Hekkelun — Restaurant in Tokyo

If you're looking for an authentic Japanese experience, this place isn’t for you.

The elderly man running the shop showed clear dislike toward tourists and was quite grumpy. His attitude seemed selective, as he was friendly and cheerful with other Japanese customers. Age isn’t an excuse here—his behavior was noticeably different depending on who he was serving.

We arrived second in line at 7:30 AM. The woman, who I assume is his wife, was kind and accommodating, but that was the only positive aspect of our visit.

The food was disappointing. The custard was not good, and neither was the coffee. Their menu is limited to toasted bread, with the best option being the cheese toast, which was just okay.

What really soured the experience was waking up early only to witness this man yell at a Chinese couple who were trying to take a few photos from a distance. They weren’t even close to the bar. It was uncomfortable and unnecessary.

This has been our worst experience in Japan so far, and we’ve been here for 14 days. This place is all hype—don’t trust the vloggers who recommend it, because they’ll only lead you to disappointment.

None of the first 20 people who were served seemed happy; most of us were smiling and shaking our heads in disbelief outside. It felt like walking into an elementary classroom with a very strict teacher. Everyone, especially the tourists, was on their best behavior. They said pictures were allowed, but not videos, yet two Japanese guys at the bar were clearly recording on video and were not reprimanded. Meanwhile, the old man yelled at the Chinese couple, assuming they were doing the same.

The couple left without finishing even half of their custard, and I don’t blame them.

There are plenty of other authentic and tourist-friendly places in Japan to enjoy. I’m not going to say you should go just to "experience it for yourself," but feel free to do so if you're curious.

As for me, I won’t be coming back, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. The food, time and experience are not worth it. I forgot to mention how they just try to squeeze in 20 people. I was rubbing my thigh next to another guy because they tried to squeeze us on the couch. Very...

OK so this is charming as heck. The proprietor — God’s Left Hand, aka The Master — is in his 80s, and still gets up to serve the most delicious プリン🍮 (pudding) every day. I’ve tried a couple of times to come here but either the line was too long thanks to Instagram, or or my schedule was too busy, or it was closed. Today I got lucky. A tremendous storm the night before dropped the temperature into the 70s, so it was cool in the middle of Japanese summer. A true miracle.

Miracle #2 is that the line was only around 5-10 minutes long instead of the usual hour-plus. I understand how Hekkerun works now: It’s basically a series of seatings, organized by the Master’s wife(?) who coordinates the outgoing and incoming.

The interior is tight but seats about 20 including the bar counter. The waiter takes everyone’s order, hands them off to God’s Left Hand who then makes the sandwiches etc., while his assistant serves everyone water.

I ordered a ham sandwich, while my wife and I both ordered purin and coffee sets for dessert. It takes a while to get your food and drinks, because it’s one man doing everything, but it’s not terrible. You get your food in waves, around 10-15 mins at a time, drinks first.

There’s no video but you can take photos of the Master at the prescribed time — basically when it’s pudding time — and that’s when the action happens. A twist here, a shimmy there, God’s Left Hand jukes and wiggles his way through the entire room’s pudding orders all at once and it’s exactly what you expect if you’ve come here from Instagram.

The pudding itself is the best my Japanese wife’s ever had. The caramelized sauce atop the pudding is smoky and just slightly bitter, as it should be, to offset the creamiest pudding you’ve ever had. It shouldn’t be smooth, like anindofu (almond pudding) and the slightly lumpy texture is luxurious in its mouthfeel.

It Is So Good. Worth the wait if you have to, and I felt sorry for the group after us since the Master ran out of purin servings during our 11:30-12:30 group. The moral of the story:...

After all the videos and the hype, my brother really wanted to go here during our visits to Tokyo. Luckily we didn't have to wait long in line. And that is pretty much the only positive. Until the pudding came it took 45 Minutes. I got my cocoa before and my brother his coffee then with the pudding. Strangely enough, I didn't receive any Pudding even though I ordered with everyone else. Not after or while he was preparing everything, but before. I have seen him make 7 at a time in videos. Ordered a total of 6 but only prepared 5? Funny. But my cocoa which I am supposed to drink with the pudding I did get. Wow. We have then, when the store was a little emptier asked when our other pudding comes and they said that is only prepared again when more visitors come. That would be understandable had we ordered AFTER we got our first order, but that is not the case. So we cancelled mine, paid and left. Then outside we encountered a LONG line. Because see there, neither the old man nor the employee give the people outside notice whether one may enter now. We were the last in the café and inside there is room for almost 30 visitors. I then told those in line that it is totally empty inside and no one is there anymore. To sum up: I didn't get my order after an hour, everyone else did, when we brought this up they talked to us as if we were impatient little kids and none of them bothered to tell the people in line outside that they were now allowed in. The only thing they are very happy to say is that you are not allowed in. Definitely NOT recommended, pudding was according to my brother but delicious, I just can not judge. But if you like to stand unnecessarily in a long queue for hours while the café is empty and then be treated rudely, you should definitely make...