Patisserie La Terre : C'est la vie de nature

La Terre is a corner patisserie-bakery located at the basement of Shibuya Foodshow. It might appear as just another departmental store cake shop selling beautiful cakes and bread but in fact, it is more than just that. As the name suggests, the focus here is on natural ingredients from the land or the "terroir" Hence, all items are made without any artificial colorings, additives and ingredients such as wheat flour, milk, eggs, sugar and butter are all sourced from the best farmers or suppliers in Japan. 

While this sounds like their cakes will fetch a high price due to the premium ingredients, the average cost of their items fall between ¥400 to ¥600, which is highly reasonable and on par to the market rates. Seasonal items are usually more expensive especially when fruits are concerned.


For instance, the summer edition Peach Pie (¥600) is definitely not a humble pie as the entire half-sliced  peach sits on the flaky puff pastry base. Encased within the peach are neat layers of sweet custard cream and sponge cake, making this a very refreshing and comforting pastry with its multi-textural components. This is such a hot seller that the chefs have made it a regular seasonal item during the peach harvest in July-Sept. 

The Matcha Opera has a grainy twist as rice flour has been used instead of wheat. I could not detect much difference in the sponge as compared to the honeydew rice sponge roll  but the subtle bitterness in the interlayers and the crumbly sable base make this an outstanding green tea pastry. Most of the roll cakes in Japan are good as they tend to be utterly soft, light and filled with just the right amount of cream. This is no exception but I would skip this honeydew roll as it was slightly dry and too sweet. 

Nonetheless, this is just one of the seasonal items that is always rotating on the shelves. The ever-changing selection is also what I like about most patisseries in Japan and hope you will be able to pick up some bread or cake which interests you as well. In fact, the main headquarter shop is located in the suburb zone of Mishuku in Setagata-ku since 1998, thus it is always a great thing to know that one no longer has to travel so far for good pastries!

Patisserie La Terre

Shibuya Tokyo Foodshow 

Shibuya Tokyu Toyoko Ten B1F

Shibuya-ku Shibuya 2-24-1

Daily 10am-9pm 

Website (Japanese only) http://www.laterre.com/patisserie/

Access Map http://www.laterre.com/patisserie/access.html