Japan’s Most Instagrammable Food
If you love food, then Japan is THE destination for you! Think flavoursome ramen, fresh seafood and hearty curries, but beyond the delicious tastes, Japan has some very ‘Insta-worthy’ food. If you want to bring some #foodporn into your feeds, check out some of Japan’s most Instagrammable food below!
3D Latte Art
Where: Reissue Coffee 3D Lattes, Harajuku, Tokyo Thoughts: It’s definitely cute and Insta-worthy, but at the end of the day, it tastes like any regular coffee/hot chocolate. The latte art costs extra on top of the coffee itself, so it’s not cheap!
Matcha Ice-cream
Where: All over Japan Thoughts: So it turns out, we are not fans of matcha (there, we said it). But despite our distaste for this green tea treat, it’s very instagrammable and if you do like the flavour, this ice-cream can be quite refreshing.
Feeling hungry? Why not learn how to make Udon Noodles and read about our Buddha Bellies experience!
Taiyaki
Where: all over Japan Thoughts: I find it amusing that a ‘fish’ was the chosen shape for a sweet snack, but their popularity speaks for themselves. These pancake-like pastries filled with sweet red bean paste, or white sweet potato, which “all the women love” (according to the menu).
Colourful Rainbow Pasta & Extreme Colourful Poison Parfait
Where: Monster Café – Harajuku, Tokyo Thoughts: Rainbow pasta, served on an artist’s palette, what could be more Insta-worthy? To top it off, each blob of ‘paint’ is actually a different flavoured sauce, including blue cheese, cheddar, pesto, cream and tomato. This dish (and cafe) really brings out the inner child, and lets it run rampant.
There’s a reason why this parfait is nicknamed the Extreme, with decadent layers of cream, ice-cream, berry sauce, waffle cones, cake, chocolate, and the most exciting part of all…. individually flavoured coloured cream frosting. Not only is this rainbow dessert an Insta-worthy dessert, the sheer delight and surprise at tasting each colour and guessing the flavour brings out the big kid in anyone.
Heading to Tokyo, Japan soon? Check out our Ultimate Itinerary – for Big Kids for epic ideas!
Takoyaki
Where: These are popular in the Osaka region, but you can find them throughout Japan. Thoughts: I’m not a fan of the rubberiness of octopus in general, so it wasn’t my thing. But, if you do like octopus, these guys are a popular bite-sized streetfood snack.
Animal Donuts
Where: Florista Donuts Thoughts: These donuts are almost too cute to eat… Almost… Unlike donuts we are used to back home, these are quite dense, but equally as delicious. You can get cats, pigs and dogs, and the ears are little pieces of almond!
Wagashi
Where: Tea Houses and specialty dessert places such as Toraya Cafe. Thoughts: Wagashi is a traditional Japanese sweet, made from sweet bean paste. There are many types of wagashi, but my favourites are the ones that are similar to marzipan and are beautifully constructed to look like works of art. A popular tradition is to create and decorate the wagashi to reflect the Japanese seasons. These are typically served in Japanese tea houses, along with carefully prepared tea.
Zaku Zaku’s Croquant Chou
Where: Zaku Zaku have three stores in Tokyo: Harajuku, Kamata and Tobo Ikebukuro Thoughts: It’s essentially a long, crunchy cream puff, and it’s delicious. These are so popular that there are often long lines of customers queuing outside the door, but the staff are pretty fast, so the wait to get your hands on one of these delicious pastries isn’t long (but eating them is even faster!).
Mr Donut
Where: These stores are found all over Asia, but have really flourished in Japan, being one of the favourite fast-food chains in the country. Thoughts: If you like donuts, you’ll like these. They are light and fluffy, and the perfect on-the go treat. But their biggest selling factor that makes them instagrammable, is the cute ‘bubble-shape’. Hold these up against a neon Japanese street, and you’ve got yourself an Instagram #foodporn pic!
Anything ‘Hello Kitty’
Where: Everywhere in Japan
Thoughts: Hello Kitty is a national icon, and you can find all kinds of foods and drinks dedicated to the popular character. The food may not taste any better than others, but there’s no doubt it’s cute, memorable and Instagrammable!
Anything from Janice Wong’s Dessert Bar
Where: Janice Wong Dessert Bar, Shinjuku Station, Tokyo
Thoughts: Janice Wong is a famous pastry chef from Singapore who creates pieces of edible art, so when we came across her restaurant dedicated to desserts, we had to visit! You can purchase individual desserts, or treat yourself to a dessert degustation (but be warned – not for those on a budget!). The menu changes with the season, but you can be guaranteed that whatever you order will be immaculately presented and perfect for Instagram! Some dishes were maybe a little too experimental for our taste (asparagus in a dessert didn’t quite work for us), but everything looked beautiful and the experience was memorable!
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What are some other Instagrammabe foods have you seen on your travels? Comment below!
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OMG, that coffee art is so cute! As is the Hello Kitty cake. I’m not a fan of matcha either, but man, it does instagram well 🙂 I’d not heard of a Croquant Chou, but that looks like the most divine thing ever created! I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, but I make an exception for cream puffs!
That is some food art or food porn if I can say. I have seen the pancakes being made in different cartoon shapes in Thailand but others are a novelty. Can not even imagine how they made that Latte Art – for once it is worth the cost.
Hehehe, when did the food become more or less ‘instagrammable’. Amazing when you think about it, right! It’s not enough any more to be tasty, to look delicious, smell great, to be prepared with fresh ingredients, but it’s a plus if it’s also ‘photogenic’. 😀
You are right, these from Japan are like made for being photographed, so colorful! Love those 3D latte things, they really are cute. 🙂
What a fun post! The matcha ice cream is my favourite. I’m not so sure about the rainbow=coloured poison parfait or the rainbow pasta. They look a bit too psychedelic. Something I didn’t realise is there’s a Janice Wong’s dessert bar in Tokyo. I’ve been to her bar in Singapore and it’s really cool.
OMG 3D Latte Art??!! Incredible! I did quite enjoy green tea icecream while I was there last, and agree that it’s very photogenic! Now craving some of those desserts too from Janice Wong Dessert Bar! Thanks for the food tips!
Japan really does have so many instagrammable dishes! I love the look of the Matcha Ice cream (although I’m not sure about the taste haha), but that latte art is insane! I can’t even imagine receiving something like that in the UK!
These food are so colorful and cute. It would be a shame to eat them! They look too good to eat. The 3D Latte looks so endearing and I was particularly bowled over by the rainbow coloured pasta and the Parfait, they are indeed of kaleidoscopic colours.
These are some really interesting presentations of the food. When you said Instagramable, I was expecting something exotic and here it is but not as I thot. This is far more creative. The 3D latter is so cute as are those rainbow pasta and others. Had fun reading this post
Japan is definitely at the top of my list for places to visit. I knew the food would be amazing, but I hadn’t really stopped to think about how incredibly Instagram worthy it would be. I can’t wait to visit and see the food for myself. I especially want to try the donuts.
I love Japan. It’s my favourite country in the world. And, one of the reason for that love is they do everything with so much passion and creativity. I mean look at the food you shared. I wonder how I’ll ever be able to eat such drool-worthy instagramable food. It’s too good to eat.