Tokyo Maca Presso delights with colorful sweet and savory macarons

Tokyo Maca Presso serves large, stuffed macarons and colorful, blended smoothies and coffee drinks that are as much eye candy as they are confections.

ERICA EARL/STARS AND STRIPES

By ERICA EARL | Stars and Stripes | Published: May 5, 2021

A baked goods and coffee shop in Kawagoe, Japan, offers colorful Korean-style macarons in both sweet and savory varieties.

Tokyo Maca Presso, a portmanteau of “macaron” and “espresso,” serves large, stuffed macarons and colorful, blended smoothies and coffee drinks that are as much eye candy as they are confections.

Maca Presso has a store in Shinjuku and just opened its Kawagoe location this year. The Kawagoe shop is on the pedestrian street known as Crea Mall.

The main appeal of Maca Presso is its Korean macrons called tunkaron. They are larger than the traditional French version and contain a much thicker layer of buttercream and include additional fillings such as fruits and jam.

Maca Presso also offers savory macaron flavor options such as cheddar cheese and corn chowder.

I went to the Kawagoe location in April and tried a few classic and original flavors.

The cheddar cheese macaron tasted like a highly elevated version of Cheez Whiz on saltine crackers. It wasn’t bad, and I was glad I satisfied my curiosity and tried it, but it was my least favorite of the bunch.

I also sampled the milk flavor because of its eye-catching rosy pink color. Its flavor was reminiscent of the milk at the bottom of sugary fruit cereals. I had never seen a dessert that flavor before. The berry and tangerine flavors were also delicious and had a small bit of jam filling in them.

I asked the shop owner to include his favorite flavors in my batch of treats, and he recommended the Biscoff gingerbread cookie and the sweet potato. The latter was my favorite flavor of all the macarons I tried.

Other flavors at Maca Presso include Oreo, matcha and grape.

The shop also serves “macaccinos,” blended coffee drinks topped with whipped cream, marshmallows, candies and miniature macarons.

Maca Presso has trendy café vibes and is a good snacking destination to visit as a family or group of friends so each person can get a couple of flavors, since the shop has so many and rotates their menu.

If you want to sample a variety of flavors but know you polish them off in one sitting, fret not. Maca Presso includes takeout boxes upon request. I recommend making sure the packaging is airtight and refrigerating them soon, before the outer, cookie-like shell goes stale or gets too crispy.

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Location: 6-19 Wakitamachi, Kawagoe-shi, Japan. Google Plus Code: WF5M+W3 Kawagoe, Saitama

Hours: Open daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Prices: Macarons are 380 yen, or $3.50, each, and macaccinos are 840 yen, or $8, each. Coffee and specialty blended drinks cost $5-$8.

Dress: Casual

Directions: A 5-minute walk from Kawagoe Station on the main shopping pedestrian strip, across from Style Monster.

Information: 049-238-4000 

Macron flavors from Tokyo Maca Presso in Kawagoe, Japan, include oreo, tangerine and berry. There are also savory options such as cheddar cheese.ERICA EARL/STARS AND STRIPES

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