Eric G.
Yelp
This is a French dessert pastry shop with a Japanese tilt to it. They also have a few savory items such as quiches (with vegetarian options extremely limited, unfortunately), and although their focaccia for their sandwiches is house made, it is not a bread and croissant bakery. The Japanese tilt comes from items flavored with yuzu, matcha, red bean paste, kabocha, black sesame seeds and other accents. It appears to be run entirely by Japanese people. It is simply a divine combination, with the execution fully on the level of the idea.
Some upscale grocery stores, such as certain PCC locations, carry a few of their items that will survive unrefrigerated for several days or even weeks. But for the real French pastry style items, you owe it to yourself to visit the retail café in person. And don't just rely on the website other than to get an idea of what kinds of things they offer. It isn't kept fully up to date, so you may be in for delightful undisclosed surprises.
What can I say other than repeat the word "divine"? It totally describes the taste, flavor balance, texture and appearance of their products, and the Japanese elements blend in completely harmoniously. Such imagination! (I'll have to admit that while I like matcha tea, I'm not in on the craze for matcha flavored edibles, so I'll have to leave it to others to judge those.) This is not merely quality baking. It is refined culinary artistry. Add in friendly service, and you can see where the five stars come from. We did not try any of the drinks and so cannot pass on those.
This is hands down my favorite pastry shop in the Seattle area and far outclasses the others, in my opinion. We went in mid-morning on a holiday weekend and found the ambiance pleasantly laid back, without any of the elbow-bashing crowds and lines going all the way around the block that other such establishments are infamous for. The seating area is limited, and although they do have a couple tables for seasonal outdoor seating, the street scene is nothing exceptionally pleasant, so the sit-down café element isn't the place's real draw. We recommend taking out and eating at home, which is what we did.
Two caveats: One, as some other reviewers have pointed out, you need to understand what French dessert pastry is and be into it to appreciate the place's offerings. Don't expect the aggressively sweet, gooey items that many Americans love or you will be disappointed. And two, for the sake of both your waistline and your pocketbook, you will want to indulge in the place as an occasional treat rather than as a steady diet. Fair warning.
And if you are beguiled by the notion of Franco-Asiatic pastry shops, you might want to check out the 2008 movie "Antique," a Koreanized cinematic adaptation of a Japanese comic series centered around a pastry shop. It's a little fast paced and hard to follow if you're not familiar with the story line of the manga, but the real stars are - well, the pastries, along with the gorgeous actors who obviously are extremely careful about how many of these pastries they consume in real life.
Most enthusiastically recommended!
