あさの [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: あさの (Asano)
Address: 110-4 Rokurocho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Website: n/a
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

[Well, well, well look at this! Mimi's Cake Tour has crossed the Atlantic, it's gone coast to coast in Canada, it's crossed the Arctic Circle, but now it's crossed the Pacific and added a new continent to its belt: Asia. That is right. Mimi's Cake Tour went on a trip to Japan and is bringing back a whole bunch of bakery reviews, most of them stellar. Yes, so many delicious baked goods...]

My very first morning in Japan, I went to the supermarket literally 30 seconds away from my apartment and directly across the narrow alleyway was this bakery stall... actually, I hope this is the right name for this tiny bakery outlet; at first I thought it was Oyatsudo (六波羅おやつ堂). It points to the right place, but some photos show a fancier exterior. This bakery is under the red roof and that roof says "Asano". Nothing came up at first, but there is a Asano bakery in north Kyoto and they have buns that look eerily similar. Have my detective skills solved the puzzle? Ha ha I'm sure no one will help me out on this one. Still....

Really, this is more a street vendor than an actual bakery, with all goodies lined up on covered trays on a table and barely a roof over your head to examine them, but the selection is lovely and features both traditional sweets alongside Western-style treats like petite cookies, cream roll cakes and individual sweet buns. With only select items labelled and priced, it's a bit of a guessing game trying to figure out what is what.

I took a wild guess and just picked this bun (183yen). It turned out to be a cinnamon streusel-like bun. Biting into it, the top had a yummy crunch to it underneath that dusting of powdered sugar -- it was delicious! The inside was soft and fluffy with a more delicate cinnamon-butter mass wound throughout the dough. Mmmm... Not only had I made the right decision, but this looked and tasted really good. My Japan tour was off to an amazing start!

Rating: ***1/2