Corny, but Serious.

Read me on: Savvy Tokyo

This August, I switched on Fuji Television’s Wake Up TV* to enjoy with breakfast, as I often do. On-screen, a corn cheese tart with soy sauce cream was being introduced from my favorite cafe in Asagaya. I had gotten my taste a week or so prior, drawn in by the novel appeal of a refreshing take on sweet-and-salty desserts.

The tart base itself is a buttery, barely-held-together graham with shortbread flakiness. On top, a thin layer of eggy sponge defends against any penetrating moisture from the two inches of corn cheesecake bearing down on it. Dotted with corn kernels, the cheesecake layer eats like a thick, chilled corn chowder. Mild flavored and voluptuous, the earthy sweetness of corn ties the buttery under layers and tang of cream cheese like a golden ribbon. A layer of soy sauce-infused whipped cream introduces silky complexity that melts in your mouth and pillows the roasted corn summit of this cheesecake Krakatoa.

Onibus Coffee in Jiyugaoka opened its summer dessert-tasting dinner with a trio of concept-forward starters. Among them, a dark-roast coffee and cacao financier topped with grilled corn that guaranteed my reservation for the autumn edition.

And that’s just the desserts of the summer.

Further down the Chuo-line, Osteria Gravino offers a year-round corn pudding with staying power courtesy of the chef’s penchant for featuring Japan’s produce one region at a time. As he moves down and across the peninsula, Chef Otsuzuki can keep his ingredients in season and express the nuances of terroir and timing across menu staples. It’s a method of constant renewal that he’s particularly proud of, and the chef makes a point to invite me on a day when a new produce delivery will be coming in.

Gravino’s Japanese-style pudding is understated and tasty for its own sake. Its sweetness comes from corn, in this case, one of his favorite varietals from Nagano, instead of added sugar. But the pudding is so traditional, with only the faintest whiff of maize, that it’s hard to believe the key ingredients are corn, egg, and cream. I suddenly feel like a convert to the cult of corn syrup.

My final pilgrimage, another two stops over, is to the sensational(ly short lived) Uehara Shokudo — only a shokudo in so much that one can enjoy something called “lunch” there. For me, it was a double-bowl of corn, tomato and uni kakigori. I was the only diner enjoying what can only be described as a “gastronomic experiment” at the time, but every dish of fairy-tale shaved ice looked like seconds.

My first bowl, a precarious tower of bitter caramel, several varieties of corn, petite, fruity tomatoes, cream-cheese accents, and aromatics, was plenty filling enough to suffice for a mid-day meal. Served separately on a pile of empty sea urchins was an uni panna cotta set in-shell, with soy sauce foam and more fresh uni (three slices, I believe) on top. The uni’s delicate brininess engaged in welcome, philosophical conversation with the faint lactic funk of cream cheese sauce and complexities of caramelized, flame-seared corn. It tasted as if the first settlers on America’s great Eastern shores were not Europeans but Japanese, intermingling their cuisine with local tribal knowledge at a midsummer feast to stave off the settler’s heat stroke.

Ranging from classical to fantastical, Tokyo’s gastro-summer has been marked by the uptick in gourmet desserts using sweet corn as a flavor base. But even outside of Tokyo’s restaurants, the trend seems to be taking hold.

Lately, South Korean corn ice bars have been settling in Don Qi Hote freezer cases nationwide, while their authentically shaped counterparts make their way onto shelves in the States. In India, innovative pastry chefs are using corn to add variety to Indian sweets both classic and contemporary.

Back in 2022, Eater covered the Trompe L’oeil corn-shaped dessert trend, but it seems that a year later, chefs are jumping onto the real deal. Chef Eunji of Lysée, New York may be the patron saint of corn’s rise from South Korean quirk to global phenomenon. Her iconic Corn cake is artful, but maintains the cheek of mascot-laden Korean convenience snacks with its chibi-fied cobb appearance. The dessert tunes the corn-shaped trend with gourmet sensibilities and attention to detail. Her cake isn’t just cute; it’s thoughtful.

Other chefs have followed suit, and the trend has caught on enough to eclipse the ivory Michelin towers and reach small-scale patissiers and bakers.

In an interview with food stylist Hadley Sui, she explained that despite growing up in rural Illinois, surrounded by corn, her first taste of corn as a dessert was in New York. She cites dishes like Lycée’s Corn as part of the inspiration.

Hadley’s work also frequently takes her to countries like Japan, where less-than-sugary ingredients play a more prominent role.

”I fell in love with these not-too-sweet bites [like kabocha squash and sweet potato] and continue to gravitate towards desserts with strong earthy flavor profiles. I think that America’s recent infatuation with sweet corn desserts signifies a willingness to approach desserts that are not the classic ultra-sweet staples we are used to and also a willingness to try more unique flavors from cultures other than our own.” Hadley Sui

Last week, Eater posted a trends report covering the better part of the past two decades of desserts, and Hadley’s thoughts seem right on track. The world is embracing novel flavor combinations and shirking the assumption that dessert exists within finite flavor profiles.

Good news for me, whose favorite cookie flavor at 13 was basil. *Translations/localizations of Japanese offered in italics