Marion Crepes

It’s not hard to find a crepe stand in Harajuku – they’re everywhere. But the best ones are located down Takeshita Street, including the famous Marion Crepes. Marion Crepes opened in 1976 and pioneered the Japanese-style crepe, also called the “Harajuku Crepe”, from a food truck until it opened its first storefront on Takeshita Street, where it remains today. Since then, it has become synonymous with Harajuku, and in fact, no visit to Harajuku is complete without a stop at this shop.

The Japanese crepe, now as Japanese as sushi or ramen, is different from its French counterpart in three main ways. First, Japanese crepes are made with little to no butter and less sugar than French ones, making for a less decadent crepe itself. However, this is balanced out with the second difference, their choice of ingredients. On the whole Japanese crepes feature much sweeter ingredients—ice cream, drizzled sauces (of the chocolate, strawberry, and caramel varieties), generous dollops of whipped cream, and pre-made sweets such as cheesecake, brownie, or azuki beans—and raw ones, such as the fruits, which are neither cooked nor seasoned, just sliced. Finally, the larger size of the Japanese crepe helps them accommodate a generous amount of filling while still being easy to roll up, keeping them portable and easy to eat standing up.

The crepe maker hasn’t even started adding the main ingredients…

Unlike stores which may lose quality after becoming popular, Marion Crepes continues to serve up high quality, freshly made crepes stuffed with the toppings of your choice. The crepe batter is made with several secret ingredients that the patisserie insists is one of the keys to their crepes’ deliciousness. But whatever the secret may be, the crepes are delicious enough to make you want seconds, but filling enough that you might be forced to forgo them!

Between their sweet and savory options, Marion Crepes has over 100 possible crepe combinations, and a small, but solid selection of tapioca drinks. The amount of choices can be overwhelming, but you likely can’t go wrong ordering one of the three most popular crepes on their menu, which change regularly.

Marion Crepes has over 80 locations across Japan, including locations at other popular tourist areas such as Tokyo Tower, Tokyo SkyTree, Akihabara, and Ueno, as well as other major cities around Japan. In other words, you can try this famed Tokyo sweet even if you can’t make it here. But if you’ve got the time, why not eat your crepe and see some history too?