Parklet Bakery in Nihonbashi is one of my go-to spots when craving baked goods, notably their cheese scone. Finally made it to their sister shop at the Meiji Park Market in the shadows of the Japan National Stadium built to host the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The buttermilk fried chicken is served over a hearty…
Category: bakery
Maruichi Bagel
Big fan of @maruichi_bagel. Miho Inagi moved her #bagel shop from Shirogane to the Shinbashi and Toranomon area four months ago. Maruichi is about ten minutes from Shinbashi Station and it’s been too hot 🥵 and humid for me to make the trek. Maruichi opens at 7 a.m. with sandwiches starting at 8 a.m. It…
Bank Bakery
The Kabutocho area of Nihonbashi, long a quiet part of the city, is now a vibrant and cool spot with coffee shops, cafes, and an amazing bakery called Bank. @bank_bakery_tokyo has a colorful selection of sandwiches, tartines, breads, and some pastries. The pate de campagne sando is a thick slice and includes bacon, pickled red…
Ginza Sweets
If you have a sweet tooth think about spending an afternoon in the Ginza area carefully perusing sweets shops – both Western and Japanese. Here is a list of boutiques and shops featuring cakes, gelato, roasted sweet potatoes, cookies, and more. If you have limited time I would spend most of my time at Ginza…
Nishihara High Street
Nishihara High Street near Hatagaya Station is filled with so many cool shops. I used to live in this neighborhood 20 years ago. It was not this hip back then. Katane Bakery Cafe. Indulged in a basket of breads, salad, and latte. 1,210 yen (only $8). All of the breads are delicious. Picked up some…
Parklet
Parklet Bakery has so many delicious baked goods. I love the cheese scones and the avocado toast. It’s all good here. It’s no surprise as the baker comes from Tartine in San Francisco. Breakfast is the best time to come as hopefully you can get a seat. I’ve stopped by in the afternoon and it’s…
Gargantua
One of the best bites I have had in a while is this seasonal vegetable tart at the #ImperialHotel bakery #Gargantua. Perfectly sliced squashes in gorgeous circles over an herbaceous base. The ham and cheese bun was also amazing. There is a small eat-in area in the popular bakery. The Imperial Hotel is near Yurakucho…
Pelican Café
Pelican Bakery near Kappabashi is famous for its white bread. Pelican has a café for toast and sandwiches. The ham katsu sando is a thick slice of ham that is breaded and deep-fried. The katsu is covered with a thick sweet sauce. Potato salad and carrot soup to round out the meal. Popular shop, so…
Cheese Toast
Cheese toast at Dixans Patisserie et Café in Kanda, a short walk from Suidōbashi Station (and the Niwa Hotel). I have many clients staying at the Niwa Hotel. I hear such good things about the property. Great staff, nice rooms, and centrally located. It’s a good value hotel. Rates this week look to be about…
Bricolage Bakery
Avocado 🥑 toast at #Roppongi#Bricolage. My favorite bread in Tokyo is the dinkel (sp?) with grains. There is also a branch in #Shibuya #Tokyu #depachika. If the weather is good the outdoor seating is lovely. With owner and chef Namae Shinobu, one of Japan’s great chefs!
bread, espresso &
bread, espresso & is an excellent bakery with several branches including Omotesando and this café in Shibuya at Miyashita Park on the second floor. Breakfast morning set here includes cheesy toasts, including one with truffles, or this cheese omelet with salad. It was busy on a recent weekday morning open from 8:00 a.m. Popular shop…
City Bakery
The deli plate at @citybakeryjapan. Only 990 yen ($7). There is also selection of breads, both sweet and savory. Many of my clients say that they feel like they are not getting enough vegetables when visiting Japan. So this is one option to get one’s fill of vegetables. Sadly City Bakery has closed in New York…
Le Pain Quotidien Roppongi
When I lived in Brussels my local bakery was Le Pain Quotidien. I loved sitting at the wooden communal table sharing jars of jam and nutella with the other diners. The ham and Gruyere cheese omelette with a side salad and bread is a nice start to the day. The bakery has three jams and…
Le Pain de Joel Robuchon
One of my favorite bakeries in Tokyo is from the famous chef Joel Robuchon, for savory breads made with excellent ingredients. Le Pain de Joel Robuchon has recently opened near Shinjuku station in the NEWoMaN mall. Imagine one of France’s top chefs creating breads and sweets using French and Japanese ingredients? I love the l’Atelier…
Point et Ligne
In the basement of the Shin Marunouchi building is a Japanese bakery, Point et Ligne, with a retail shop and a cramped café space in the back. The bread is not traditional French, but made for the Japanese market. The breads are soft and made with butter. The crusts are not crispy and the crumb…
Carrot Haystack Sandwich
One of my favorite simple breakfasts in Tokyo is this carrot sandwich at Nihonbashi Bon Coeur. Julienned carrots simply presented between two slices of pain de mie, with a schmear of mayonnaise. The orange haystack is so big that it’s hard to keep contained while eating. There may be butter, or not, I don’t remember…
Maison Kayser Kouign Amann
Kouign amann is a butter pastry that is rich with a caramel like crust that can be both crunchy and chewy. If you’ve been to Bretagne in France, you will know that it is famous for butter, a key ingredient in this decadent sweet. My favorite kouign amann in Tokyo is at Dominique Ansel Bakery…
Focaccia and Ciabatta in Tokyo
My favorite Italian bakery in the city is Peck, which is only found at Takashimaya, both in Nihonbashi and Shinjuku, as well as at the shops in the suburbs. Peck is a gourmet shop in Milano that dates back to 1883. The selection includes Italian cheeses, cured meats, pastas, olive oils, and other pantry staples….
Best Mentaiko Pan in Tokyo?
My favorite Japanese bread is mentaiko pan. Mentaiko is pollack roe that has been cured in salt and seasoned with dried red chili peppers. At home we love mentaiko raw with a bowl of rice. It can be toasted on the outside and left raw inside for an umami-rich dish with sake. The Japanese have brilliantly come…
Convenient Store Curry Pan
The Japanese have a love for “oyatsu pan” or snack breads that can be either savory or sweet. Pan is from the Portuguese for bread. The bakeries here are called pan-ya. At the bakeries customers pick up a tray and tongs and carefully peruse the bakery putting their selection on the tray before paying. One popular oyatsu…
Musashi-Sakai Passage a Niveau
My favorite baguette in Tokyo is found along the Chuo line near Musashi-Sakai station. Passage a Niveau does a three-grain baguette that has a lovely crumb with a chewy crust. The bakery opens at 8 a.m. but the baguettes do not come out until a bit later in the morning. Passage a Niveau is worth…
New York Bagels in Nakameguro
Growing up in Minnesota I thought frozen Lender’s Bagels was the standard. That was until I moved to New York City and lived in Chelsea. Murray’s bagels was a short walk away and finally I understood what the fuss was over a bagel. I have fond memories of eating an everything bagel while carefully perusing…
Gotta Get – Tomizawa Dried Mikan
A friend who is the editor of a food magazine introduced me to these addictive dried mikan. These are sweet and tart at the same time. Tomizawa is a chain found throughout Tokyo. I come here to buy nuts, flour, dried fruit, and much more. If I am baking this is the first shop I…
Dominique Ansel Bakery Tokyo
For my birthday we went to Dominique Ansel Bakery’s Cafe on the second floor of his shop. The menu has always intrigued me, especially since I saw a photo of his avocado toast. New on the menu is chicken pot pie, which was the best pot pie I have ever had. A crispy golden crust…
Manseibashi Hofbackerei Edegger-Tax
Tokyoites have yet another European bakery to add to a rich list that includes Viron, Maison Kayser, Peck (exclusively at Takashimaya), and Gontran Cherrier. What makes this new shop unique is that I believe it is the first bakery in Tokyo from Austria. For German bakeries there is Linde in Kichijoji. (Musashino-shi, Kichijoji Honcho 1-11-27). Hofbakerei…
Rose Bakery – Ginza and Marunouchi
I am a big fan of Rose Bakery. An English bakery that first opened in Paris and is now dotting Tokyo. This casual cafe has a large delicatessen-style refrigerator in each shop that showcases the colorful salads and baked goods. While the cakes and sweets are tempting, I am always come here for the salads….
Food Trends – Shio Pan
As it looks like rainy season has come to an end and summer is officially here it has suddenly become hot. Temperatures soared overnight and for this Minnesotan, the heat is unbearable. Increased salt intake is recommended for heat exhaustion or for acclimating to the heat. A baker in Ehime prefecture came up with this…
Maison Landemaine
At the French Culinary Institute I completed the bread baking program before doing the culinary program. I love bread. Tokyo is a wonderful city for bread. There are many French boulangeries in Tokyo including Viron, Maison Kayser, and Gontran Cherrier. Add to that impressive collection Maison Landemaine from Paris. I had heard that there were long…
Imperial Hotel Lemon Pie
The main building of the Hotel Okura will be closing at the end of summer. Many are coming to sit in the lobby under the signature lantern lamps. The visitors are a mix of locals and non-Japanese, young and old. It will be sad to say sayonara to this beautiful lobby as we know it. I…
Dominique Ansel Bakery Tokyo
Dominique Ansel Bakery Tokyo has finally opened. The local media has been leading up to this event for several months so it is no surprise that there are long lines. The first customers started lining up about 9:30 p.m. the night before, on a wet evening during rainy season. Staff brought out umbrellas for the…
Aoyama Farmer’s Market
Food Sake Tokyo is delighted to host guest blogger Janice Espa. Janice is passionate about food and Japan. She is a great photographer and all of the photos here are from Janice. Janice’s most recent guest post on the Best of Japan Tour now being offered at Coredo Muromachi in Nihonbashi, is very popular and some followers…
Viron Boulangerie
My go-to lunch when on a run is a sandwich from Viron. Excellent baguettes with a chewy crumb that can stand up to the crispy exterior. The sandwiches are classic French-style including pate de campagne, rillettes, and jambon. The large window display case in the front of the store has a dizzying array of sandwiches…
Le Pain Quotidien at nonowa Higashi-Koganei
I lived in Brussels for a year and one of the things I remember the most is the Le Pain Quotidien down the street from my apartment. The bakery opened up early in the morning so I could stop by and get a croissant or pain au chocolat to start the day. The large communal…
Focacceria Altamura
A gift from my cousin, some focaccia from a shop in her neighborhood. These are as focaccia should be, light, airy, with a crispy crust and moist crumb. Very simple flavors of rosemary, zucchini, and tomatoes. Tokyo is filled with great bakeries, and this is a good one to know about if you find yourself…
La Boutique de Joel Robuchon
J’adore Joel Robuchon. For special occasions we love L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Roppongi. The food is exquisite, service is professional yet friendly, and it has a great wine list. But, at the moment we don’t have the luxury of dining out for long meals. So La Boutique de Joel Robuchon offers a taste of…
Le Pain Quotidien
For one year I lived in Brussels. Just down the street from my apartment was a Le Pain Quotidien. I went about two to three times a week. Some nights for a baguette to have with wine and cheese. Mornings I could pop in and pick up a croissant. There was a small garden in…
CLOSED – Shinjuku Gontran Cherrier
Sadly, this Shinjuku branch of Gontran Cherrier has closed. We are so spoiled in Tokyo with amazing bakeries transplanted from France. While living in Singapore one of the popular bakeries was Gontran Cherrier’s Tiong Bahru Bakery. Local Singaporeans as well as Japanese expat wives filled the seats of the shop in the afternoon. One…
Tsukiji Cheap Eats – Orimine Bakers
Tokyo is filled with many wonderful bakeries. I have favorites throughout the city including Viron, Gontran Cherrier, and Maison Kayser. As the city is so big it’s a good to have a knowledge of where the great bakeries are as you never know when you’ll find yourself in an area with great bread. Orimine Bakers…
Gontran Cherrier Bakery in Tokyo
Gontran Cherrier’s Tiong Bahru Bakery in Singapore Boulanger Gontran Cherrier‘s Singapore outpost is very popular. As a baker I find his offerings very interesting. A dense red miso bread and an intense squid ink baguette (see photo below). I love his croissant with visible, crispy layers. I would show a photo but I can never…
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