Second House [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Second House Cake Works
Address: In: Kyoto Marui, Shincho 68, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Website: http://www.secondhouse.co.jp
Style: Japanese, Cakes
Price: $$-$$$ 

It was a miserable rainy day when I popped into the Marui department store just to dry off and maybe see what was there. In the Kyoto branch, most of the first floor is dedicated to little food stalls that don't really provide you with much in terms of sweets and baked goods, but offer a hodgepodge of drinks, chocolate and dried goods. I, of course, was hoping to find a bakery or something along those lines... walking past the bagel bakery and castella booth (a little pricey and too big for an everyday treat), I spotted my unknowing goal: Second House Cake Works.

Second House Cake Works is a smaller-scale, dessert-only offshoot of their Cake and Spaghetti House chain, both of which are only in Kyoto. And while I don't quite see the connection in the latter, the Cake Works is cute and cozy with an array of pretty Western-style cakes and pastries. In store, these are sold mostly as individual treats, though they have a few cakes for sharing along with a nice selection of cookies, among which are madeleines and macarons, and tarts. As with most cakes, and certainly of the individually crafted kind, they're not cheap, but there are more and less expensive options. A nice thing is that they do seem to have regular promotions and you can get selected cake types for 100-150 yen less than the listed price. That's pretty nice.

This is exactly what I did: I picked out this lovely little pink sakura mousse cake (100 yen off from 530 = 430). Similar in style to a candied chestnut cake, this had "strings" of thick, slightly grainy  icing atop a lighter whipped cream centre and sponge cake soaked in a little something extra. Incredibly rich and almost difficult to eat in one sitting, this was flavourful, maybe a cross between floral and strawberry. Personally, I would have liked something in addition to all that cream and icing, but a special treat from a place that knows cake.

Rating: ***