I’d known for a while that Pierre Hermé has a café at its Aoyama shop, but only this time did I finally manage to drop by. It’s a café with a rather unusual concept, so I’d wanted to visit at least once, and at last I got the chance.
The entrance
The ground floor is the shop, and the café is on the second floor. The lineup is certainly more varied than at an ordinary shop. Still, I don’t really feel the need to come all the way to Aoyama for it. Plenty of other places sell the Ispahan, after all.
The windows
Pretty flashy, right?
Fetish Ispahan
I picked one of the café-only menu items. Five kinds of Ispahan come on one plate: millefeuille, Émotion, macaron, chocolate and ice cream. At 1,680 yen you can’t really call it expensive. The millefeuille was awkward to cut, so it seemed like you had to eat it in one bite. The Ispahan chocolate was nice and intense, and the ice cream was full of rose aroma too. But while I got to enjoy all sorts of variations on the Ispahan on one plate, the standard Ispahan still seems the most satisfying..
Banyuls 2007
I paired it with a sweet wine. Together it came to about 3,000 yen. The wine selection was decent. I actually thought they’d serve cognac (it’s 4C, after all..), but no. The café has a very free atmosphere – just one long sofa and a table – and the service staff were of a really high standard. It was so casual that it felt less like a date spot and more like somewhere the locals (that is, Aoyama residents) use. I sat by the window and quietly enjoyed my dessert before heading back, but I’m not sure I’ll ever go again. The service was so courteous that it was a bit much for me.