Le Bihan [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Le Bihan 
Address: 1 Chome-1-43 Abenosuji, Abeno-ku, Osaka
Website: http://www.lebihan.jp/
Style: Japanese, French 
Price: $$ 

After a few weeks of travel in Japan, I'd begun to despair that I'd never encounter another 4-star bakery along my Cake Tour. Luckily, along came Le Bihan. Regrettably, Le Bihan is yet another one of those bakeries with nearly a dozen stores nationwide, though it seems most are centred around Tokyo and Osaka and whether or not it's really headed by the older, decidedly French pastry chef on their website is worth debating. As with many patisseries, Le Bihan mostly features a fairly large selection of the usual Japanese baked goods, such that at first it doesn't seem particularly remarkable. If you look past the croquette buns and red bean treats, there are, however, a few more traditional French pastries.

Fortunately for me, repeated practice had revived my reading skills and examining the label of this lovely pastry gave me a thrill of excitement: kouign amann. Yes, the kouign amann, my most beloved of buttery French pastries. This required zero deliberation and I left the small, somewhat hectic department store bakery with my kouign amann in tow (237 yen).

This was precisely what I expected from a well-done kouign amann and French pastries, in general: the dough was flaky and buttery with a sticky sugar coating on one end and layers upon layers of rich and simple yet flavourful dough. It really was one of the best  I've had; truly a highlight not only of my Osaka leg of the journey, but also of my entire Japan trip. A well-deserved perfect rating.

Rating: ****

Polonia Sausage House

Bakery: Polonia Sausage House 
Address: 2434 E Hastings St, Vancouver BC 
Website: https://www.poloniasausagehouse.com/
Style: Polish 
Price: $$ 

Polonia Sausage is the original Polish deli empire in Metro Vancouver and while only their one Surrey location is listed as a bakery, each location nonetheless has a limited selection of traditional Polish slab cakes as well as a few other items like poppy seed rolls. Some are sold by weight and others sold as larger pieces, such that you're pretty much forced to commit to a big chunk. I don't know about their Surrey bakery, but their Vancouver delis don't offer any individual baked goods typically found at a Polish deli with the exception of Polish doughnuts... if you're lucky.

At the time of purchase, I had the choice between poppy seed, apple, cheesecake and one more variety of slab cake. Seeing as the poppy seed cake couldn't be cut up into a smaller piece, even in half, I went with my second pick: the cheesecake ($13.50/piece). I never mind grabbing some Eastern European cheesecake, though I find that sometimes it's either too dense and cheesy or it has no cohesion and crumbles upon impact. Fortunately, Polonia's version was fresh and fluffy, somewhere in between cheesy and not doughy at all. Perhaps the strips of not too flavourful jelly weren't necessary, but it was still pretty good. Even better was warming up a little, which made is soft and light.

Turns out Polonia isn't just the destination for sausages!

Rating: ***

Anthony's Copper Kettle Bakery & Cafe

Bakery: Anthony's Copper Kettle Bakery & Cafe 
Address: 268 Anderton Rd, Comox BC 
Website: facebook
Style: Canadian
Price: $$ 

Located just off the main retail street in Comox, Anthony's Copper Kettle is a quiet, rather unassuming bakery with slightly limited counter space that was, at least at that time of day, sparsely stocked with buns/dinner rolls and a few cupcake varieties. Yes, it did feel pretty empty and this was even more true of the sweet selection, which I found to be lacking besides those aforementioned cupcakes. Maybe it's simply one of these bread bakeries?

Nevertheless, one thing they did have were Eccles cakes. And I happen to like Eccles cakes, so I grabbed one. (around $2.75) This was of the flaky, puff pastry variety, similar to an apple turnover. Actually, almost identical to an apple turnover. The dough was airy with a bit of crunch on the outside and was topped with coarse sugar. Inside, the hearty filling had a nice hint of spice, though I think it could have used some more texture. It was a little too mushy for my liking.

Overall, a good classic bakery in the heart of Comox with not enough baked good options.

Rating: **1/2

Market Balkan

Bakery: Market Balkan European Bakery & Deli 
Address: 2881 Dufferin St, North York ON 
Website: facebook
Style: Balkan
Price: $$ 

Despite the absolutely enticing aroma of freshly baked bread upon entering Market Balkan, I'm not sure if the title of "bakery" could be used for my purposes and in that I was a bit disappointed; I'd really love to see more "European bakeries" that aren't delis, but legit bakeries with plenty of yummy baked goods and cakes to choose from. Yes, this European deli selling pan-Balkan, Hungarian and Eastern European products does make their own burek (savoury filo pastries) and lepinja (a sort of fat pita bread), but beyond that, it's... just a deli. Maybe that in itself is a bit unfair since they also offer a couple varieties of traditional cake slices, all set priced at $2.99 each.

With these cakes being the only sweet thing they sell, I grabbed a slice of the chocolate nut (hazelnut?) cake ($2.99). Coming out of this one a bit skeptical, I was surprised at how tasty this cake ended up being. Fresh-tasting with alternating layers of nutty cream, vanilla and chocolate cake with a slab of chocolate on top. A rich, decadent tort-like cake that was both flavourful and delicious. Sorry for having doubted the deli.

Rating: *** 

Maison Kayser [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Maison Kayser 
Address: 1 Chome−1, Abenosuji, Abeno-ku, Osaka 
Website: http://maisonkayser.co.jp
Style: French 
Price: $$-$$$ 

This booth inside Abeno Harukas is listed as closed, even before I got the chance to review it. Darn it. However, Maison Kayser's Japanese offshoot still has many locations, most of which are in and around Tokyo.

Completely bewildered by this department store floor of bakeries, patisseries and sweet shops, I wandered around at a loss, having no clue which one to pick. Normally, I'm more reluctant with these worldwide brands and Maison Kayser (operating as Eric Kayser in its hometown of Paris) is a big one with multiple locations around east Asia and New York. Really, that's not my thing at all, but as I stood there, recalling having attempted that aforementioned Eric Kayser and finding the location I picked closed for August holiday, I knew I would inevitably have to try something, even as the line grew and grew. That being said, it's clear that the two are not quite the same, though Maison Kayser, unlike many homegrown "French" bakeries, tends to keep things pure, traditional, and strictly French. They do also focus more on rustic breads than sweets, which are mostly limited to croissants and pains au chocolat. The addition of the French names was very appreciated and -- at last -- made deciphering everything so easy. ;)

I have a soft spot for "pain perdu" (bread pudding; 260 yen) and found its presence a bit unusual amid the more standard fare. Naturally, I had to try it. A nicely sized square with a textured top covered in powdered sugar, I found the rest of the cake lacking that typical chunky texture; even in the picture, it was very homogeneous: a dense, chewy dough that needed a bit of spice to make it more interesting and yeah, it really needed that special something. Was it worthy of exporting the Kayser name to another continent? Not so sure...

Rating: **1/2 

Footo Croissant

Bakery: Footo Croissant 
Address: 858 Hamilton St, Vancouver BC
Website: https://www.footocroissant.com/
Style: French, Croissants
Price: $$-$$$ 

There are sometimes bakeries you come across that specialize in one item; of course, this most often comes in the shape of a doughnut shop. A croissant shop, however, is a lot less common and yet this is precisely what Footo is: a croissant shop with a wee bit of Japanese flavour. They not only specialize in it, it's (almost) the only thing they bake. That doesn't mean you only have one option. On the contrary, just like a doughnut shop, they come in about half a dozen fixed flavours and are also the headlining feature of various sweet and savoury dishes. They're a bit pricey, but I guess that comes with the location.

I picked the almond croissant ($3.65 with tax), which was stuffed with almond cream and topped with homemade apricot jam and slivered almonds. If a croissant is all about the dough, then the croissant specialist should be first and foremost judged on its dough. Biting into it, it didn't have that distinctive crunch. Softer in texture, less flaky than traditional croissants, it also didn't have the delectable buttery taste that amazing croissants possess. The almond cream filling was tasty and decadent but I would have liked to taste more of that homemade apricot jam. Where exactly was it supposed to be? In short, quite good, but I felt like it needed some work.

Rating: **1/2