A magical hot chocolate near a toy shop in Tokyo Japan

We have been back from our trip to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo for over a month and with the end of school and all our other summer planning, I’m only now getting to the posts.  There are many amazing things to see in Tokyo with kids, but the one thing my guys have always talked about when we come home are the toy stores and Kiddyland is probably their favorite toy shop in the Tokyo area.

Luckily for grownups there are many amazing shops near Kiddyland and this trip the kids could walk more and we had our grandparents in tow so we had a lot more time to shop.  We ambled through nearby streets and found store after store to wander in.  We even found one called the “Awesome Store” which had reasonably priced and really awesome house goods inside. We recently ate some ramen that we bought there and it was quite delicious.  This mural inside the store also looked phenomenally real.

But my favorite shop close to Kiddyland this trip was Dominique Ansel bakery and the only reason why I knew it was there is because I follow Shirley from Lovely Lanvin on Instagram and she posts amazing Japanese foods all the time.  I saw a picture of a magical hot chocolate in her feed and decided I had to go and have this hot chocolate when we went to Japan no matter what.  And it is a 3 minute walk from the Kiddyland toy store.

This bakery is so aesthetically perfect, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

I had to choose between the hot chocolate and cronuts because cronuts were served downstairs and hot chocolate was upstairs.  But salad was also upstairs and it was quite an over the top Caesar salad.

And our hot chocolate?

So perfect.

We oohed and ahhed and took videos and gushed as a marshmallow flower opened in our cups.  I think you need to go and see it in person so I am not posting the video.

But here it is the old-fashioned way.

Thank you so much Shirley.  I am so thankful for the things you post and find.  I love how Instagram has totally influenced the way I travel and helped me find so many amazing things to see even when I’m far away from home.  How do you get your travel inspiration?  Do you have an amazing Instagram feed or someone amazing that you follow?  I’d love to check it out!

(PS. We’ve been to Japan a few times with kids and if you’re on your way there we have some posts from places like Shikoku and Yokohama too)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)