Fruitcake

I am a fan of fruit.  From strawberries to tangerines, there are very few fruits I dislike.  So, when my husband suggested we take my stepmom to one of the fancy designer fruit specialty stores, I was eager to go.

I took my son to a similar fruit parlor, Kyobashi Sembikiya, in January.  It was an amazing treat, but we wanted to enjoy a different shop this time.

Takano Fruit Parlor, located in Shinjuku, is a destination just to peruse their wares.  Their fruit is an incredible sight, even if their prices leave me a bit breathless.  I have been in their store several times to gawk and marvel, even though I’ve never bought a single thing.

My husband tried to treat me to a afternoon parfait late last year, but we decided against it when we found out that the wait was 90 minutes for a table in their 5th floor dining room.  I was eager to head back with reservations this time to avoid that long line.  He also had the inside scoop that I didn’t realize he had.

It turns out that there are two dining rooms at Takano Fruit Parlor.  The first is the general cafe where patrons can order over the top beautiful desserts including cakes, parfaits, and so forth.  Each item on the menu is between ¥1,000 to ¥6,000 ($9 to $54).  Of course, each of these desserts are also (supposedly) top of the line and worth every yen.

The second dining room is a fruit buffet.  It is filled with delightful fruit and called my name with fruit featured mini desserts.  I didn’t know they had such a thing.  Luckily my husband did and this is what he secured reservations for.  I’m pretty sure that Tokyo is the only place that offers fruit buffets (I may be wrong though, as I have nothing to support this declaration).

As soon as we arrived, we were whisked into this second dining room.  The decor is very simple, but we weren’t there to enjoy the decor.  We wanted fruit.  We grabbed plates and headed to the buffet.  There was a small selection of pasta, rice, and even a stir fry.  These items confused us until we declared they were palate cleansers.  After the food, there was a selection of tiny desserts.  They were beautiful and enticing.  The third and final section was big bowls of fruit.

Our eyes were huge and we filled our plates accordingly.  After all, we were never going to pay for the fruit piece by piece.  This was our opportunity to dive right in.

With each bite, we rolled our eyes and I heard several “oh my's" along the way.

When we had our fill, we sat around for the remaining time allotted.  90 minutes is a long time for eating fruit, even if you really enjoy it.

The whole experience was pretty amazing.  The buffet was what dreams are made of for me.  Fruit, fruit, and more fruit, plus a couple desserts thrown in for good measure.  At ¥2,916 ($26) per person for the buffet, it actually felt like a pretty good deal.  After all, we all ate our fair share of fruit!