Shippan [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Shippan (しげぱん) 
Address: 13 Chome−1−11, Minami 4 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo
Website: http://www.shigepain.com/
Style: Japanese 
Price: $$ 

Welcome to the Cake Tour, Hokkaido! :) The main retail offshoot of Shippan a.k.a Shige Pain (they also have a late-night bakery stall by Susukino) was my first bakery stop of this trip. It was nice to return to a Japanese bakery, with all its sweet and savoury buns and small selection of more European-inspired pastries. In this sense, Shippan did not disappoint. Actually, they had everything I was expecting and then some, especially when it came to flaky danishes. They even had a couple pan with faces - it was truly a difficult choice, especially for my inaugural Hokkaido bakery.

I lay aside perennial classics like the melon pan and went with an apple danish (250 yen). This pretty blossom-shaped danish had nice flaky dough with a soft baked apple filling verging on apple sauce. At first, I liked the hardened sugar bottom, which was reminiscent of a kouign amann, but the more I ate it, the more I found it was way too sweet and caramelized. The rim was so thick and hard it clashed with the delicate layered textures and tastes of the rest of the danish; personally, it would have been better without.

Rating: ***