Sizuya [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Sizuya 
Address: 京都市東山区祇園町北側291 双葉祇園ビル 1F
Website: http://sizuya.co.jp/
Style: Japanese
Price: $-$$ 

This is another bakery suggestion I got from my host K. -- thank you so much for your help! Sizuya is, according to my informant, usually the first place that comes to mind when you ask someone from Kyoto for a bakery. It's a local chain with five locations in and around the city centre. Sizuya has a more casual vibe with plenty of well-priced sweet and savoury baked goods lining the walls along the ever present seating area tucked away in the back. The vast majority are simpler, less fancy bread-based baked goods with a variety of fillings. The one thing that I didn't really like was that they had a particular thing for mixing up plain bread, sweets and savoury items on the shelves; why didn't they just put all the savoury in one corner and sweet in the other? It made figuring out what on earth was in the buns just that much harder (and my kana comprehension was still very rusty).

Having had a melon bun the day before, I wanted something different, but not necessarily creamy or chocolate-covered. Nothing really immediately catching my eye, I finally settled for the labelled number 2 and 3 pick (though other items, I noted, were also ranked #2... it's a very weird system): the uh, pan de pancake (190 yen)? It was definitely something different, though, having only read the name after the fact and somehow not seeing it in store, it hit me a little later on that it was just a giant pancake. I have no clue how I didn't notice it beforehand.... *shakes head*

Anyways, not entirely what I would call a pancake, this was a thick spiral of sweet dough with a swirl of syrup and a square of butter on top. Figuring it was a pancake, I warmed it up a little bit and let the syrup and butter melt a bit and soak into the dough. In some ways, this wasn't such a good idea; it worked well with the syrup, but the butter was too salty and it ruined the taste a bit. The dough turned out to be stiffer and airier than I expected, more reminiscent of an angel food cake (or a cupcake) than a real pancake, which seemed a bit mismatched with the toppings. Not exactly what I was expecting; I think it could have been much better.

Rating: **1/2