Overflowing cheese and melting spheres of chocolate are drawing more customers to eateries in the quest for "Instagrammable" objects.
The growing popularity of Instagram has pushed some restaurants and cafes to add creative dishes to their menus, aiming to grab the attention of Instagrammers with items that look beautiful both in photos and videos.
At Debailleul, a pastry and chocolate shop in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo, a dish called "Avalanche" (1,350, yen about 12.5 dollars) is popular among customers. Pouring a cup of warm chocolate liquid over a spherical chocolate, its surface begins to melt and soon vanilla ice cream with added crumble appears inside.
According to the cafe, customers -- mainly female -- use their smartphones to film the moment the chocolate sphere melts before they actually taste it.
Tomohisa Furukawa of Kataoka & Co., which runs the cafe said, "There have been more customers recently who come to the cafe after watching the video posted online."
The Neworder Table, an Italian-style bar in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, added a new dish in spring 2018 called "Chicago pizza fondue" (2,376 yen) as its signature item. As soon as a diner cuts into the container made of pizza dough, the melted cheese inside spills over.
The Gyu-Kaku yakiniku restaurant chain also has an Instagrammable dish, of which it sells about 3,000 each month.
"Wataame sukiyaki karubi" (637 yen) is served with cotton candy on top of the meat. The cotton candy disappears the instant the warishita sauce for sukiyaki is poured over it, grabbing customers' attention.
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