Sandog In Kobeya Fresh Bakery [Mimi's World Tour]

 Bakery: Kobeya Fresh Bakery
Address: 68, Higashiriomicho, Kawaramachi Dori, Shinchō, Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto  
Website: http://www.breads-studio.com
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

One of the most frustrating bakery experiences for me on my Japan trip was stumbling upon one bakery and then happening to find another location elsewhere... and then realizing it's yet another one of those chains with a billion locations nationwide. While not as prolific as, say, Donq, which truly is everywhere, the unimaginative name ("Fresh Bakery") and logo had me deceived for a minute or two, until I found another basement location within pretty much fifteen minutes from each other. Though, to be fair, the detailed signs with English descriptions definitely scream franchise bakery. *sighs* Oh well...

Sandog In Kobeya Fresh Bakery is one of three bakery offshoots of the Breads Studio brand. Looking like they're almost exclusively relegated to high-traffic areas like stations and basements of department stores, they seem to serve their single purpose: offer basic, well-priced food for people on the go. They're not aspiring to be a French-inspired boulangerie or pastry shop of any kind, even with the few fancier items like danishes and cream rolls. Baked goods are simple and quite doughy: lots of buns, even those cream rolls looked pretty bready. In a sense, the English descriptions didn't help all that much since I still didn't know what to take....

Realizing circling the bakery area a few more times wouldn't help me find an answer, I settled on the cinnamon twist stick (173 yen). Yes, I'm not quite sure what in that off-white powder was the cinnamon and what was the sugar, but the taste was there, though perhaps the texture wasn't the best -- I discovered I really was not a fan of this superfine, semi-powdered sugar topping I encountered in several bakeries. Looking past that, the dough was not bad: soft, moist with a bit of chewiness. Nice amount of sweetness. Pretty good. Maybe, after all, I was a little harsh on Fresh Bakery?

Rating: **1/2