[Osaka - Shinsaibashi] Elk - Fluffy Japanese pancakes and 3D latte art

I finally achieved my goal of drinking a 3D latte during my most recent trip at Elk, a cute cafe in Shinsaibashi.

One of my major goals during my last two trips to Osaka was to get 3D latte art and fluffy pancakes. Actually, the 3D latte art goal was a major goal for me even as I was living in Kobe.

The cafe is pretty easy to find, actually. It's located right by Shinsaibashi station and Yotsubashi station.


Look at how cute and cozy the cafe is! It's got a modern country-style vibe. There are some magazines for you to look at and some comfy sofas. There are seats for maybe around 40-50 customers.

This is the full menu:
Although it is partially in English, the descriptions are entirely in Japanese, which kind of confused some of the tourists next to us, but luckily my friend was able to answer their questions and help them.

We ended up deciding to get the Baked Apple and Buttermilk Cookies with Royal Milk Cream pancakes. A lot of the other options seemed far too sweet for that time of day and too heavy considering the fact that we were going to go to Red Rock right after doing some cafe time. This was a great choice! The royal milk cream was really savory and complimented the apple flavor, which was somewhat tart, but sweet at the same time. The pancakes were fluffy, just like we had hoped. They were maybe not the fluffiest of fluffy, but we were pleased with all of the flavors together. My friend had been to a lot of the famous pancake spots around Osaka, the more famous ones, since "Japanese girls are obsessed with pancakes" and she said she has to bring her friends here sometime because the flavor was better here.
We also both got the 3D latte art - a cute piggy and a bunny. Note that if you want the 3D latte art, it's only available on weekdays. There are plenty of options for what you can make into a 3D latte art, as seen on the menu. I opted for the Cafe Au Lait and my friend got her Mocha with the latte art.
Apart from being cute, the lattes were actually quite good. They were nice and strong, so we were both pleasantly surprised by that, too. Sometimes places try to hook you with some trendy thing that looks great in pictures, but then you eat it and it's disappointing flavor-wise, or just lacks...a lot. In fact, my friend and I made note of this phenomenon as we were drinking our 3D lattes.

The cafe is nice and quiet, so it's a nice respite from the busy Shinsaibashi/America Mura shopping district. We stayed there and did some reading/studying for a while on that rainy day before continuing our eating tour to Red Rock.

I feel so accomplished now! Sooooo happy!

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