Harajuku: cafe gram (カフェグラム）

**EDIT**
The company behind cafe gram has been found to steal other companies' business ideas and trademarks - in fact cafe gram was actually operated by a cafe in Osaka, before the original cafe was forced to change their name to cafe bran and eventually had to close down from the loss of business.

Recently, the company tried to trademark a Singaporean tiramisu brand, which exposed all the bad things the company had done previously. 

You an read more about it below.

URL: https://mothership.sg/2019/01/tiramisu-hero-copycat-japan/

One of the cafes that continue to fuel the pancake craze in Tokyo is café gram, a Japanese pancake café originally from Osaka.

cafe gram is located in a small street off Takeshita street at Harajuku, in FREG Harajuku Building.

some other suspicious shops in the same building..

While café gram serves a wide variety of pancakes, they are especially infamous for their premium pancakes.

These painstakingly made to order pancakes are only served at 11am, 3pm, 6pm, and is limited to only 20 servings each period. They are so popular that you actually need to get a waiting ticket one hour before service time to secure a chance to taste these pancakes.    

I popped by the cafe at 10.10am, about 50 minutes before opening time to get a ticket for their premium pancakes. 

Many of the tickets were already taken, and while I managed to get a ticket, I was allocated their 11:30am slot for the pancakes. 

After hanging out at a different pancake cafe (RAINBOW PANCAKES - 100% recommended btw!), we headed back to cafe gram. 

The inside of the cafe was already in Christmas mode, with helium balloons and Christmas streamers all over.

Besides their Premium Pancakes, we also took a look at the main menu to see what other pancakes looked good.

The premium pancakes is made from scratch, and they only begin making the pancake batter only after taking orders – meringue is carefully added into the batter to give it its light and fluffy texture.

However, because we came in our allocated time slot, we didn't have to wait long.

After less than 5 minutes of being seated, the staff serving us carefully carried the wobbly tower of pancakes to our table.

premium pancakes 950yen

Each serving consists of three thick pancakes, each of which approximately three centimeters in height.

They come topped with butter and powdered sugar, as well as fresh cream and a small container of maple syrup on the side – the holy trinity of pancakes.

Similar to my experience at Misacadeco&cafe, I knew I had to take the prerequisite jiggly pancakes videos which made this place so famous.  

Since I had friends with me this time, I also roped them in to be my hand model so that I could capture an artsy-syrup-pouring shot. 

After much hoo-ha, I finally allowed my friends to dig into the pancakes.

The freshly made, fluffy pancakes were melt-in-your-mouth soft  – it was almost like eating a fluffy cotton candy or a cloud.
However, upon my first bite, I felt there was a really strong soymilk scent to the dish.
Unfortunately, I really Really REALLY hate soymilk, and immediately felt very queasy.

I asked the staff if there was any soymilk in the pancake batter, but they said there was none.  

I was quite puzzled, and thought I should try their pancakes, butter and syrup individually.

Their pancakes was actually nice on its own. A little plain and sticky, but okay.

Their butter was a little sweet - I prefer my butter salted, but the sweetness from the butter was no issue.

Then, I tried their syrup. I am not sure if the syrup is maple syrup, but it's definitely not the kind I like. I actually think that soymilk like smell comes from their syrup.
I really shouldn't have smeared all that syrup over the pancakes before actually trying it. 

Besides their Premium Pancakes, we also decided to give their Tokyo exclusive Rich Tiramisu Pancake a go.

 rich tiramisu pancake 1200yen

Presentation was quite good - just look at that cream bursting from the sides of the pancake!

Unfortunately, the pancake was a bit dry and rubbery, like it was left in the fridge for a while. 

The mascarpone cheese cream was quite nice, but not enough to cover the dryness of the pancake. 

For an extra 250yen, it will come with a drink.

coffee - added milk

We wanted a balance of sweet and savoury, so we also ordered their Prawn & Pickles with Mentaiko Sauce Pancakes.

prawn & pickles with mentaiko sauce 1100yen

pancakes under the salad

Three pancakes topped with a generous amount of salad made with lettuce, picked vegetables, prawns, honey mustard chicken and mentaiko dressing.

too huge!

Among the three dishes I had, I actually liked this the best. 

The vegetables were fresh, and the dish felt very light and refreshing despite being pancakes.

I wish they would cut their vegetables to make it a little more bite-size friendly. 

Overall, I thought it was quite an average experience.

There are definitely a lot better cafes out there in Tokyo, but their premium pancakes is definitely one of a kind. Unfortunately, it's not my kind of thing. 

Address: 1 Chome-9-30 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0001

〒150-0001東京都渋谷区神宮前1-9-30 FREG原宿 1F

Phone: 03-6804-3399 (general enquires) or 050-5592-1538 (reservation)

Hours: Mon – Sun 11am – 9pm (last order 8.15pm)

Website: http://www.cafe-gram.com/