HARBS LUMINE Yurakucho — Restaurant in Tokyo

The first time I went to Harbs, I thought they only had one location in Yokohama, but we found one near the Yurakucho station! It was such a random find and the boyfriend surprised me with navigating us here.

Located in the bright Lumine shopping center, Harbs is located on the upper floor of the women's section. The cafe is dominantly catered toward female patrons. My bf said there were only two or three other male patrons ahah.

As with most dessert cafes, they require that you purchase one drink minimum per guest if you are seated at a table. We decided to get our own teas - Muscat Jasmine and Assam. Each person gets their own pot and you get about two full pours, which is quite nice since you do pay a bit more. The muscat jasmine was very interesting. The jasmine was much stronger on the forefront while the muscat was a bit subdued.

The cakes is what i love the most about them. We were there in April, so it was peak strawberry season! Bf got the strawberry cheesecake and I chose the strawberry tart. For about 800 yen, the slices are pretty big, but they were very light in flavor. The cheesecake was airy (like a mousse), while the tart was mostly made up of whipped cream with fresh strawberries and custard. A part of me regretted not choose the strawberry crepe, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my slice. I was just hoping for more substance haha.

Since I was on vacation, I didn't mind spluging for an $8 slice of cake, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way on a regular basis. The ambiance is really feminine, bright and a bit loud. People do spend a lot of time here. We spent about an hour enjoying the goods and to refresh our bodies before exploring again.

It's worth a visit in Japan and I do recommend trying their cakes. Just expect to pay a...

This place is often full and waiting for a spot is a common experience. Fortunately I came late and it was a rainy day, so I got in easily without a wait. However, it didn't go smoothly. For some weird reason, I was put at an isolated table without view when there were tables available with good window views. The waiter begrudgingly allowed us to change tables but he clearly wasn't happy with it.

Coming to the food and drinks, the cakes are soft and fluffy. Quite big a piece though. Taste is light. The sweetness is just nice and not overbearing. But is it something spectacular you would travel for? That's a hard question to answer and I would say no. That goes for the drinks as well. Nice but again not really out of this world.

In the end I had a generally averaged experience and haven't figured out why so many patrons are queuing for it. I guess my tongue isn't trained for appreciating this kind of food. Not really sure. However, the seating environment is relaxing and the view (if you can...

First of all as a foreigner visitng japan this was a disappointing experience. Ordered strawberry short cake, Maron cake and cheese cake - and also 2 royal milk teas and a earl grey tea. Got served the tea but waited 30 minutes for cake after reminding the staff that we didn't get our cakes yet. Staff didn't even apologize for the slow service and obviously forgot or didn't bother serving our cakes until we asked 30 minutes later. Cake should be easy cut and serve. We had warm tea sitting out until our cakes arrived. Bad service.... pretty disappointing since it's a visit to Japan and I was expecting good Japanese service.... ...