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» Make your own customized dessert pizza at Max Brenner’s first ever Chocolate Pizza Bar! 【Pics】

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Make your own customized dessert pizza at Max Brenner’s first ever Chocolate Pizza Bar! 【Pics】

Kay May 10, 2017
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Order a custom-made dessert pizza of your dreams at international chocolate retailer Max Brenner’s very first Chocolate Pizza Bar in Harajuku!

Yes, we certainly love our chocolate in Japan, as you can tell from the abundance of chocolate stores and unique chocolate products available in the country, and we were naturally thrilled when world-famous chocolate brand Max Brenner opened their first shop in Japan back in December of 2013.

▼ The store in the Omotesando Hills shopping complex was the first location to open in Japan. Unfortunately, this store has closed as of May 7.

Having opened four additional store locations in Japan since then, Max Brenner recently launched a store in a style quite unlike anything they’ve done before — a Chocolate Pizza Bar where you can custom-order a dessert pizza exactly the way you like, with the flavors and toppings of your choice!

Now, that certainly sounded like a sweet-lover’s idea of paradise to us, and of course we had to be there on opening day to get our very own perfect slice of pizza. Before the grand opening, though, the folks at Max Brenner were kind enough to give us a preview of the kind of items that would be available from the Pizza Bar, and here’s what we got to see.

The fun part about the pizzas from the Pizza Bar is that you’ll be able to choose the base flavor of your pizza from the five types shown below: milk chocolate chunk, white chocolate chunk, dark chocolate chunk, berry sugar and cinnamon sugar. You can also choose whether you want toasted marshmallows on your pizza or not.

And for the toppings, you can choose from a colorful array of ingredients including fresh strawberries and bananas, mini pretzels, matcha green tea chunks and even sweet azuki beans.

The variety and colors of the ingredients should be enough to get any kid or adult excited!

We also got to see a few of the pizza creations they recommend in particular. Here we have the standard chocolate chunk pizza with a milk chocolate chunk base and toasted marshmallows.

Here’s one of their recommended original creations, the “Dark Double Chocolate“, made from a dark chocolate base with toasted marshmallows, double strawberries and chocolate cereal. The colors of the red strawberries and the dark chocolate make for a lovely (and appetizing) contrast.

Next was the “Chocolate Banana Corn Flake” pizza, which you can already tell is a tempting combination from the name alone. This is made from a milk chocolate base with toasted marshmallows, bananas and corn flakes — how can that combination be anything other than utterly delicious?

And the last pizza creation we were shown was the “White Strawberry Sorbet“, consisting of a white chocolate base topped with toasted marshmallows, strawberry ice cream, mini pretzels, whipped cream and strawberry chocolate cereal. The pop of pink color against the white of the whipped cream and marshmallows was absolutely delightful!

Here’s a look at the four lovely pizzas together. Now, who wouldn’t have a hard time trying to choose between all that sweetness?

After that preview, we were naturally psyched up for the opening of the Pizza Bar. The store opened at the Laforet Harajuku building in Tokyo’s Harajuku/Omotesando area on April 29, and when we got there on the big day, about an hour before the opening, there was already a good crowd.

Once the Laforet building opened at 11 a.m., eager customers created a considerable line through several floors of stairs.

▼ Yes, it was a good turnout!

After about 10 minutes, we reached the shop, and we were definitely ready to have some chocolate pizza!

The store itself is set up in a casual, order-over-the-counter style, as the name “pizza bar” suggests, and while it isn’t a stand-alone cafe like Max Brenner’s other locations, there are a few seats in the back, as well as an open eat-in space nearby for the several take-out eateries on the same floor.

▼ ”Custom-made chocolate pizza” — yes, we liked the sound of that!

As a special opening day present, they were giving out free slices of chocolate chunk pizzas to the first 1,000 customers.

▼ Check out all those boxes of free chocolate chunk pizzas piled up!

▼ We got our slice too. Yay!

▼ Yes, this was our very first pizza from the Pizza Bar.

▼ They also had some yummy-looking cool refreshments on offer, like the banana chocolate shake and the chocolate soft serve ice cream waffle cone, which should be perfect as the weather gets warmer in the coming months.

Of course, we had to get a taste of the make-your-own pizza action as well, so we ordered some custom-made pizzas too.

▼ Who wouldn’t be tempted to show off a bit of sugar-infused culinary creativity with all the delectable-looking ingredients on display?

They place the ingredients on the pizza right in front of you, so you can have fun seeing your pizza being made.

▼ Yes, give us some bananas!

▼ We got to see some sprinkling action as well.

We ordered two custom-made pizzas, and since we’d already had the chocolate chunk pizza with plenty of toasted marshmallows on it, we decide to have these pizzas without the marshmallows.

The first pizza we ordered was a milk chocolate chunk-based pizza with toppings of matcha green tea chunks, mini pretzels and strawberries.

The matcha chunk added a nice splash of color in addition to the strawberry red. And of course, strawberry and chocolate are sure to taste blissful together, aren’t they? Add to that the slightly salty flavor and crunchy texture of the pretzels, and you have a winning combination!

The other pizza we ordered was a cinnamon sugar-based pizza with bananas, milk chocolate chunks and corn flakes.

The cinnamon matched the sweetness of banana wonderfully, and the crunch of the corn flakes only added to the delight. This was certainly a combination we wanted to try again!

As you can probably tell, we were quite happy with the pizzas we created, and really, who wouldn’t be with all those sweet toppings to choose from, right? All the base pizzas start at 350 yen (US$3.15) and the toasted marshmallows cost an extra 30 yen, while the other toppings are priced between 50 and 100 yen.

If you’re in the Harajuku/Omotesando area and in need of a sugar boost, and especially if you’re in a creative mood, the Max Brenner Chocolate Pizza Bar may be the perfect place to stop by after some sightseeing, because as they say, you can never have too much chocolate in your life!

Shop information
Max Brenner Chocolate Pizza Bar at Laforet Harajuku / マックスブレナーチョコレートピザバーラフォーレ原宿店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 1-11-6 Laforet Harajuku 2F
東京都渋谷区神宮前 1-11-6 ラフォーレ原宿 2F
Open 11 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Last order 8:45 p.m.)
Website