Before we headed to Japan, I saw some amazing donuts on SNS, and I had to find out where I can get some! It was from Park Store, a part of Cafe The Sun Lives Here group. I got curious about the group, and found out that they also have a cafe and what they call “factory” within the group. We decided to visit all three of them in a day, while getting some walk between them. The Park Store was easy to find, with a cute little truck out front.
The first stop was Park Store, where they make amazing looking donuts. We were lucky to get there during off peak, still early enough, so that all of their offerings were still available. We could see the staffs assembling the donuts right there as we browsed the little shop.
They had other stuff in the refrigerated window, which were cheesecakes. The Cafe The Sun Lives Here is mostly about cheesecakes, the Park Store is the only spot that you can get their donuts. But the cheesecakes are sold at all three locations. They also had some other snacks, and their merchandizes.
Although all of their donuts looks soooooo good, we were interested in their creamed filled ones, so that made our choice easier. We chose three donuts and Hot Milk Coffee (550 yen/~$3.85 January 2024). Now, eating donuts can get a bit messy (as it should), and they had some napkins and wet naps all ready for the customers.
We got Cheese Cream Donuts, Strawberry Cream Donuts, and Chocolate Cream Donuts (550 yen each/~$3.85 each January 2024). We were so excited about these donuts, so we decided to dig right in! They have a small seating area right there, so we could sit and enjoy the freshly made donuts. You see lots of “Park Side Donuts” everywhere on their products, and yes, it is located right by Setagaya Park.
We started with Cheese Cream Donuts. Look how big it is! Some call them “fist size donuts” but I tell you, it was bigger than my fist for sure. It was heavy with glorious amount of cream in the inside. The cream was so good, velvety, creamy, and had a hint of salty flavor from the cream cheese. The donut itself was so airy and fluffy, not greasy at all. It was amazing from the first bite to the last.
Then, we tried the Chocolate Cream Donuts. It was covered in cocoa powder, and again, filled with the cream to the max! This one was messier to eat, since it was coated in powder, but I tell you what, it is worth all the mess! The slight bitterness from the cocoa powder and the sweet chocolate cream balanced out each other, airy and fluffy dough, making you feel joy and happiness with each bite. These donuts surely lived up to the hype for sure!
I mentioned how large these donuts are, and I was not kidding. After sharing two donuts with my hubby, we were getting kind of full… So, I took a picture of the Strawberry Cream donuts, but we didn’t eat it until later when we got home. The strawberry cream was really good, filled with the real flavor of strawberry. But you have been warned of their size, these donuts are huge! Best to share with others, and unless you are super hungry, I think one donut will be enough for a person.
As we were leaving, we got to see a staff going into the truck right outside to fry up these donuts in there. That is so cool how they do that in there!
Once we left the Park Store, we walked our way to their Cafe, for more desserts. Well, come on, we are walking off our calories, right? It is only 15-20 minutes walk, so not that much of a distance. It was in a residential neighborhood, and there was no sign anywhere, so we were not sure where it was for a minute. We finally figured it out, and walked in. It was not a busy day, we were the only customers in there.
Just like the Park Store, they had cheesecakes in their refrigerated window, more varieties than the donut shop. The interior was chilled vibe, with minimum number of seating and some vinyl records, which was cool. Since there were more staffs than the customers, they were just chatting among themselves, which was kind of strange to see in Japan… They are usually more polite and strict. Here, with young staffs, they were just having fun talking to each other instead of taking care of customers…
Anyways, we were there to experience their dessert creations, so we put in our orders. We ordered Hot Tea (550 yen/~$3.85 January 2024) and Orange Juice (450 yen/~$3.15 January 2024). Orange Juice was refreshing, and the tea went nicely with the dessert.
The Dessert we ordered was one of their Seasonal Plate, where you choose the main dessert, that comes with two side desserts. We chose Tiramisu Plate (2,000 yen/~$14 January 2024) to share. Very interesting look with a nice burst of colors. The side desserts were Anko Butter Crumble Muffin and Matcha Pudding. The Muffin was sweet and fluffy. Not sure I would call it “crumble” since it didn’t have the typical crumble topping we see in the US. We cut it in half and spread the butter with sweet bean on it, although the muffing was not heated up so the butter didn’t melt. It had a dash of salty flavor that complimented the sweet bean.
Matcha Pudding came with Kuromitsu, or Japanese Sugar Syrup, similar to molasses, but thinner texture. We poured it over the pudding, and the bitterness of matcha and sweetness of syrup was quite nice. It had a really strong matcha matcha flavor, creamy and velvety, like a custard pudding or hard mousse texture. Simple yet perfect. Kuromitsu added great deep flavor with subtle sweetness.
Then, the main dessert, Tiramisu. It comes with Milk Sauce that you pour over the tiramisu. The staff told us to pour it over immediately otherwise, the sauce will get hardened if you wait too long. Milk Sauce had kind of a slightly whipped cream type thing on the top, so once you finish pouring all the sauce, you will have a nice little cream on top of the tiramisu. The interesting thing was that the cocoa powder acted like a waterproof coating, so the tiramisu underneath the powder never absorbed the sauce, and never got soggy. Their homemade sponge had a nice little crunch, which is different from a traditional tiramisu. Cocoa powder had a good bitter flavor that balanced out the sweetness. They called this “tiramisu that you drink” which I can understand with all the milk. It was certainly unique, and yes, super tasty!
Now, off to their “Factory”, another 15-20 min walk. This is the where all the cheesecakes are made. They are knows for their cheesecake, of all kinds. You can actually see them creating their magic. They do have a few chairs, so you are allowed to eat in there. But the price might be slightly more for eat in.
We bought some cheesecakes in a jar, and a Cheesecake Bar to bring them home. The Cheesecake Bar (400 yen/~$2.80 January 2024) was moist and dense, with great flavor of baked cheesecake.
The cheesecake in a jar, called Chilk (570 yen original/~$4 January 2024), and they had four flavors. I forgot to make a note, but the other flavors are slightly higher than the original flavor. We got all four flavors. The jars are small, but cheesecakes are on the heavy side, so it still was satisfying. They are made with three layers in the jar. The original is constructed with rich cream cheesecake on top, white milk cheesecake in the middle, and NY cheesecake on the bottom. The different flavors will have a different flavored layer in there. They sure were rich, velvety, and really delicious! They would make a perfect gift to any cheesecake lovers.
We had a nice dessert journey through tree locations of Cafe The Sun Lives Here. I was happy with every item we tried, from donuts to the cheesecake. The staffs were not the friendliest nor kindest, but their desserts made up for that. We were very glad that each dessert lived up to its hype, and my family also got to enjoy the Strawberry Cream Donut and the Cheesecakes. If you want to create your own dessert tour in Tokyo, maybe these places would satisfy your sweet tooth!
Cafe The Sun Lives Here: Park Store – 1-7-2 Ikejiri, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (東京都世田谷区池尻1-7-2)
Cafe The Sun Lives Here: Cafe – 1-27-33 Sangenjaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (東京都世田谷区三軒茶屋1-27-33)
Cafe The Sun Lives Here: Factory – 2-46-1 Sangenjaya, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (東京都世田谷区三軒茶屋2-46-1)