Bakery:
Patisserie Salon d'Or (パティスリーサロンドール)
Address:
7 Chome 1 Jodori, Asahikawa, Hokkaido
Website:
http://salondor.jp/
Style:
Japanese, French
Price:
$$$
Located in the basement of an otherwise insignificant retail space connected to a pachinko parlour, Salon d'Or has the sleepy vibe of an office building cafe or hotel breakfast room. The whir of the refrigerated case, the lack of a manned counter - it's a little dull and desolate, but the fairly decent selection of pricier cake slices, savoury quiche, and individually packed cookies and slivers of coffee cake is there. And a definite attempt has been made to keep it authentically French, which was nice. Everything is labelled, but you have to know how to read Japanese but know French (at least pastry terms) to know what everything is. Fortunately, that applied to me, so I was in luck. ;)
It's not the most common sight in patisseries, so I took the "gateau basque" (410 + tax). A gateau basque is a simple, yet delicious rich, flaky yet dense almond flour-based cake with cherries and/or cream in the middle - and unfortunately, none of the slices from this gateau basque had been taken, so I didn't get a chance to see the middle. Well, it looked promising on the outside, but the inside wasn't exactly a gateau basque. Instead, I was greeted with an extra thick filling of chopped walnuts and decadent sticky caramel. The dough was good, as were the nuts, but the caramel filling was overpowering and way too sweet. About halfway in, I had to use a knife and scrape it off, because it was too much. And "too much" is a description rarely used in Japanese bakery reviews.
Rating: **1/2
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