The Sweet Life at Oeuf

Published: October 20, 2017

As any visitor to Japan knows, the residents love their confectionary. The country is awash with delicious cake shops and Koto-ku is certainly no exception. Today we visited Oeuf, a handmade cake and confectionaries store just a short walk from Sumiyoshi Station. The owners, Ms. Kyoko Ogawa and her husband Masashi, were hard at work with their staff, baking the day’s delights. Ms. Ogawa spared a few minutes to discuss the shop and its products.

 

 

“We’ve been running the shop since 2002,” said the effervescent Ms. Ogawa, “thanks to the support of the local residents. We have many regular customers and are continually trying to create new products that they will enjoy. Autumn is a great time for food in Japan with sweet potatoes, chestnuts, pears, figs and the like in season now and our current showcase reflects that.”

 

 

“Strawberry shortcakes are our number one top seller but these Mont Blanc cakes are very popular at this time of year. We usually use Italian chestnuts in our products, except for October and November when we use domestic ones. They aren’t as sweet as Italian chestnuts and have a far stronger flavour.”

 

 

Ms. Ogawa began her cake life directly after graduating from school when she began working in a hotel. She met her husband, a chef at the hotel, and after learning the business they moved to Sumiyoshi. “We’re very fussy about the ingredients we use,” she says, “particularly the eggs. We only use Goyoran eggs from Tochigi Prefecture; the yolk is closer to orange than yellow and the white is thicker than other eggs. They’re great for making cakes and the whites are terrific for meringues.”

 

 

A touch of meringue features in this tempting banana chocolate roll while the strawberry roll is just bursting with fruit and cream. You can buy the whole roll or just a slice to go with your afternoon tea.

 

 

This elegant Charlotte is built around a quadruple sandwich of chocolate sponge and custard cream, then loaded up with seasonal fruit. The heart shape only adds to the charm.

 

 

The perennially popular Pudding a la Mode features a roll cake base, custard pudding, fruit and cream. Kids absolutely love these, while ladies of all ages are the primary purchasers of pumpkin cream rolls, another popular seasonal specialty.

 

 

It’s not just cakes at Oeuf though. The shop sells a wide variety of confectionary including raisin sandwiches, blueberry baumkuchen, financier cakes, galettes and so on.

 

 

These egg-shaped madeleines are big sellers,

 

 

As are these monkey biscuits. The faces are all different and the local children love sorting through the cookie jar to find their favourite, according to Ms. Ogawa.

 

 

The shop is very appealing, with its hand-drawn blackboard, nice design touches and warm, friendly atmosphere. It smells like heaven, too. The cakes, sweets and confectionary look absolutely wonderful; next time you’re in the Sumiyoshi area why not drop in and treat yourself to one or two. You surely deserve it!

 

 

 

Story and Photos by Stephen Spencer