"Heckeln" was founded in 1971 in Minato Ward, Tokyo. More than 50 foreigners line up every day before the store opens. The main attraction is the "Special Jumbo Pudding" for 500 yen. It's about 2.5 times the size of a regular pudding. The 82-year-old owner's performance of removing the pudding from the mold without using a spatula is also popular. Sayuri Yoshinaga is a regular customer. "Sabouru" in Jimbocho was founded in 1955. Foreigners' main attraction is the Japanese-born Western dish "Napolitan" for 900 yen. The Showa retro interior is also a reason for its popularity... The store was also loved by literary figures such as Shusaku Endo. ■ Foreigners flock to the specialty "Special Jumbo Pudding" More than 50 foreigners flock to "Heckeln", a long-established coffee shop founded in 1971, every day before the store opens. A person from the United States: "I want to experience Japanese culture and food." A person from Saudi Arabia: "It's comfortable." "It's comfortable. The interior design is old-fashioned and wonderful." A person from Canada: "It looks old and I feel Japanese." Foreigners are attracted to the Showa retro atmosphere. In this shop, there is a dessert that attracts attention from overseas. It is the "Special Jumbo Pudding" for 500 yen. It is a Heckeln specialty that people come all the way from overseas just to taste. A person from Canada: "Amazing." "I've never had anything like this in my life." This is a famous pudding that foreigners also praise. We will get closer to the thoughts of the master who has been maintaining the same taste for over half a century. It is about 2.5 times the size of a regular pudding. The Showa-style slightly firm pudding is handmade, so it is an extremely rare pudding that is sure to sell out before noon, with a maximum of 60 per day. A person from Taiwan: "It's very soft." A person from Saudi Arabia: "Amazing. Delicious." The taste of the extremely rare pudding that foreigners praise highly is... Announcer Masuda Sayaka: "It's delicious. The gentle sweetness of the eggs spreads throughout the mouth. The caramel is neither too sweet nor too bitter. It brings out the deliciousness of the eggs with an exquisite balance." A visitor from Saudi Arabia: "It was creamy and sweet, and very delicious. It was different from the puddings in Saudi Arabia. It was like a cheesecake. It was worth waiting in line to eat." It's not just the taste that captures the hearts of foreigners. Many foreigners were intently pointing their cameras at the pudding, and there they found Mori Shizuo, the 82-year-old master of "Heckeln", who has been making puddings since the shop opened. The pudding would crumble if it was removed from the mold with a spatula, so the master's unique performance of using centrifugal force to remove it without crumbling it has also added to the popularity of the shop. Mori-san: (Q. How many have you prepared?) About 60 (pieces) today. It's tough to make more than that. But I don't stock up on them. (Q. What time do you start preparing?) 5:20 (am). (Q. Every morning?) Yes. (Q. It must be tough.) If you think it's tough, then it's all tough. ■Yoshinaga Sayuri is also a regular customer for 30 years. He wants to please his customers with consistent flavors no matter when they come. Among the customers who are attracted by the owner's dedication are... Mori-san: "Yoshinaga Sayuri. She has come here many, many times. I was given this cutting board." (Q. Is this the cutting board you're using now?) Yes." The cutting board was given to him about two years ago by Yoshinaga Sayuri, a regular customer for 30 years. It is the owner's treasured possession. But why has Heckeln seen so many foreign customers in recent years? A person from Taiwan: "(Q. How did you know about this shop?) A Taiwanese person posted a video on Instagram that looked really delicious. Since then, I've been thinking that if I had the chance, I'd love to eat it." A person from Austria: "(Q. Why did you come here?) Because I saw it on Instagram." The video of the jumbo pudding on SNS spread all over the world, and now it's flooded with foreign customers. The Showa retro coffee shop, which caters to both old and new foreign customers, continues to live on in the office district even in the Reiwa era. ■Secret Neapolitan...One person who even the master was fascinated bySaboru, a Showa retro coffee shop popular with foreigners in Jimbocho, Tokyo. This coffee shop is popular for its unique appearance, as if time had stopped in the Showa era. There were foreigners here too. In addition to the standard melon and blue Hawaii, foreign customers are looking for strawberry, lemon, orange, grape, and Calpis. It's a seven-colored "cream soda." And one more thing... A person from Korea said, "This place is famous for their Neapolitan, so I wanted to try it once." The Japanese-born Western dish, "Neapolitan," costs 900 yen. Saboru's Neapolitan is a hearty dish with plenty of ingredients, including bacon, bologna sausage, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers. A person from Korea said, "It's really delicious. It's really good. Korean Neapolitan is a little spicy, but Japanese Neapolitan is not spicy and is a little sweet so that people of all ages can enjoy it." Masuda said, "The balance of sourness and sweetness of the tomato sauce is exquisite and delicious. It's a nostalgic, rich, "The Neapolitan." The fourth-generation owner, Masashi Ito (40), is actually one of the people who became fascinated with this Neapolitan about 20 years ago. Ito-san: "When I tried the Neapolitan, it was delicious and I thought, 'I want to work here.' I was a university student at the time, and I was looking for a part-time job." "(Q. Were you shocked by Neapolitan?) Yes, I was shocked. I thought it was delicious and I wanted to be able to make it. They interviewed me on the spot." Ito-san's enthusiasm must have been conveyed, as he was immediately hired, but there was an unexpected miscalculation. Ito-san: "I wasn't assigned to the kitchen, but they said, 'You can work in the dining area.' I started working there because they asked me if I could try it out, but I stayed in the dining area... I still can't make Neapolitan." Neapolitan is a secret that only experienced kitchen staff can make. Another signature dish is shogayaki. A person from Portugal: "We have a similar dish in Portugal, but it's not as sweet." The man says that the Portuguese dish "bifana" is very similar to Japanese shogayaki. It is said to have a spicy taste, seasoned with paprika, garlic, chili peppers, etc. On the other hand, the restaurant's shogayaki is made with thickly sliced ​​domestic pork, fried in a soy sauce-based sauce, and plenty of onions to bring out the sweetness. A person from Portugal said, "It's good. The pork is delicious." João (70s), who was impressed by the shogayaki he ate at a historic coffee shop, sent me a video of a Portuguese dish using pork after returning home. It is a local dish of pork fried in clam soup. ■Further expansion...I want to experience the taste that a Japanese author loved Why are retro Showa-era coffee shops so popular with foreign tourists now? A person from the Philippines said, "It's cute. I was attracted by the old-fashioned atmosphere, which is different from the usual cafes." A person from Korea said, "Koreans really like Japanese historical things. They really like Japanese sensibility." This shop also became popular through social media, but there are also foreigners who visit for the following reasons. A person from England said, "I came here to see an interview with Sayaka Murata. In the interview, she said that she likes to write books at Saboru." Saboru, which is frequented by Akutagawa Prize-winning author Sayaka Murata, is a famous restaurant that has been frequently visited by many novelists, including Shusaku Endo and Tsuyoshi Osaka. Now, foreigners are visiting the cafe hoping to experience the flavors loved by Japanese authors who are well-known overseas. The Showa retro coffee shop boom is spreading even further. [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp