“Have your pie and eat it too.”

I can’t get the hang of keeping a blog like a proper Japanese person. The usual pattern is a few lines of text followed by a cell phone picture of their lunch, or their pet, or themselves holding up a peace sign, or just something entirely random that they found interesting that day. I can’t do the brevity thing – I just want to talk everything out to its conclusion. I have, however, embraced taking pictures of food, especially when I eat somewhere that puts effort into presentation.

Japanese cell phones make a loud shutter noise that one isn’t to turn off, in an effort to discourage the men who like to take pictures up girls’ skirts. For those of us who are normal, it just discourages us taking innocent pictures in quiet places. When I’m wavering about whether I dare press the button in a muted restaurant, I am invariably put at ease by the loud shutter of a woman across the room from me, doing exactly what I’d been wanting to do.

I know it seems silly, but when your food is this pretty, don’t you want to preserve it somehow?

(Strawberry and Mango Cheesecake, mmm… I always wonder about restaurants that are fancy enough to have decorations drawn on the plate. It seems a shame to let them go to the dishwasher, but it would probably be uncouth to pick up the plate and lick it clean. I compromised by scooping up as much as I could with the edge of my fork.)

The Berry Cafe/Berry Parlor is one of my favorite places in Tokyo. I’ve mentioned before the intimidation of the Ginza branch after an elevator ride to the dimly lit sixth floor, so this time I tried the Omotesando one, which is on the second floor and so much less ominous (there must be a mathematical equation as to how the higher you go in a building, the more threatening the business). Here was far more relaxed, and the decorations even made it cute:

  While sitting there, I did not see a single person walking by who did not stop to drool over the display case in front:

For anyone else who comes across this post and wants to visit, it’s at:

Minato-ku, Minami Aoyama 5-10-19, Mayou Aoyama Building. On the Metro, take the Ginza line to Omotesando, leave by exit B1 and walk straight out across the intersection. You can’t miss it on your left. Open from 2:00 to 11:00 on weekdays, 12:00 to 11:00 on Saturdays, 12:00 to 8:00 on Sundays and holidays.

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