LESS Labo

LESS Labo occupies the ground floor of Kaneko Building in Mita, Meguro, functioning as the manufacturing and development core of the LESS pastry operation rather than a walk-in shop. The address in Tabelog is categorised under cake and café, but the labo itself does not conduct over-the-counter retail, production and product development are its primary purpose. The broader LESS project was established by Gabriele Riva, an Italian pastry chef, and Kanako Sakakura, a Japanese pastry chef, with a stated focus on chocolate confectionery, baked goods, and panettone.

Panettone became a flagship category from the outset, drawing enough attention that the shop was described at opening as a standout pastry destination built around it. Fresh pastries at LESS moved to a reservation-only model, a signal of demand that helps explain why the founders chose to formalise a dedicated production facility separate from their front-of-house operation. The labo concept reflects a working approach common among serious small-batch pastry producers in Tokyo: separating the atelier from the retail counter allows for tighter quality control over chocolate work, fermentation timelines for enriched doughs like panettone, and the development of new products without the throughput pressures of daily service.

For Riva and Sakakura, the labo is described in their own terms as a space to concentrate on chocolate production, manufacturing, and innovation. Visitors looking to purchase LESS products should direct enquiries to the main LESS retail channel rather than presenting at the Mita labo address, which does not operate public-facing hours.