaka didn’t do that with her purple crepe is because the shop is so popular that things tend to sell out quickly–and she had to order the ice cream and the crepes on separate trips.
In fact, the first time she went, everything on the menu was sold out! Mrs. Charlotte opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m., so Ayaka thought it would be okay to stop by at around four o’clock. That turned out to be a tremendous mistake, because there was absolutely nothing left by then.
Thinking that if she came just a bit earlier she’d have a better chance, Ayaka stopped by a little after lunch for her second try, around two o’clock. To her surprise, there was a line down the street that took her an hour and a half to get through!
Sadly, on that day, the last of the crepes sold out about three parties ahead of Ayaka. Even though she had been looking forward to trying the crepe with the ice cream, Ayaka decided just to try the ice cream since she had, after all, been waiting in line all that time.
To be absolutely certain she wouldn’t miss out on the crepes this time, for her third trip Ayaka arrived just before opening time, and she was finally able to try them. According to the staff, it’s pretty common for things to sell out before 4 p.m., so if you have your heart set on trying out some of Mrs. Charlotte’s sweets, you’ll want to stop by earlier rather than later. If you wait too late, you might end up having to wait until the next weekend before you can try it!
By the way, Mrs. Charlotte does change locations every once in a while, so make sure you check out their website to see where they’re going to be before you go. You don’t want to head to the wrong place! And if you’re looking for another cute and tasty sweets experience, the Crocodile Who Dies in 100 Days now has his own pop-up-cafe, but it’s only for a limited time, so make sure you check it out before it’s gone.
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