Books and Cafe

Perfect ending after a perfect bowl of ramen! I had to indulge and try the soft serve green tea ice cream. Considering I would be sitting in traffic I needed something to distract and boy was the best choice I could have made. It was so good I never wanted it to end and as it was about to end all of a sudden there was a crunchy yummy surprise at the bottom! Cinnamon toast crunch! OMG was it genius?! I know I will be craving that ice cream for days to come but I would love to try some of their other dessert offerings as well.

I am so happy Mitsuwa market is within walking distance because of this little treasure inside, the books and café! The café offers an assortment of pastries and cream puffs as well as hot and cold beverages and soft serve ice cream! The ice cream is amazing and has hidden chex cereal on the bottom which was surprisingly amazing. I love the boba coffee and cream puffs… so tasty!!! Service is usually quick although on occasion i have seen a line of 5 – 6 people.

There are so many kids Japanese magazines like Mebae and books like Anpanman here. I love this book store! They accept cards and the person there is always super nice.

They’ve got a good selection of Asian office/​school supplies and fine tip and gel pens galore!
They’ve got manga and animé, magazines, books (mostly Japanese-​related). But it’s definitely a fun space to browse around.
The café itself is called Hamada Ya (you can find its Unilocal page here:
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They have the most incredible cream cornets from that café. I absolutely crave them. Move over, cronut fad. This thing is the perfect blend of crispy croissant exterior melded with sweet, creamy whipped custard filling. Yum.

I got food poisoning from their Tonkatsu Sandwich. Not cool.

I’ve always loved Mitsuwa and am happy to live close by. The other food stalls are often overshadowed by Santouka, but this little café is more than deserving of some love (and a visit).
The coffee booth is adjoined by a little book/​magazine store, complete with stationery, greeting cards, Japanese magazines and books, and other cool finds. There are a few small tables, too.
I came here craving an iced green tea latte. They now serve boba drinks (iced coffee and iced milk tea) but you can add boba to anything else. I got a regular iced green tea, which was lightly sweetened, a cloudier texture than other iced teas, and mild matcha flavor. if you don’t like too-​sweet matcha drinks, this one’s for you.
I also sampled some earl grey chiffon cake… moist and delicious! There are all kinds of other cream pan pastries, tarts, chiffon cakes, and sandwiches. It’s pumpkin season and they now offer pumpkin custard, pumpkin lattes, and pumpkin pastries, and being a huge pumpkin fiend, I WILL be back.
What i mostly came here to sing the praises of is the green tea soft serve. This shizz puts Yogurtland and Pinkberry to shame. It’s a big cup of froyo with a smooth, velvety texture and a STRONG matcha flavor. It has Golden Graham pieces at the bottom, but you can order it with other toppings for 50 cents apiece too. It was freaking amazing. Best green tea frozen dessert I’ve had in my LIFE. As soon as I finished it, I felt like going back for another… but that’s a little too much fatassery, even for me.
I’m never going back to any other froyo place for my green tea fix again. Come here, even if you have no other reason to. It’s worth it!

Japanese are such sticklers for etiquette and so I come here to get special stationery envelopes for occasions like weddings and funerals.
The book and magazine collection is on the small side, but they carry all of the top titles. They have a free membership card, but depending on who helps you, they might forget to offer you the card and stamp for your purchase. If you buy lots of Japanese books and mags, Asahiya Bookstore on Sawtelle has a better membership program.
Gotta hand it to Books and Café for really multi-​tasking though. Besides books, they also offer Hamada-​ya baked goods, various desserts, a daily coffee + pastry special, the best green tea soft serve on the Westside and Fugetsudo confections imported from Kobe, Japan.

BOMB green tea soft serve. I adore matcha green tea goodies. From lattes to fro yo to boba slushes, etc, I’ve tried plenty and can definitely rave about a few… but nothing compares to an icy spoonful of authentic green tea ice cream. It’s been a while since I’ve tasted a green tea ice cream worth mentioning. Most places either have fro yo or ice cream that’s decent, but notably on the weaker flavor spectrum. Not the soft serve in Mitsuwa’s Books and Café. What a find!
$ 3.50 for a cup, $ 4.50 for a cup adorned with red beans and mochi. I kept it simple and ordered the plain green tea soft serve cup. The flavor was fantastic. Full of depth and strong bodied. You know it’s authentic when you can «taste» the aroma. Perfect creamy consistency and ice cold to minimize melting.
Needless to say, I savored every spoonful.

OMG the freakin’ Cream Cornet!
If you’re into light, sweet treats… gotta come down Books and Café (inside Mitsuwa Market). I bought one several months ago… and shared it with my mom. We were both fighting for the last bite (literally)! It is a cream puff roll with a light cream inside. It is absolutely yummy… fluffy, flaky, a little sweet, a little buttery but not too heavy.
A few days ago, my mom asked if I can buy some more for Thanksgiving dinner. When I went the night before, they were out. They told me to come back the next morning and took my order of 20 qty. I came back the next morning (on Thanksgiving) and they had the box ready for me. They mentioned they can take in large orders but need to know a few days ahead of time. I guess I’ll be coming here more in the future:-)
They have a small selection of light japanese/​french pastries and sandwiches. The girl that works there said their other store in Torrance bakes them fresh every morning. Obviously it is best to buy these pastries in the morning for freshness. I also tried their cream puffs and Japanese sponge cake but I’d have to say the Cream Cornet is my favorite. Their lattes are pretty descent too.

I LOVE green tea anything! I had dropped by this Mitsuwa a number of times, but never noticed this café until fairly recently. I thought it was just a bookstore. The last time I came, they were out of the matcha soft serve, but I was successful this time! It was deeee-​licious!!! It was so creamy, wasn’t overly sweet, and had that nice, strong green tea flavor. I enjoyed every single bite, especially with the wafer cookie. Yum, yum, yum! Check out Jenny S.‘s pic!
I actually come to this Mitsuwa to study, have a snack, and wait for traffic to die down before heading back to the OC. I’ve seen people study in the bookstore section; they have a few tables, but the lighting isn’t the greatest so I stick to the food court area.

green tea FRO YO with real matcha TASTE (w/​a wafer on the side) for your post-​ramen dessert cravings!
although, they don’t have much (maybe a few milk teas, 2 types of fro yo, plus other pastries here and there) you can always stop by their BOOK STORE & browse japanese mags, etc. too!
& since its in the mitsuwa marketplace, feel free to grocery shop or stop at all the restaurants in the yummy/​cheap foodcourt!

Inside the Matsuwa Marketplace, we browsed through Books and Café after eating some Santouka Ramen. They have a great selection of Japanese books, graphic novels and magazines of all kinds. Most of it I could fawn over endlessly because i love the simplicity of Japanese graphic design, but in the end I rarely buy much at places like this (since I don’t read Japanese) unless it’s a magazine or art book.
The little bakery was cute too, but we were so stuffed full of ramen that we didn’t try any other food within Mitsuwa.

Very small selection of bakery treats and teas here. We felt like something sweet after another satisfying visit to Santouka ramen and the Cream Cornet caught my wifes eye.
Luckily she shared the cornet with me. It wasn’t overly fresh, but was indeed sweet and creamy. Our need was filled. We left satisfied.