Store Review: Tomizawa Shoten

The Love.Hate.Bake. Tomizawa Shoten (富澤商店) is located in the basement of Seibu department store in Ikebukuro and is, in a word, heaven.

I was first introduced to Tomizawa by fellow baker and friend, Norman of Sweet Jamaican Things, who we’ll be talking to later.

This bakers heaven, is a modest little shop. At first glance you notice the perfect organization which is customary of Japanese culture but once you proceed further you then start to see that this humble little shop has more ingredients than you can shake a stick at and varieties of each. Many kinds of flours, sugars, purees (frozen and fresh), nuts and beans, various forms of cacao including nibs, various flavors and extracts plus much more. I find something new each time I go. They have a great selection of typical Western ingredients as well as Japanese ingredients.

Some items, such as sour cream and butter are slightly more pricey than their supermarket counterparts but items such as flour are cheaper and can be purchased in large quantities.  25kg bags of flour and 4kg bags of sugar are available at the store.

Periodically Tomizawa also brings in food specialists for demonstrations and/or tastings. February featured a demonstration on how to make miso and this month their special product feature is New Zealand honey.

This is Love.Hate.Bake’s go-to shop for baking ingredients but for baking tools we’re all about a little place in Jiyugaoka called Cuoca. We’ll tell you about that one in a later post.

Address:
〒171-8569
東京都豊島区南池袋1-28-1
西武池袋本店　B2F

171-8569
Tokyo, Idabashi-ku
1-28-1 Minami-Ikebukuro
Seibu Ikebukuro Honten

Phone: 03-3986-6564

Tomizawa also has locations in Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tama Plaza, Yurakucho, Denenchofu, Futakotamagawa, Kitasenju, Machida and Yokohama plus an online shop.

I highly recommend checking out your local Tomizawa especially if you’ve had trouble finding any baking ingredients in Tokyo.