This week I'm getting ready for MCM Manchester Comic Con
So it's just a short video
But it is on one of my favourite subjects
Harajuku crepes!
And a controversial topic:
Which is better: Sweet or savoury?
And if I seem a little down in this video
It's because I'm trying to cope with a crushing disappointment
We just tried to go to the Hamtaro theme cafe
Here in Harajuku
But it's all booked up
And they didn't have any spaces
Boo!
I should have known really
Because these things are really popular
So it is best to make a reservation in advance
It looked really cute as well
And you know I love hamsters
Right, on to the crepes
Now crepes are the original snack of Harajuku
And they're something I have to have, every time I come here
Basically a crepe is a thin pancake
But in Harajuku
They roll them into a cone
And present you with a dizzying number of options for the filling
There's so many different choices
There's literally hundreds of them
On each stand
I just love looking through them all
And it takes me forever to decide which one to get
Custard apple cinnamon could be nice
I am liking the look of the custard cream section
This changes everything, there's Halloween ones
Yep, I'm changing my mind
Custard pumpkin pudding whipped cream
I'm going to get the special Halloween one
I don't know which one to pick!
I always said when I come back here
I'd definitely have the one with the cheesecake in
Which I thought looked like it was too much
So it's got to be strawberry cheesecake
Some of the crepes even have cake or cheesecake in them
Now at first I was a bit intimidated about getting these ones
It does seem like a bit much
But fortunately,
Or unfortunately!
They only actually use a little square of cheesecake
Not a whole slice
Most of them are sweet
You can get so many delicious crepes with ice cream
Cream, fruit, chocolate
Strawberry cheesecake whipped cream
And Phil got
Chocolate and vanilla ice cream
Sakura mixed berry
Whipped cream, strawberry sauce, everything!
Halloween custard pumpkin pudding
It's kind of wobbly with the pumpkin pudding!
But there's also some savoury crepes
Which are the ones that Phil decides to have usually
Which I think is just wrong
Why would you have a savoury crepe
When you could have a delicious chocolate icecream strawberry crepe!
So to give savoury crepes a fair chance
Today I'm going to try one
And see what they're like
To me it just seems wrong
Crepes are something that should be sweet in my mind
But I'm going to give them a chance
My usual crepe stand of choice
Is Santa Monica or Angel Crepes
For no real reason
Other than I'm drawn to its bright pink colour
And retro styling
They play 50s music
And Disney songs!
Unfortunately at my usual crepe stand
They didn't have any vegetarian savoury crepes
They've got tuna mayo cheese
Tomato bacon gourmet pizza
Gourmet indeed!
Bacon cheese & egg
A kind of breakfast crepe
Winner's cheese egg
Thank you Google Translate!
I think they mean wiener
Teriyaki cheese egg
And bacon avocado cheese
And I think it's worth noting
That if you look in their top 10
There are no savoury crepes
All the best ones are sweet
So this time I decided to try Marion crepes
To be honest, all the crepe stands are pretty much the same
As far as I know
There's lots of them all along the main street in Harajuku
That's Takeshita Street
So it doesn't really matter which one you pick
They're all delicious
This stand, Marion Crepes
I believe was the first crepe stand in Harajuku
This is the original
They've got a special cheese menu at the moment
I'm going to go for this one: Triple cheese special
And I'm going to get pizza sauce on it
There's also this honey cheese
I can't imagine what that'd be like
Here's all the different choices
There's so many
Look at this one: cinnamon apple special
There's some with green tea ice cream
That one looks really good
Peach special
Phil's getting this one: Tuna pizza sauce cream cheese
Number 73
When you place your order
You tell them the number, you don't have to remember the whole title of the crepe
Here's mine
I've gone from triple cheese crepe with pizza sauce as an extra topping
It doesn't look as fun
As a fancy crepe with loads of things in it
And Phil's gone for
Tuna pizza cheese
Tuna pizza cream cheese
Tuna, lettuce, cheese and pizza sauce
Mine does smell quite nice
It smells like a pizza
I guess because of the pizza sauce and the cheese
It does taste good
I love the flavour of pizza
The pizza sauce is nice, and I love cheese
The texture of the cheese goes well with the crepe
But I must say I'm not a convert
I think the flavour of the pancake goes better with sweet flavours
And I love sweet things more in general
So, sorry savoury crepes
It's not horrible
But the sweet crepes still win
So there you go
You can't say I didn't give savoury crepes a fair chance
But seriously
Which would you rather have?!
Next week I'll be back with a full length video
There's more vlogs from Hokkaido coming up
And I've also got some more in my Japlanning series
Of tips and advice
To help you plan your trip to Japlan
JAPAN!
I'll see you next week on Thursday
And if you want to come and see me at MCM Manchester Comic Con
It's this weekend
The 27th & 28th July
At Manchester Central
I'll be there with my stall Cakes with Faces
Everything on my stall is my design
And I'll be there all weekend
If you want to come and say hello