"Tucked behind an unmarked doorway at 68 Jay Street in DUMBO, this tiny glass-enclosed, oval-shaped Japanese bakery operates like a private studio-theater: open Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. with breakfast until 11 and cakes appearing around 2. Run by Ayako Kurokawa and a small team of Japanese female bakers, it feels more like a home kitchen than a commercial bakery, with a quietly theatrical vibe—linen curtains, a production list, and a deliberate, almost secretive schedule. The pastries are precise, playful, and otherworldly, from a tiled hexagonal cake and circus-tent–inspired strawberry cake to a gravity-defying strawberry tart, a Dali-like apple cake draped with thin mandolined fruit, pistachio cake, cream puffs, raspberry jam linzer cookies, googly-eyed upside-down pineapple cakes, and cartoonish face cookies. Bare-bones signage (no phone), meticulous execution, a focus on humane hours for staff, and an aesthetic that straddles minimalism and whimsy have earned it celebrity clients and international queues, a large Instagram following, and admiration from fellow pastry chefs." - ByElyse Inamine