Japan: Benitsuru

Souffle pancakes were all the rage a little while back.  There are many cafes in Tokyo known for their souffle pancakes, the most popular being Gram and Flippers.  But after watching a Youtube video featuring Benitsuru, I decided that's where I wanted to go.

Making it happen took a bit of planning though.  Benitsuru doesn't accept reservations in advance.  Instead, you have to arrive before they open the day you wish to dine there, select a time slot, and pay a deposit.

Even though they didn't open until 10:30am, there was already a line when I got to Benitsuru around 8:15 on a Tuesday:

At 8:30am, they opened their door to allow people to make their reservations for the day.  I had to select a time slot, jot down how many people were in our party along with how many pancakes we would be ordering, and then pay a deposit of ¥1000 ($9.37) per person.  I was then handed a reminder slip:

Even though I could have gone with an earlier reservation, I ultimately decided on 1:00pm because we had plans to hit up Kitsuneya that morning and I wanted to make sure we would have enough time to get back (and to digest a bit).

We returned to Benitsuru in the afternoon with five minutes to spare before our reservation:

There were only counter seating for 13 people inside:

We managed to get a front row seat to all the magic:

Benitsuru's menu was simple.  There's pancakes, there's extra toppings, and then there's drinks.  There were only three types of pancakes offered and we ordered three of them.

We got the original honey and butter (¥1200 / $11.25):

The pancake that originally caught my attention was the bacon and eggs (¥1700 / $15.94), which came smothered in this hollandaise sauce:

And for a fruity change of pace, we got the grapefruit and custard sauce (¥1600 / $15):

So was it worth all the fuss?  I actually do think so.  In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't try any of the other souffle pancake shops in Tokyo, so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I thought the pancakes at Benitsuru were heavenly.  Every bite I took made me want to yell, "IT'S SO FLUFFY, I'M GONNA DIE!"  You know it's a good pancake when it doesn't need any frills beyond some honey and butter.  I'd never had a savory souffle pancake either, so that was really cool.

Benitsuru, I am a fan.  I wish I had been ballsy enough to order one of each of your pancakes.

CK and Jiejie would've killed me though.


紅鶴
東京都 台東区 西浅草 2-1-11
03-3841-3910