Japanese Pancakes (Hot Cakesホットケーキ) at Pinocchio/Pinokioピノキオ, Tokyo JAPAN

Japanese Pancakes (Hot Cakesホットケーキ)

Owner Making Pancakes on an old style flat griddle!

Personally, I am not into pancakes (American pancakes), and I thought I will never be a fan of pancake. What really changed my view on pancakes is this small shop in Tokyo called Pinocchio/Pinokioピノキオ(Itabashi area). Their thick, fluffy pancakes are extraordinary! From the process of making the pancake, its beautiful color , delicious and crispy & spongy texture, I can't believe I fell in love!

Pinocchio is a small cafe that was opened by a Japanese couple who are now 70+ years old already. (They seriously look a lot younger and healthier than it sounds!) Anyway, the shop has been around for over 40 years and operated by the couple without any additional staffs. Their pancakes are extremely famous and people from the world will specially make a trip to their shop and try their pancake!

Pinocchio's owners, a couple who opened this shop for over 40 years!

If you are planning to take train. The nearest station is Oyama Station. It takes around 10 minutes to walk to the cafe from that station. While walking, you will probably notice you are in a residential area with only local shops, houses, and apartments. When you arrive, you will find the entrance at the first floor of an apartment building.

Exterior

Once you go inside the cafe, it feels like you enter into another world. It is like time travel back to the Showa era. The cafe is cozy with wooden classic interior and decorated with vintage items like coin telephone.

Interior seating

Pinocchio wooden toy at the counter seat!

The menu includes spaghetti, sandwiches, and toast, but let's focus here, we are here for their specialty: pancake, or in Japanese, they call it ホットケーキhot cake. But just a quick tip, the pancake will take more than 20 minutes to make. If you are really hungry, I guess it's not a bad idea to order something like a sandwich. For me, I just ordered a hot chocolate & ice coffee and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

Hot Chocolate

Ice Coffee with tiny Bell Creamer of milk!

If the shop is not busy, you can actually get a sneak peek of the open kitchen, where your pancakes are made!! Before anything, it's always nice to first ask if photography is allowed before taking photos. ^^

Making pancake at open kitchen

Batter on the griddle. It's amazing to see how well the shape is holding up when the batter is still watery!

After flipping over, the pancake looks too beautiful to ignore! It looks like a really thick Dorayaki cake!

When the steamy pancakes are served, they are stacked together and topped with a slice of butter & maple syrup! As you can see, each pancake is about 3cm thick. It really takes years of skills and experience to achieve this pancake perfection!

Stacking two 3-cm thick pancakes

Let's talk about the texture first. It's still blowing my mind right now! The outside is crispy, and the inside is fluffy and spongy like a cake. It is more like a snack rather than dessert or breakfast. It is not too sweet and has an addicting texture that you can't stop eating!

Check out what it looks like inside!

After trying their pancake, I don't think I can ever go back to American pancake. I had been craving for their pancake ever since the first time I had it...

Pinocchio/Pinokio ピノキオ  Phone: +81 3-3974-9336  Website: https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1322/A132203/13088456/