The poem I’m about to share today is inspired by an old-style café I visited in Tokyo that’s famous for its homemade pudding. Hekkelun Coffee Shop (105-0003 Tokyo, Minato City, Tokyo, 1 Chome−20−11) is run by 82-year-old Shizuo Mori who makes the famous flan-style pudding that has kept his café open for more than 50 years. But the café is more than its legendary pudding—it’s a story of tradition, dedication, warmth, and the owner’s personal touch. If you’re in Tokyo, stop by to meet Mr. Mori and get a taste of charming nostalgia! The café is open from 8 a.m. and serves breakfast until 11 a.m. Besides the mouth-watering pudding, it also serves other affordable dishes like egg and ham sandwiches. There’s a menu on the wall but unfortunately, its in Japanese.

Here’s Mori-san in action

PUDDING

He gets it right
Every time
Not too bland
Not too sweet
Just enough to whet
The buds with a
Cup of roasted coffee.
That has kept them coming
For fifty years, or it is sixty?
No one’s counting as
They kept lengthening
the line. Outside, it is
ten degrees, and the last
in line is twenty pudding
slurps from the entrance
of the café where
Mr Mori is putting on
His black apron,
Looking sprite for his
eighty-two years.
The show is about to start
The show that’s been going on
for fifty years, or is it sixty? 

~ Wallace Fong, January 2025