I’d read on some blog that a French butter specialty shop called Echire had recently opened in Marunouchi, and I made up my mind to go. Their croissants, made with loads of butter, are so popular that you supposedly have to queue for 30 minutes to get one, so tight as my travel schedule was, I couldn’t pass up a chance like this.
Shop window
Butter and cookies. Very cutely done. The little goods were -_- pretty pricey, though..
Notice about croissant sales
They sell once a day starting at 10 a.m., with a limit of 6 per person. I got there five minutes before 10, and maybe because it was a weekend, I queued a full hour to buy them. I guess the 30 minutes is a weekday thing.
The trademark cow
It was so cute I wanted to carry it home, but I held myself back.
Ice cream tower
A cute design like this is Japanese-style no matter how you look at it. Whoever produced this did a really nice job.
Busy inside the shop
Business is really booming. The staff are wrapping things nonstop, and the queue still barely moves.
After buying, an hour of waiting later
It was a scorching day, and the queue was still long. Weather like this is butter’s enemy, really. So I skipped the butter for now.
Traditional croissant
Since the croissants are so popular I was worried, but they bake plenty, easily enough to last an hour of queueing. Honestly, after the 30-minute mark I was getting nervous they’d sell out, so what a relief ^_^ At this rate it doesn’t look like they’d sell out before noon.
I pulled out what I’d bought and ate it on a nearby bench like a homeless guy -_- I hadn’t had breakfast anyway, and I had plenty of places left to go, so better to eat while I could. Echire has three kinds of croissant: unsalted butter, salted butter and traditional, and I bought one of each. The first one I ate was the traditional croissant, and honestly I was a bit disappointed. It tasted like a croissant from a pretty good bakery, nothing special enough to queue an hour for.
How to enjoy your croissant
But only after finishing everything did I discover this. In short, it tastes better warmed up. They could have told me earlier.. The next day, back home, I warmed up the leftover croissants for breakfast, and they were fantastic, the rich butter flavor coming through in full. A whole different level from the plain taste of the traditional one. At this level I have zero regrets about queueing an hour on a hot day. If I ever get to shop at Echire again, I’m buying six unsalted butter croissants and nothing else.
Butter ice cream
I wondered whether you could even make ice cream out of butter, but there was no need to worry. It tastes a lot like vanilla ice cream, only richer and fresher. On a completely different level from something like Häagen-Dazs..
Looks ordinary
I thought it’d be nice to stock a box of it in the freezer.
Madeleines
I’ve had madeleines at quite a few shops, but this place is hands-down the best. Moist inside, the outside baked to a nicely caramelized finish, and the nutty butter aroma lifts the texture. Who knew a baked sweet could be this good! I imagine the madeleine that brought back childhood nostalgia for Proust, that rich man’s son, must have been about this level, and if so, what a perfectly fitting start to the enormous story that followed. They were so good I thought of buying some as souvenirs, but apparently they only keep a few days. Such a shame..
People waiting for the Manet exhibition
The building next to Echire was holding a Manet exhibition, and it drew huge crowds. This area is a relatively new development for Marunouchi, but it’s building quite a name for itself.
Joël Robuchon
Right next door to Echire. It’s not as famous as it used to be, but maybe because of the 1,000-yen lunch there was quite a queue. I wanted to line up too, but I had to head straight off to lunch..
Enoteca The Lounge
A dignified atmosphere, just what you’d expect on Naka-dori. I checked the prices and, well.. not bad.. But I was busy that day, so next time..
Armani Dolci on Naka-dori
I’ve tried a fair range of chocolates, but not this shop’s yet. It probably has the shortest shelf life of any high-end chocolate I know. Three days or so, I think they said.. Summer is a bit tough, so I’m thinking of buying some when it’s cold, around winter, keeping them in the fridge and bringing them home as souvenirs. Besides chocolate they sell jam and all sorts of things, which look good as gifts. The price, as you know, is Armani pricing.. Still, a lot cheaper than Bvlgari ^_^ I hear they’re moving to the Ginza store from September, so if you’re interested, go check it out..