Totoro Shaped Cream Puffs / トトロのシュークリーム

Ghibli's Popular "My Neighbor Totoro" Shaped Cream Puffs, Sold Only At This Shop
「となりのトトロ」の形をしたシュークリームが買える、世界でたった1つのお店

I grew up watching many Ghibli movies and one of the most famous and cute movies is 「となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro)」 which is a 1988 animated fantasy film.
Those who don't know Totoro, this is Totoro, who is a mononoke.

*Totoro is on the right, FYI.


The other day, I found a food article that in Tokyo, there's a special shop where they create Totoro shaped cream puffs.
The shop is called "白稗のシュークリーム工房 (Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory)."
I checked the website and became more interested in seeing trying the actual products.

On the homepage, they say, "it's all handmade so that there won't be large numbers of stocks every day, especially it's Totoro shaped.
We'd appreciate if you could reserve in advance."

So I called last Thursday to see if there'd stocks for today, Saturday, and they said yes and asked me which kinds I wanted to have.
Currently, there're 4 kinds so I ordered every single flavor, so total 4 Totoro cream puffs.

There're 3 all-year flavors and 3 seasonal flavors.

Regular flavors are;
Custard Cream
Custard cream with vanilla beans mixed with fresh heavy cream. The puff is made with flavorful domestic organic flour. (390 JPY)

Chocolate Cream
Bitter sweet, elegant fragrant and sour cacao beans are used. We created fine and rich chocolate cream. (390 JPY)

Caramel Banana Cream
We brown the sugar to make flavorful caramel cream and add sauteed bananas to create rich taste. A hint of salt adds accent. (430 JPY)

Seasonal flavors are;
Strawberry Cream (Jan. - May)
"Sachinoka Ichigo" from Wakayama pref. mixed with fresh heavy cream. We don't add anything other than sugar and strawberry liquor to have the flavor and scent of actual strawberries. (430 JPY)

Peach Cream (June - Sept.)
White peach syrup from Yamanashi pref. and peach liquor are added to heavy cream, and mix with fresh white peaches which are harvested this year. (430 JPY)

Marron & Marron Cream (Oct. - Dec.)
Japanese chestnuts from Kumamoto pref. is used to make rich marron cream, and also chunks of simmered chestnuts are used. (430 JPY)

So, here's the list of what I got.
Custard Cream, Chocolate Cream, Caramel Banana Cream, and Marron & Marron Cream.

They said anytime was open for Saturday at that moment so I said I'd pick them up around noon and they replied they'd have the box ready from 11:30AM for me then. (Sweet!!)

When we got to Setagaya-Daita station on Odakyu line, it's still early but I thought I'd take some photos outside while waiting. 
The shop is on a small street, but there're some people standing outside so it was easy to find.
"白髭のシュークリーム工房" sign by the window.

And by the entrance, there's a sign board.
We call シュークリーム for cream puff, which is "chou a la creme" in French so that I was thinking they might put "chou cream" on the board but they actually put "cream puff" in English.

A step inside of the shop.
Ghibli theme is everywhere.

This stairs take you to the second floor where you can eat and drink, also there's a patio with tables and chairs to order plates.

By the stairs, there's a door with a window pane where I could see up-side-down Totoros on the racks. (On the right side.)
It kind of looked like they're torturing the mini Totoros but I guess it's the only way they can make the cute Totoro cream puffs...

There's another door with "We're open" sign.

This door leads us to the showcase where Totoros are displayed, but the showcase was all empty and filled with boxes to be picked up by those who reserved in advance (like me).

The showcase room was filled with Ghibli photos, autographs, miniatures and cream puffs' photos all over.

Marco Rosso by a flower pot.

They sell cookies, too.

Photos of cream puffs next to a Neko-Bus (cat bus) clock.

Autographs.

"Trip advisor" and "Tabelog" certificates.

Flowers from Studio Ghibli executives.

Miniature house of Mei's house from Totoro.

This is the box they put my 4 Totoro cream puffs and a leaflet they inserted underneath the cream puffs.

When a woman was about to close this paper box, she asked me if I wanted to bring a sticker home or she could place it on the box as it's usually there, I asked her to put it on the box.

Here're the 4 Totoros in the box. 
I wonder if she intentionally put them seeing each other.

This is how they look in a line.
As you can see, each one has different accessories and the headpiece is showing which filling the Totoro contains.

This is the back side.

Four Totoro all together.
So adorable, they're looking at me. (But I'm eating them soon.)

This is Custard Cream with a green leaf.

This is the filling.

I could see vanilla beans.
The cream was so smooth and rich, but not heavy at all.

This is Chocolate Cream with a hat with blue ribbon.

The filling.

The chocolate cream was bitter sweet.
The cream was soft and airy. 

This is Marron & Marron Cream with a brown leaf.

The filling.

The brown pieces in the cream is chestnuts.

The cream contains liquor and even though I didn't know it till I checked the ingredients list, I could tell because it was pretty strong for me.

This is Caramel Banana Cream with a hat with yellow ribbon.

The filling. 
It already had strong liquor flavor, too.

The chunks are sauteed bananas.
This had considerable liquor in it, at least to me, it did.
The cream had sweet and bitter taste as the caramel is made with browned sugar.

All the shells were crispy and had rich butter flavor.
However, the inside was moist and soft and wrapping the filling softly.

As I'm lightweight or I became weaker than before so that I can't hold much liquor, so that the liquor flavors seemed too strong for me (the marron one and caramel banana one).
I wish they didn't use any alcohol or they'd have let the flavor evaporate and go away.
But maybe some people would enjoy this authentic confectionery taste.

Overall, the cream puffs were really cute and I felt a little bit sorry when they're looking at me.
When I tried them all, I had no regret to have visited the middle of nowhere.

As all the Totoro cream puffs are handmade and they can't be produced a lot a day, if you'd like to get them, I highly recommend you reserve in advance via phone call.


Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory / 白髭のシュークリーム工房
5-3-1, Setagaya-Daita, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
東京都世田谷区代田5-3-1

Open: 10:30 AM ~ 7:00 PM
*Closed on Tuesdays
*火曜定休

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