Tuesday, January 23, 2018

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 

44 comments:

  1. Those pancakes look so tasty. Would love to try them and trying them inJapan would be even better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow... I really wanna try those!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would love to try these yummy pancakes at Pinocchio in Tokyo! My mouth is watering!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I missed out on these on my trip to Japan

    ReplyDelete
  5. Puffiness of those pancakes are luring me :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. They look amazing :o, in Poland pancakes are flat :(... I must try them

    ReplyDelete
  7. These look insane! Would love to smother them in some Canadian maple syrup :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those Japanese Pancakes look so delicious! I wanna try them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Spongey and fluffy pancakes.. I'd love to try.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those ホットケーキ look amazing! I don't think we could ever get them to rise that much at home!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have been curious about "Japenese pancakes" since seeing them on Pinterest. Now I want to try them even more!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well, this really made me feel starving 😅😂

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those look amazing!! I bet they're super fluffy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. They're very thick!! I bet they can be eat as a proper meal, I'm full by just watching at your photos. Japanese are amazing when it comes to aging, they can either be 16 or 60 for what you can guess

    ReplyDelete
  15. These sound fabulous, wish I was a bit closer!

    ReplyDelete
  16. We're going to be in Japan this summer...have a few days in Tokyo, so will try to check out these yummy pancakes!! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Those look wonderful. I'd love to try them!

    ReplyDelete
  18. They look amazing, they must use a really thick batter! I wonder if there is a special recipe?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Those Japanese Pancakes! I wanna eat them right now :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. omg. I love pancakes and those look absolutely delicious. I want to make them at home...or go to Japan and try them :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Okay, I know where I am getting some Japanese pancakes when I am in Tokyo. These are amazing looking. I love how thick they are and it really is neat how they held their shape while still liquid-like. I love the iced coffee with small bit of milk on the side. I have yet to see that here in the states, but it is such a nice treat.

    ReplyDelete
  22. WOW! These look so delicious I've never seen Japanese pancakes before, I must definitely try them for sure, thanks for a great & interesting review.

    ReplyDelete
  23. wow, I had never heard of these pancakes before, look great!

    ReplyDelete
  24. would love to try the pancakes

    ReplyDelete
  25. OK, you've convinced me - I'm gonna have to try these when I get the chance :-)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Casinos in NJ December 2021 - JTHub
    We have reviewed 서산 출장안마 and 광양 출장마사지 rated casinos in 서울특별 출장마사지 the US 춘천 출장마사지 by our users. Casinos in 김포 출장안마 New Jersey - List of Casinos in NJ December 2021.

    ReplyDelete