After digging deep into desserts for a good while, I’ve lately started getting into bread too. It’s probably mostly because great bakeries have been popping up all over Tokyo like mushrooms after the rain..
Tokyo, shot right after I woke up
A familiar view, right? The weather was warm like a Korean spring day, so it was easy to walk around.
Dominique Saibron
This is where I went that day. It’s in Shinjuku 3-chome. This neighborhood is a pretty shady one, and if you look at the bottom right of the photo you should be able to spot a gay couple.
From the front
It has a fresh, bright feel. Shinjuku Gyoen is right next door, so it’d make a nice stop on a picnic outing.
This is roughly what the neighborhood looks like.
It changes a lot once night falls, though..
The bread I ordered
A chocolate croissant and a bread with figs in it. The croissant is this shop’s signature item. Crisp outside, chewy inside, with the butter aroma blooming all at once: a top-tier taste. Since it was called a chocolate croissant I assumed there’d be chocolate cream inside, but it was just a bar of chocolate tucked in. At first I didn’t even realize the chocolate was meant to be eaten.. The fig bread was the real hit: so hard outside you can barely bite into it, yet soft inside. That’s exactly my favorite style of bread, and it was absolutely fantastic. A place I’d want to come back to often.
Côte d’Or aux Marrons
I suppose you’d call it a French-style chestnut dessert. It was far more straightforwardly sweet than a regular Mont Blanc. The flavor was so intense it was almost a bit much. That said, the dessert itself was of a very high level. The cream was smooth, and the cracker at the very bottom crumbled nicely.
Changing venues, I head to Cacao Sampaka in Marunouchi.
It’s right next to Echire. Easy to find. ^_^
Gelato
I bought all sorts of chocolates and had a gelato while taking a short break. Rich stuff. There are so many premium chocolate shops these days that I can’t say this one stands out in particular. But its level doesn’t fall short either. I’d say its strength is that it has chocolates in a variety of (?) forms, not just the ordinary kind.
Auslese
This is the wine I drank at dinner. It was so good that I’m leaving it here for the record, since I feel I’d forget it if I didn’t put it on the blog. It’s a sweet wine with a faint hint of fizz, and everyone from beginners to seasoned drinkers was happy with it.
That wraps up my trip around Tokyo, and I’m heading home soon, through Haneda Airport’s revamped international terminal..