L'airbon [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: L'airbon (レフボン)
Address: 14 Chome-5 Kitaodori, Kushiro, Hokkaido
Website: http://www.h-saint-germain.co.jp/shop/_jrkushiro/index.shtml
Style: Japanese
Price: $$ 

I'm still upset that I was originally supposed to return to Kushiro and continue my Cake Touring then, but plans changed. I never did come back, so I was in a sense lucky that I did think of popping into L'airbon, located inside the Kushiro JR station, while waiting for my bus connection. Unfortunately, I later discovered that L'airbon isn't exactly an independent bakery, but is an offshoot of Saint Germain, a Hokkaido bakery chain. Well, at the very least, it is Hokkaido only....

Nonetheless, L'airbon is a well-stocked train station bakery serving a little bit of everything, both sweet and savoury. They don't really delve too deeply into the realm of pastries and instead focus on classic "pan" with a variety of fillings. A signature feature appears to be their uniquely shaped bread like the chocolate steam train and "marshland bun" in the shape of Hokkaido.

I took a simple twist doughnut (84 yen). Perhaps it wasn't exactly "oven fresh" like all their labels advertise, but it still tasted relatively fresh for the evening with its moist, pull-apart dough and dusting of finely granulated sugar. The texture could have been less dense and the outside would have been better had there been a nice, perfectly fried 'crunch' on the outside, but I was really hungry at this point (and still had that bus ride to deal with before dinner) and everything tastes better when you're hungry. ;)

Rating: ***