Local hack will have you eating more crepes than you ever thought possible.
Japan has a knack for putting a unique twist on overseas sweets, and that’s what it’s done with the crepe, which first became popular in Harajuku in the ’70s. These days, Japanese crepes are bursting with ingredients like fruit and fresh cream, so much so that you can easily fill yourself up nicely on just one of them. However, for those of us feeling gluttonous, there is a way to let your love of crepes run wild, at Crepe House Tukuru, on the second floor of the Mega Don Quijote Minato Yamashita Main Branch in Yokohama.
Here, you’ll find an all-you-can-eat crepe deal, which costs 2,500 yen (US$16.10) for middle school-aged students and older, or 1,500 yen for elementary school-aged children and younger.
▼ You need to make a reservation in advance and there must be at least two people participating.
Our reporter Takuya Inaba has two friends who claim to have bottomless stomachs for crepes, so he decided to take them along for the challenge, to see just how many crepes they could all eat in an hour.
After reserving a spot through Tukuru’s official Instagram account (reservations can also be made by phone), the trio arrived at the store and stared in awe at the extensive all-you-can-eat menu.
The lineup even includes savoury varieties like Ham, Cheese and Egg, Pizza, Tuna Mayo Cheese, Okonomiyaki (savoury pancake) and BLT.
▼ You can also enjoy refills on drinks.
Reading through the rules, the time limit is 60 minutes, and you can only order a new crepe after finishing the one you’re eating.
▼ With everyone putting in their first order, the all-you-can-eat buffet begins.
▼ The first crepe Takuya ordered was the “Strawberry Fresh Cream”.
▼ After admiring its beauty, Takuya scoffed it down.
Well, he attempted to scoff it down because although it was absolutely delicious, with the tartness of the berries bringing out the richness of the fresh cream, after getting to the end of it, he found himself regretting his life choices.
It turns out you can have too much of a good thing, because despite the dough being gluten-free, and therefore easier on the stomach, each crepe is absolutely stuffed with cream, making it difficult to get through more than one.
Bracing himself for another onslaught of cream, Takuya decided to power through, this time placing an order for something a little different.
▼ The “Kinako Brown Sugar Syrup“.
Ordinarily, Takuya would’ve been over the moon at the notion of being able to eat as many crepes as he pleased in an hour. However, in reality, he found himself struggling to finish this second crepe.
It wasn’t that it wasn’t delicious – roasted soybean flour and brown sugar syrup is a tried and tested traditional combination that always makes Takuya’s toes curl – it was just that he couldn’t fit in any more of the whipped cream.
▼ While Takuya’s strength was fading, his friends still seemed to be in good spirits.
As it turns out, the key to victory appears to be gorging on savoury crepes, and in particular the okonomiyaki variety (circled below).
Although Takuya bowed out of the challenge after his second crepe, his friends, having whet their appetites on the okonomiyaki crepe, were able to eat two more each, and they looked to be even creamier varieties than the ones Takuya had ordered.
When he asked his friends how they could eat so much, they told him their hack was to eat a savoury crepe in between the sweet ones to reset the stomach. The okonomiyaki crepe in particular has a strong flavour, so it’s said to leave you craving something sweet again.
▼ That idea piqued Takuya’s interest so much he decided to try the okonomiyaki to see how it would fare on his stomach.
Tucking into it, he realised there was truth to what his friends had discovered. The shredded cabbage was fantastic, with the savoury elements helped to mop up all the richness of the cream inside his stomach.
Surprisingly, he was able to finish this crepe with no problems, so okonomiyaki crepes shouldn’t be overlooked – they’re the secret to resetting your stomach and powering through the challenge for maximum value-for-money.
So if you’re out and about in Japan and spot a banner like the one above, which reads “Crepe Tabehodai” or “All-you-can-eat Crepes“, don’t feel daunted by taking on the challenge. Now that you know an insider hack from two locals who really do have bottomless stomachs for crepes, and who incidentally ate more than 3,000 yen worth of them during the hour they were there, you’ll be able to breeze through the different varieties like a pro.
As for Takuya, though, whenever he sees crepes now he finds himself inadvertently cradling his stomach, because although he’s taken on many all-you-can-eat challenges, this turned out to be one of his toughest opponents.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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