Tokyo Cafe – Parfait for Dessert

This one’s a late post but still post worthy.  One of my favorite dessert place is Tokyo Cafe and for only 1 reason, which can be summed up in 1 word, “parfait”.

Although I haven’t had a lot of parfaits from other restaurants, in fact, the only other parfait I’ve tried is from UCC, but I can’t comment on that anymore because I already forgot the experience.   ^_^  I loved the curry!  But that’s another story.

About the Shop

You can find Tokyo Cafe at Mall of Asia’s ground level (Main Mall), near one of the 2 entrances facing the South Wing (where the department store is ).  Here’s the exact store location taken from Mall of Asia’s store locator.

Tokyo Cafe from MOA store locator. They also have a cool electronic, touch-screen store map on all entrances with SM MOA personnel ready to help you find your way in the mall.

Here's the entrance, shot from the 2nd floor.

Another view of the shop, this time with the displays and a small glimpse of the kitchen behind them. I love the food displays on Japanese restaurants. I think they're made from baked Polymer Clay, sculpted to look convincingly real! And they're also mouth watering! I wonder how they make the fruits glossy and look juicy, the beef look really moist and tasty!

Here's the view from inside, looking out. Congo Grill is just across Tokyo Cafe and you can see they're both right at the entrance of the mall. We've tried Congo Grill before too, but for blog purposes, we might try it again. I don't expect it to be a very pleasant experience though. But that's another story (again) ^_^;

There’s nothing really fancy inside the store.  I think it would be even better if they find a way to make the place look a little bigger.  Somehow, I feel it’s a little cramped, but there is enough space to walk around, going through tables.  But exactly just enough to walk around and the moment you don’t look where you’re going, you’ll be knocking other people’s food or elbows.  Maybe I’m exaggerating or maybe it’s just that I’ve always preferred spacious restaurants (with reference to my other posts).

When you enter, the kitchen will be on your left. Although you can see the kitchen, you won't be able to see what they're actually doing or how they're preparing the food because it's just way to high even when you're standing up. Just to add, the crew at the door, and sometimes everybody else, will greet you with a loud and enthusiastic "Konnichiwa!" when you enter.

Rotating the camera a couple of inches from the kitchen view, we get this. Let's call this the center view. There's a divider at the back where there are also several chairs and even lesser wiggle room than the main area where we are seated. But the lights are a little dimmer and it's more cozier. Good spot to choose when you plan to chat with friends or with family. It has the cafe ambience. The tables in the main area are a bit disarranged but that's because there's a photoshoot going on.

Photoshoot for a new dish? Maybe a new set of dishes? Yey! I can't wait for the new menu! I wonder what the new food looks like (or tastes like). Later, after their shoot, I saw them taking a plate back to the kitchen. I couldn't make out it if it's a rice dish, a dessert plate or anything at all. Sorry. I guess it'll just be a surprise for now. ^_^

All 3 pictures of the restaurant above show the whole place.  You can see how limited their space is but I guess it works out well for them.  There are tables and chairs outside too.   You’ll also notice that there’s a basket with blue table napkin on every table.  That’s where the regular utensils are.  Anything else needed for the dish, like the dessert spoons and knife will be given when the food is sent to the table.

Here's the basket upclose.

About the Parfait!

They have 5 different parfait flavors for 105php each, and I’ve tasted 4 of them already, but for this particular visit, we ordered Adzuki Parfait (red adzuki beans, vanilla and green tea ice cream plus whipped cream) and Choco Banana Parfait (of course banana slices, banana sauce, vanilla and chocolate ice cream and whipped cream with chocolate syrup).  Both of them sound yummy?  Well, they look yummy too and taste even yummier!  The flavor isn’t lacking, the sweetness isn’t overpowering, and I think the serving size is just enough to satisfy your parfait craving and finish the whole thing without making you feel too full.

Here's all 5 of the Parfait flavors.

Here's what Mario ordered (photo - menu version) and I've tasted this one from previous visits.

And here's what the Choco Banana Parfait looks like when it was sent to our table. Although the glass isn't as tall as the photo on the menu, it was still plenty enough to last a long stay in the cafe.

Here's what I ordered (photo - menu version).

And here’s what I got. Gomen (sorry), if the picture’s a little dark. Oh, notice the coaster? Yes, we love it. Almost everything has their logo – paper napkins, the envelope for the utensils, the burger wrappers – which I will post below).

About the Other Orders

Aside from parfait, Mario decided to order one of their burgers, the must-try Gyoza Burger (150php), and I ordered their summer special, Peach latte (99php).

I love it when the restaurants say "Must Try" and it actually turns out to be a good meal to order. Here's the Gyoza Burger from the menu...

The burger turned out exactly (well, almost) as the menu photo! Amazing! Even the plate! The photo didn't have the burger wrapper but that's fine, as long as the food is exactly as it was advertized. Not like some other restaurants or fastfood chains. ^_^

One of the other thing we love in Tokyo Cafe is their Peach Iced Tea! It's absolutely perfect (at least for me and Mario). It's not too sweet and you can still taste the tea-ness of the drink. That's why I ordered this just to see if I'll be amazed by this new mix.

Here it is! It looks beautiful but the taste is ok. I didn't fall in love with it but it's not bad. I guess the combination of peach and coffee/mocha flavor doesn't work for me. I like the presentation though.

Here's a trivia at the back of the Peach Latte table-top ad.

And here it is again... The kawaii (cute) coaster!

We love Tokyo Tokyo and we hope to sample the other dishes soon!  But we’ll definitely be back for the parfait!

Wonderful menu with lots of mouth watering pictures! We'll be back!

I love Tokyo Cafe!