Your stomach and eyes will thank you for making a stop at this seaside town’s side-street dessert spot.

Onomichi, in Hiroshima Prefecture, is a town of understated beauty. Most of its sights weren’t initially planned as tourist attractions, but between its picturesque harbor, hillside temples, and well-preserved old-school shopping arcade, pretty much wherever you go in Onomichi you’ll find something pleasing to the eye.

▼ Onomichi

But while we were there we found something that thrilled our eyes and our taste buds. As we strolled around town, we noticed a number of people carrying what, at first glance, looked like bouquets. Then we realized that what we were seeing weren’t flower petals, but fruit slices, and that the “bouquets” were actually amazingly intricate crepes!

Never ones to shy away from snack time on our vacations, we kept our eyes peeled until we found the sweets’ source: the crepe shop Eternity.

Located on a side street just a few steps off Onomichi’s covered shopping arcade, Eternity is a takeout-only operation. Posted at the counter are enough photos of mouthwatering desserts to make anyone say “You know, I think I do have room for dessert,” regardless of whether or not they just finished a bowl of Onomichi’s famous ramen (we…might be speaking from experience here).

You can customize your order by selecting the types of fruit you want and their amounts, as well as the kind of cream that’ll go into your crepe. An especially cool touch is the mention on the menu, in both Japanese and English, of where Eternity has sourced its fruits for the day from.

On our visit, we opted for the crepe Eternity dubs the “Ichigo wo Tanoshimu,” which translates to “Enjoy Strawberries,” which has twice as many strawberries as their regular strawberry crepe.

Perhaps fitting for a place called Eternity, there can be a pretty long wait between when you place your order and when you get your crepe. Our patience was rewarded, though, when the staff handed us this work of art.

The strawberry slices were spread in such a wide spiral that it was a wonder they weren’t falling to the ground. Eternity’s crepe architects really know what they’re doing, though, and our berry bouquet remained steady as we admired and photographed it from multiple angles.

Then it was time to taste test it, and it was no slouch in the flavor department either. The crepe dough has just the right tender chewiness, and the cream is rich and sweet without being overpoweringly so, since Eternity knows that what you’re really here for is the fruit.

And that fruit was fantastic. Not only did the delicate slicing of the strawberries help make them look like flower petals, it also made them easy to eat. When eating a crepe with bigger chunks of fruit, the star ingredient can be all gone after just a few bites, but here we had strawberry slice after strawberry slice to keep our taste receptors firing from their tart sweetness.

Now, as you might expect, Eternity prides itself on using fresh, high-quality ingredients. Because of that, they may or may not be able to make a bouquet crepe using a particular kind of fruit, depending on supplies, so before ordering you might want to check on what their current stock is like. If you already know what type of fruit you want, and want to know if it’s possible to have it made into a flower-style crepe, you’d ask “[Fruit] wo hana ni dekimasu ka?” So, in the case of strawberries (ichigo in Japanese), you’d say “Ichigo wo hana ni dekimasu ka?” Alternatively, you could just ask “Hana ni dekiru furutsu ha nan desu ka?”/”What kind of fruits can you make into flowers?”

In general, the flower-style crepes require either a double-size order of fruit or a combination of two different kinds of fruit. That makes them a little more expensive, and we paid 980 yen (US$6.90) for ours. Still, it’s hard to think of something better to splurge on than a big, beautiful dessert like this.

Shop information
Eternity / エタニティ
Address: Hiroshima-ken, Onomichi-shi, Tsuchido 2-2-14
広島県尾道市土堂２−２−１４
Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays ad Thursdays
Website

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