Dominique Ansel Bakery

It’s behind the church on a random little street but every foodie knows this place, because there’s consistently a line. By the time I was there on a Friday afternoon the legendary cronuts were gone. We had the cookie shot though. It’s a chocolate chip cookie shot «glass» with creamy milk in it. It was so crazy good!

Ugh, the hype is hype. Yeah, the frozen s’more was kind of cool, but the flow of this place is stupid. If you buy stuff downstairs you can’t sit upstairs. The cheesecake was such an immense let down. If you sit at table before your stuff comes out of the counter, you’re kicked off «because you don’t have food». So you’re left standing there with a tray of food until someone vacates their table… all because you couldn’t find a table first. Stupid gimmicks. why am I such a sucker?

Was very disappointed with this place after hearing the hype. The service was really poor (only one register and lots of people not really doing anything), the food was ok and the coffee really quite average. I’d be unlikely to go back.

Love their frozen smore with ice cream and chocolate chips inside. Cronut is a bit too sweet for me.

We came here a little before 3pm. Cute café with seating downstairs and upstairs! I wanted a cookie shot (cookie in the shape of a cup served with milk inside), but they only start taking orders from them starting at 3pm… so I couldn’t get one when it was my time to order. A few minutes before 3pm, the line started getting long… so time your visit accordingly if you want a cookie shot! I really liked the frozen smore, and I really regret not getting a cronut because I only found out after leaving that Dominique Ansel invented cronuts sighhhh.

This might be one of my favourite cafes so far. Although the foods are pricey, the quality is top-​rated! The service is good too!
We got Cookie shot, Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Hampton Lobster Roll, Coconut cake, Paris Tokyo, and Café Latte. Everything is good! Good price, good quality! Would love to come again!

The genius behind the cronut craze from NYC opens up a bakery in Tokyo before doing so in the greater Los Angeles area. Why oh why? Being in town and being a huuuuuge fan of the DKA (Dominique’s Kouign Amann), well, it’s only appropriate to pay my respects.
I knew arriving mid-​afternoon would be pointless if the cronut was something I was looking at getting but thanks to following them on Instagram I knew they had only-​in-​Japan items such as MR. ROBOTO (¥350) and matcha flavored goodies that I wanted to try. The not-​so-​fortunate me ran out of Mr. Roboto and of course, cronuts. Ouch! To ease the pain, a DKA, Cookie Shot, and Matcha Latte were all I needed.
The DKA (¥550) is like a croissant, flaky and has a sweet crusty coating that is utterly delicious. Give me 5 more please! I wasn’t impressed with the COOKIE SHOT (¥480) but it didn’t matter because my better half kiiled it in no time. This, by the way, is available after 3PM and people line up for it beforehand. As for their Iced Matcha Latte (¥420), it may have been the best I’ve ever had.
Shoutout to the staff here for being efficient and just wonderful professionals all around. Truly impressive!

DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY
I went back our last day in Japan, on Friday, April 15^th a little after 10am. The service was horrendous. When we asked about going upstairs to grab a table for some coffee and snacks, we were told they don’t serve the cronut upstairs. But we could buy it downstairs and bring it upstairs and order our drinks there.
*April cronut: Okinawa pineapple jam & milk chocolate ganache with sour plum sugar (550 yen)
After purchasing the cronut, we went upstairs to order coffees and sit down. We were then told we couldn’t eat the cronut upstairs. WTF?! It’s the same bakery, isn’t it?! What’s up with only being able to consume the cronut downstairs?! And why would you tell us we could buy one downstairs and then go upstairs with it, when you knew all we wanted was to eat a cronut?! You serve everything else from the bakery upstairs! Can you tell we were annoyed?
To top it off, we ordered coffees and they took forever! The table next to us had already gotten their sparkling wine and food and they ordered after us! We finally went up and asked them to put our coffee in to go cups as we had to head back to the hotel to catch our bus to the airport. So we basically sat upstairs for an hour just to get our coffees to go. Am I being unreasonable, or is an hour too long to wait for one coffee each?
When we got back to the hotel, we finally tried the cronut. Way too sweet! The roommate’s brother took a bite and then threw it away. So bad. It would have been better if it was lighter. There was too much going on with the chocolate filling and the glaze on top.
I don’t get the hype. The cronut wasn’t all that at all. Plus, there was no excuse for the terrible service!

I felt that the food wasn’t worth the hype. Very Instagram worthy and great for people who can’t make it to New York or Paris to try this bakery
Had the frozen s’more, cocktail smoothie and omelette soufflé
The omelette was disappointing so was the s’more
Not a fan of sweets maybe that’s why

Dropped in again for a quick snack, no lineup for the 2/​f café. Satisfying melted cheese sandwich and chicken pot pie. Finished with salted caramel éclair and the frozen smore. Tried the matcha latte this time as well, nice flavour, not too strong, not too sweet.

While in Tokyo two weeks ago, Dominique Ansel was the first place we wanted to go. Hubby has been following them on Instagram for awhile now and just had to try their cronut! Afterall, Dominique Ansel is the inventor of the cronut! We read that the cronut sells out so we got there early! Maybe too early. We arrived at 7:30 and no one was there, so we wandered the empty streets of Omotesando until 10 minutes before opening. We were still first in line, but suddenly 5 minutes before opening a line had formed behind us. A friendly staff member did give us a menu to look at before the doors opened.
Upon opening, we were happily greeted with smiles and a sample of the DKA (Dominique’s Kouign Amann). Wow. Warm, flaky and delicious! I needed more of that! The interior of the bakery is very nice, clean and playful. I especially like the map on the wall that looks like a subway map and the cute cartoon faces that line the stairs. Dominique Ansel has two floors. Since we were only eating the pastries, we were on the first floor. I walked upstairs to use the restroom and saw that the second floor more nicer seats. I think this is for sit down dining.
Since we came a long way (from Hawaii), we decided to try several things: the cronut, Dominique’s Kouign Amann (DKA), Mr Roboto (black sugar hojicha melon pan), the magical soufflé and of course a chocolate chip cookie. This was a lot of treats but we saved some for later.
The cronut was delicious, but the flavor of the month (milk tea ganache, chesnut jam with orange sugar) was not quite to our liking. Perhaps another time, the flavor will be more suitable to our taste. I did enjoy the texture a lot though. The DKA is what I will be coming back for… warm flaky and oh so good! It has a nice caramelized touch and just the right amount of buttery perfection. YUM! Mr Roboto looked really cute and tasted good but I don’t need to go back for another. The magical soufflé wasn’t as magical as we hoped. We wished there was a more molten chocolate center! Since hubby loves chocolate chip cookies we try to get one wherever we go and are usually disappointed. This one however, was delicious! We will definitely be coming back to Dominique Ansel the next time we are in Tokyo. I hope the cronut flavor is something chocolaty!

Unexpectedly, I think I have tried at least 60% of the menu this time round.
I was all too excited when I heard that Dominique Ansel Bakery was entering Tokyo in early 2015. This famous NY bakery shot to fame with its hybrid invention «Cronuts», rated one of the top 25 world’s best inventions by TIMES in 2013.
The original inventions of Chef-​owner Dominique Ansel including the Magic Soufflé or Milk and Cookie are so popular that they have EARNED him names such as «Willy Wonka of NYC» and «culinary Van Gogh». Of all places, DAB (short form for Dominique Ansel Bakery) invaded the chic and classy Omotesando, which is the home to several international brands such as Clinton Bakery, Bills, Max Brenner, Sunny Hills Pineapple, Taiwan’s Ice Monster and 春水堂.
Queues are predictable but I guessed the hype has subsided by the time of my recent visit. It was not very crowded on a weekday afternoon, though a line still form around 3pm when the cookie shot is scheduled to be out from the kitchen. The cookie cylinder is poured with cold milk and has to be consumed shortly after.
The sturdy cookie wall was fudgy, chewy, with subtle spiced cinnamon notes that reminded me a little of christmas. The taste was good but nothing spectacular, just like having a giant cookie + cold milk. I enjoyed how the milk started to «corrode» the sturdy inner walls, making the dough slightly wet and sticky.
This is part of the «Made-​to-​Order» menu section which includes the Frozen Smores (¥750). Upon ordered, you proceed to the station where a staff will blow-​torch a white block which is marshmallow filled with Tahitian vanilla ice cream enrobed in crunchy chocolate feuilletine flakes.
Surprisingly, it isn’t just a monotone layer of sweetness on the outside. There is a deliberate play on the texture contrast, which made me lap up this happily like a little kid.
There are two floors at DAB Tokyo outlet; the 1 °F is a self-​service eat-​in area where you can sit wherever you like after buying the food. The 2 °F floor named «Petit Park» opens an hour later at 10am and offers the full menu which includes brunches, eggs and desserts.
Perhaps the food shots on its website were too perfectly taken, it was rather upsetting when I realized that the portions in reality, did not match up to the looks and price. For instance, the Brooklyn (¥1200/​SGD 13.90), two egg benedicts on rye dough buried beneath a canopy of sautéed kale and fried shallots, left me and my partner rather appalled initially but thankfully the taste made up for it.
Likewise, the Lobster Roll (¥1200/SGD13.90) was rather petite but I’ll be forgiving since the meat was sweet, chunky and tender, held together by a toasted buttered roll.
The Caesar Salad (¥1200/SGD13.90) was theatrically presented yet no less scrumptious as the croûton base. The only trouble was to eat it without spilling all over the table. Perhaps this could be served with another big salad bowl to dissect the «potted plant» and mixed everything together.
There is also a dessert section whose items are different from the sweets displayed at 1 °F. We had the New York (¥1000), an upgraded version of the classic French dessert with praline Crème patisserie and hazelnut feuilletine. It was pleasantly nutty but the portion was small for the price. After doing some math, I figured that one should just stick to the 1 °F sweets selection for tastier sweets that are worth the yen

This location was fairly busy, but the line went fast. There were some really cute and delicious items. We tried many of the only in Japan items and seasons (I.e. Monkey pastry). The Paris Tokyo was my favorite! Passion fruit is amazing!
I would suggest taking your pastries to go. There was a line to sit on the top floor and the first floor was packed! We thankfully had a very sunny day so took our pictures outside and left.

DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY, seemingly pretty popular in NY, came to Japan for its first time back in June this year. It’s located in the Omotesando area (one of the most crowded shopping areas in Tokyo). It’s been 4 months since then and you no longer see a long line of people outside the place, but it still seems to get crowded on weekends, mostly young girls seen in there.
I had their top 2 recommendations: THE DKA and FROZEN S’MORE — Both of them were shockingly sweet, almost too sweet to have more than one bite. I was sort of expecting it but it was absolutely beyond what I was ready for… I had a very similar impression when having Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the first time in the US, but this is even sweater.
It’s simply a fact that westerners, particularly Americans, have much more tolerance for sweetness (and saltiness as well) than Japanese people, so most Japanese people love to try anything that comes from foreign countries *once for a story* but few of them come back in cases like this one — It’s just the flavor being way too strong for Japanese people to eat it regularly.
That being said, this blog is for non-​Japanese people (foreigners living in Japan or travelers coming to Japan) so I’d recommend this place to YOU GUYS for sure. Many of you might say that Japanese food tends to taste too subtle. If you feel that way too, this place should be a good one for you.

Completely overrated, honestly too much hype for pastries that are either lacking flavor (DKA) or too heavy & too sweet (cronut).
Had the cronut and DKA & drip coffee which was really burnt tasting.
It’s a really beautiful shop, but I think Mr. Ansel has a better eye for aesthetics than he is a baker.

Beautiful ambiance, pastries match the hype, especially the cronut. They also have a variety of savory items. Coffee amazing as well

Upon locating the bakery, I couldn’t help but noticing that there was NO LINE. If you know about Dominque Ansel in New York, you also know that people have done the most RIDICULOUS things to get their hands on his famous «cronut.» The last time we were in NYC, the cronut sold out within minutes, and most of their baked items were also gone. So, you could see my surprise when I saw that there wasn’t a line that was 100 people deep and more importantly, available for purchase. Apparently the flavors of the cronut change, and today was the second day that the new flavor had been released: Black Mission Fig with Sake Lees Ganache (according to their Instagram account, «sake lees tastes lightly of sake, with a touch of tartness similar to fromage blanc). It honestly didn’t matter what it was, I was insanely happy that I was about to have my first cronut experience. It’s hysterical that it took me going to Tokyo to get my hands on one of these, but hey, you do what you have to do. The cronut itself was dusted in sugar, and made for a happily sticky mess in trying to share it with my husband. In loving the delicious layers of awesomeness, and the rich filling in between those buttery layers, I couldn’t be happier at that point. After staring at the pastry case again, I decided to purchase something that didn’t have calories in one of their tote bags about 15 minutes later and saw that they had taken down the cronut and were sold out for the day. Seeing how we got in before they sold out, I was convinced that it was divine intervention.

When I visited the NYC location, I couldn’t get my hands on a cronut. When I found out I would be spending a night in Japan, it was my first priority to get my hands on one of those croissant/​donut hybrids.
I got to the bakery about an hour before closing and of course the cronuts were sold out. Instead I opted for things I hadn’t tried — the DKA and the frozem s’more. The frozen s’more was really cool as they torch the marshamallow right in front of you. I liked the marshmallow more than I expected and once I got to the frozen vanilla custard ice cream coated with chocolate wafer, I was in love. It is a bit sweet, but that’s totally expected.
The DKA is delicious! Tender and flakey, it’s so yummy. But of course, the star of the show is the cronut. I got one on my second trip when I returned in the morning. I was so excited! October’s cronut was the annouimo-​sweet potato with cream fresh ganace and maple sugar.
After a mini photo shoot, I was ready to take a bite. It wasn’t light like I expected. The layers were deliciously dense with cream spilling out after the second bite. It was amazing and totally worth all the effort. They have a two limit cronut policy and they have the cutest packaging for the little guys.
The Japan bakery is bright and cheery and the employees, while a bit slow make up for it in service. Felt totally welcomed here. Loved it!

When we were in Tokyo, I came across an article that featured Dominique Ansel’s new bakery in the city. I immediately knew we had to squeeze in the highly coveted cronut into our tight travel schedule. I’d been dying to try the original cronut ever since Dominique invented the croissant-​donut hybrid, making headlines and attracting imitators all across the globe. After a failed attempt of securing a cronut in the NYC location, I knew this would be my second chance at finally trying the real thing.
We arrived at 8:30 am, half anticipating that the lines would be torturously long like the Soho branch in NYC. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see just 2 other individuals patiently waiting for the doors to open. The bakery staff was exceptionally hospitable and even provided us with small cups of coffee as we waited outside. This was strikingly different from our experience in New York, where we waited in line for over an hour with little to no movement, eventually compelling us to drop out of line.
Inside, the bakery is much larger than the Soho location and even has an upstairs area. Maybe it was still too early in the morning, but only a few customers trickled in for the entire hour we were there.
We ordered the cronut and the frozen s’more. The frozen s’more was way too sweet. It takes several bites just to get past the thick marshmallow layer. By the time you reach the frozen custard center, it may be too late — you may already have diabetes. The cronut flavor for August was raspberry shiso and hazelnut milk chocolate. The cronut was good, but I expected more. I thought the raspberry and nutella-​esque flavors were complementary, and blend well in theory, but the overall pastry was a tad too sweet. I much prefer the bakery’s lighter DKA.
I’m glad we had a chance to cross THE cronut off our list. While I don’t regret coming here, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit the bakery again, whether it be in Tokyo or New York.

I came here on a whim when I saw a sign for it whilst walking through the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Ironically, I had read in my food and wine magazine before visiting Japan that Mr. Ansel would be opening a bakery here, so I was pleased to see that it had opened! One great thing about this place is the opening hours given that the other coffee establishment I had visited here wasn’t open until 10 am. I was greeted enthusiastically at the door with a sample and couldn’t resist ordering a cronut. My plan was to only eat half of it, but the coffee cream on the inside and coconut icing on top left that idea in the dust. Amazing pastries and amazing service! Definitely worth a visit if you are in Tokyo.