Unique cherry blossom dessert conceals a surprising filling of traditional flavours.

If you’re looking to explore an area of Tokyo that retains an air of traditional Japanese charm, then Kagurazaka in Shinjuku needs to be on your itinerary. As one of Tokyo’s few remaining geisha districts, this quiet corner of the city is dotted with cobblestone-style backstreets, longstanding stores, and numerous ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants) where geisha still perform to this day.

On one of the narrow side streets you’ll find a beautiful teahouse cafe called Kagurazaka Saryo, and at this time of year it serves up one of the best sakura sweets in Tokyo.

▼ Plus, some delicious extras.

All these items look gorgeous, but there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye, as they contain extremely high-quality ingredients that make them taste sublime.

▼ The star dessert is Haruka, which means “Spring Breeze“.

This poetically named dessert is a seasonal, limited-edition cherry blossom Mont Blanc, with strands of thin “sakura an” (cherry blossom bean paste) making it feel as delicate as a spring breeze.

Scattered around the dessert is a sprinkling of sakura-flavoured chocolate shavings, mixed with matcha-flavoured feuilletine (crispy, crumbled crepe pieces).

The feuilletine and chocolate shavings add a delicate sweetness and crunchy texture to the dessert, while also resembling fallen sakura petals on green grass.

On top is a rare, luxury Japanese strawberry variety known as Awayuki, which has very low acidity and a sakura pink hue.

At first glance, you might think this is a one-note dessert that consists only of sakura paste, but slice into it and you’ll find it has delicious complexity.

Beneath the strands of sakura is a layer of handmade ice cream containing sencha (steamed green tea) sourced from Shizuoka Prefecture, an area famous for green tea.

Beneath that is a crunchy meringue, followed by Crème Épaisse (a popular French cream made by fermenting fresh cream with lactic acid bacteria), a tart griotte (sour cherry) jam, and a thin layer of sponge to finish.

Scooping a serving of everything onto a plate adds even more flavour to the this six-layered dessert, with another strawberry to be found in the mix as well.

Each mouthful delivers perfect measures of flavour to the taste buds for an absolutely sublime eating experience. Unlike a lot of other sakura treats, this one doesn’t punch you in the mouth with sweetness or intense floral aromas, which is a testament to the high quality ingredients and the level of care in its creation.

▼ The sweet and tart taste of sour cherry adds a nice accent to the mellow cherry blossom flavours.

The heavy outer layer of sakura might look like a lot, but its airy smoothness melts on the tongue, imparting just the right amount of blossom flavour to enhance the other ingredients.

Hidden within it all are pieces of sakura-flavoured warabi mochi (a traditional jelly-like bracken starch confection), which provides a nice surprise with its smooth mouthfeel.

Looking closely at the warabi mochi reveals it has a gorgeous light pink colour, and a speckling of ground sakura leaves, the hallmark of a good cherry blossom dessert.

We’ve tried a lot of sakura treats in our time, and this freshly made Mont Blanc was one of the best we’ve ever tasted. The interplay between sakura, matcha, meringue, cherry, cream and sponge created subtle nuances of flavour you’d normally find at a high-class restaurant, making this dessert a memorable one.

▼ Plus, it comes with a choice of tea, and we recommend ordering the matcha, which is deliciously deep green and incredibly flavourful.

Kagurazaka Saryo has two other locations in Tokyo, at Ikebukuro Sunshine City and Shibuya Scramble Square, as well as one branch each in Italy, Canada and Thailand. As the place where the teahouse started, though, Kagurazaka is home to the main branch, and this is the only location where you’ll be able to order the special Haruka Mont Blanc.

▼ At the two other Tokyo locations, as well as the head branch, you can enjoy another cherry blossom special: the Sakura Warabi Mochi Matcha Latte.

This original drink uses Kyoto matcha as the star ingredient, and tops it all off with a mound of sakura cream and a pickled cherry blossom.

The gorgeous combination of pink and green makes this a total showstopper, and it impresses the palate too.

▼ How green is this matcha?

The body of the drink contains a layer of cream to mellow out the intensity of the matcha, and at the bottom is a mound of sakura warabi mochi. The thick pieces of warabi mochi travel up the straw to wow your taste buds with a hit of jelly-like smoothness, delivering subtle spurts of sakura to complement the green tea.

These limited-edition treats are levels above regular cafe offerings, and the high quality is reflected in the price. The Haruka Mont Blanc retails for 2,860 yen (US$18.03) for a set with Japanese tea, or 2,970 yen for a set with matcha or gyokuro, while the Sakura Warabi Mochi Matcha Latte is on the menu at 990 yen.

The high price is worth it for a sakura experience to remember, though, and they’re only on the menu for a limited time until early-to-mid April, so now’s the time to explore Kagurazaka, and all its hidden charms.

Cafe information
Kagurazaka Saryo Main Store /神楽坂 茶寮 本店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Kagurazaka 3-1
東京都新宿区神楽坂3-1
Open 11:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Website

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