Located in southwest Shibuya is the town known as Daikanyama.
The location is known for its elegance, may it be boutiques, cake shops, restaurants and cafes, but it was a town redeveloped after the end of the bubble economy.
While the origin of Daikanyma is not really known, may it be a location of an officer’s mansion to an area that was once a forest, but for the most part, the majority of Daikanyama is a quiet residential area filled with apartments, office buildings, restaurants and boutiques.
But a main attraction is a location known as Hillside Terrace.
At first, it was a multi-purpose building designed by popular architect Fumihiko Maki and it was located right next to Daikanyama Station. Constructed between 1967-1992 (in seven phases), Hillside Terrace has now become a neighborhood of classy shops. While the strip is not as lengthy or filled as Omotesando, it has its own charm because of it’s greenery and architecture.
It is becoming a location for cafe, restaurants, fashion boutiques and galleries.
And one of the popular restaurants at Hillside Terrace is a pie shop known as MATSUNOSUKE N.Y.
Matsunosuke N.Y. is known for its sour cream apple pie and pancakes and the restaurant was created by author and cake maker, Akiko Hirano.
Named after Akiko’s grandfather (a master of Noh costume making), Akiko graduated from Notre Dame School, Kyoto and Eastern Connecticut State University. And through Professor Jean Charol, Hirano learned to make traditional sweets with recipes passed down since the 17th century and also receiving her cake diploma which led her to create startups in Tokyo and Kyoto.
Akiko would first open the Akiko Hirano Baking Salon in Meguro in June 1998, a few months later another shop in Imadegawa, Kyoto and also working as an instructor years later. She would then open Cafe & Pantry MATSUNOSUKE in Takakura, Kyoto in 2000.
She would create the Akiko Hirano cake which would be featured at the Dean & Deluca Marunouchi and Shibuya branch stores in 2003.
Hirano would publish numerous books about being a housewife who studied the making of American cakes abroad, making pies, tarts and cakes.
And while Hirano would open a pancake house (Cafe Rhinebeck) in Kyoto in 2011, considered a sister shop of MATSUNOKE N.Y. and a collaboration with Hudson Valley culinary arts teacher, Cheryl Jean, who both met during an exchange program in the east coast (U.S.).
The opening the MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. store in Daikanyama March 2004 is a big part of the Akiko Hirano legacy.
For the most part, bringing the perfect pies that we are accustomed to in the U.S. with fresh ingredients (additive-free), created by hand and baked to perfection and bringing it to Japan. But Akiko Hirano’s pies offer a Japanese touch.
For example, the popular MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. apple pie uses Kogyoku (Japanese apples that are similar to Cortland and Granny Smith apples) and their delicious sour cream apple pie is a must-try. Also, offered in the autumn and winter is their 14 Lincoln Street Apple Pie, Big Apple Pie, Custard Apple Pie, Maple Apple Pie and Caramel Apple Pie.
A popular item are the pancakes! And I have to say that before Japan-style pancakes became a trendy thing around Tokyo and throughout Japan, Hirano’s restaurants has been doing it years earlier!
As for pies, MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. offers a cherry pie all year round, during the spring-summer they offer a banana cream pie, lemon pie and chocolate pie and the autumn-winter, their popular pecan pie.
And to give MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. that New York touch, Hirano made sure that New York cheesecake is made and available in Japan. Also, offered during the Spring-Summer is the caramel NY Cheese Cake, Cocoa Cheese Cake, Raspberry Cheese Cake, Marble Cheese Cake and Ricotta Cheese Cake.
And you can also purchase a New England cranberry bread, black pepper cheese bread, sour cream coffee cake, orange cake, poppy seed cake, carrot cake, during the spring-summer a ginger cake, in the autumn-winter, a Robert Redford chocolate cake, a caramel apple walnuts coffee cake and during Christmas, a fruit cake.
And for those not wanting anything so heavy, you can also order scones, may it be plain, cranberry, butter scotch, maple or apricot and you can also order a biscuit.
Want to give a gift? They also sell assorted boxes of cookies and brownies (infused with cream cheese) as well.
And now there are stores in Kyoto (the flagship store that has a cafe and pantry that sells ingredients, baking items and accessories) and also one at 58 West Eighth St. in New York.
But one shouldn’t fret that a MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. is not available in their part of Japan, they also deliver whole cakes, pies, scones, brownies and cookies anywhere throughout Japan.
But MATSUNOSUKE N.Y. goes beyond just offering pies and cakes (which are select items she mastered at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) cooking academy in New York’s Hyde Park which Hirano visits every year), it’s also a place for one to take classes on how to bake.
If you are an pie or cake fanatic, especially for apple pies, I definitely recommend MATSUNOSUKE N.Y.!
