Pastry House Hippo

I’ve always loved this bakery and their products, but I was very disappointed with how my bread was handled today. My bread was bagged using a bag turned inside out. After my visit, I called and was told this is their standard practice—using the outside of the bag to pick up the bread. Because the outside of the bag had been sitting next to the register and touching surfaces, that same side ended up in contact with my bread. This is unsanitary and unacceptable from a food safety standpoint, and unfortunately I no longer feel comfortable eating their products.

Great bakery here! I’ve lived in Chicago for 27 years and tried many other bakeries around the area. In my honest opinion this is the best bakery in town as I’ve known this bakery for long enough. I was told by the staff that their bread and cakes are freshly made with quality ingredients and no preservatives, so safe for a kid. My little ones and friends of mine love this store too. Here is a picture that I bought today and are my favorites. Try not to get misled by the other reviewers, I’d just like to share my experience with somebody who has never been to this bakery. Just try this store because that’s the quickest way to understand what I mean here.

We tried two slices of cake and two pastries. The cakes were absolutely amazing — so light, fluffy, and delicious! We’ll definitely be coming back for more and can’t wait to try other flavors. The pastries looked beautiful, but we weren’t big fans of the filling — it had a pudding-like texture that just wasn’t to our taste. Still, that’s a personal preference, so I’m not taking off any stars for it!

A pretty decent Japanese Bakery! I think my favorite was their Baked Cheesecake, so fluffy and creamy at the same time! Their egg sandwich was very delicious as well, along with their apple-shaped apples and cream "Ringo-chan".

Pastry House Hippo is the highlight of every Mitsuwa shopping trip. Their pastries, breads and sandwiches are out of this world. The staff are always efficient and polite, no matter how busy they are.

super cute bakery with a ton of bread options & cake/other pastry options at the check out! area can get a little small/cramped when busy but they have it set up very nicely so its not too overwhelming. near the end of the day they discount some of the goods, the lady checking us out was also very nice!

This is seriously one of my favorite bakeries ever. I always get different pastries, one of each, to taste and I’ve never regretted anything so far. The breads are fluffy, it is not something that you can just buy somewhere. You can taste how specially it is made. We will definitely go back here every time we go to Mitsuwa. 💖

I've been visiting mitsuwa for some years now but it wasn't until very recently that I finally visited the bakery and wow, how could I?! The place is great, the pastries delicious, and the cakes are great if you want something light and not too sweet! Fast and courteous service too, no complaints

Absolutely love their pastries. The service is always friendly, and I always buy more than I should (but it's all delicious) and I recommend this bakery!

Within Mitsuwa market Pastry House Hippo serves up delicious Asian pastries and milk bread. My favorite is the apple filled and shaped pastry. With the various red bean pastries a close second. The milk bread is so good. There is always a short line on the weekends. Usually, I try to hit up the bakery before doing the rest of my shopping.

Super disappointed. Picked up the chocolate flourless cake aka Gateau Chocolat Classic. It was super dry and burnt at the bottom. In addition to that, it leaves a very weird after taste in the mouth- like artificial sugar was used. For $6.99 (with tax)- it was a waste of money. The place is pretty much self serve- you grab a tray and tongs and they bag everything when you get rung up. Cakes are behind the counter and you order when you get to the register. My interaction was very minimal- the cashier rung me up and I paid.

Fresh baked goods might be ok Premade cake n others in cooler are not good Bought shu cream puff, puff is VERY dry n hard, supposed to be soft n spongy, strawberry is not fresh, gross Ended up having a few bites n garbage it went, money wasted

I keep forgetting to write a full review of the Best breads and pastry! It's definitely worth the hour drive. I miss Japan and the treats here take me right back. I can't wait two months to come back for more, but it's an all day affair to make the drive down and hit up other markets in the area. I always regret not picking up more snacks to bring back, but after a few days it goes stale. Still yummy, but never as much as day one! My favorite are the pillowy yeast breads filled with chocolate pudding. If I could allow it, I'd eat ten. Also some baked apple bread with cooked apple slices is one to watch out for. Sooo good. I love the self-serve setup. Take a tray, grab some clean tongs and take whatever your heart and stomach desires. The cashiers are all very kind and move fast. They also package up delicate items safely, like those cake slices in the cool case that you didn't know you needed. I wish I lived closer!

Always a favorite to stop in here for the bear (custard filled) or panda (chocolate custard filled) buns! They're so cute, novel, and delicious! Other fun pastries: turtle, crab, coffee, and apple filled. The thick cut Japanese bread is a hit with my munchkins! I've yet to try the cake slices but I would like to, if my waistband didn't protest so much. Expect a line during peak weekend times!

This place was so hard to find! It's inside mitsuwa but in the grocery part, next to the sushi! The pastries are SO good. I got the coffee and cream bun and the smooth sweet red bean bun. Both sooo good. I also got a bun that had octopus in it and my husband got the egg salad sandwich, which was okay. We wouldn't get it again. Stick to the sweet stuff and I'm sure you'll love it!

Cute little bakery inside a super busy market! The pastries we got were so good!! If you're in the area be sure to check it out!

whenever i go to mitsuwa, this pastry shop is a must-stop. my favorite is the an donut, which is sugar coated and has red bean paste inside. i used to like the fruit custard cake back in the day but it doesn't taste as good when i tried it again a few days ago. the texture was a lot lighter before as well. the apple pie is tasty. my husband liked the doraeman. overall, a solid place to fulfill those pastry cravings!

If you're at Mitsuwa, make sure you stop by this cute pastry place that's inside the grocery store! Lots of delicious and fresh bread and pastries to choose from! Some of my favorites are their potato, curry, ham & cheese, red bean, cream, melon pan, fruit tart, corn, sugar twist and almond. They also have cute pastries that's shaped like animals / Doraemon that kids will love! I highly recommend trying a loaf of their freshly baked bread, aka Shokupan. This is nothing like the loaves of bread you find at American grocery stores. Probably one of the best white bread out there! Super soft and fluffy and definitely will not disappoint! Don't let the long lines during the weekends scare you. The line moves at a decent pace and employees there are friendly and nice.

The pricing varies on the different pastries, a slice of strawberry shortcake was $4.50. The Kame was $3.25 while the Madeleine was $1.95. I didn't get to try the cake slice but we split everything else and it was delicious! You can find this location inside Mitsuwa Marketplace, it's not big, but had a lot to pick from. The wait time was hardly nothing despite there being a line the whole time. It went quickly due to having plenty of friendly staff. If ever I'm this far North I will definitely stop by again.

Loved the cream buns, fruit tart, and strawberry cream cake. I did not love the banana pastry and apple cream pastry so much. The flavor was just not for me. The sweet potato doughnut was interesting, but also not something I would get again. Others may like these items. Cinnamon twist donut and fruit twist pastry were fine. Friendly service.

The Pastry House Hippo is literally hidden way in the back of Mitsuwa, by the One Piece/Pac Man Gaming area. You pick up a tray, paper, and tongs and then you can go in to the glass cabinets to pick out the baked goods. Although I am usually fine with self service, I did happen to see one lady just toss her selection with her hand back into cabinet - but I guess that's always going to be an inherent risk for these types of places. There was a really nice variety of breads with fillings, was very surprised to see that there was even Octopus for an option. Most of the breads ranged from $2 to $3. We were checked out really quickly and a plus was that it didn't force you to provide a tip. However the 3 star review was because for my cheese bun there was only a small piece of so it was 95% bread. The curry was just OK, but not something that we would especially make a point to buy again. Maybe the sweeter pastries are better - I'll still taste those and who knows, maybe I'll change my review!

We visit the Pastry House Hippo every time we go to Mitsuwa Marketplace. The quality of the sando / sandwiches has gone down a lot over the past couple years. For whatever reason, the egg sando is overloaded with pepper and is basically inedible unless you want a black/white pepper sandwich where you cannot even taste any egg. The ham sandwiches are soggy. We are sticking to the buns for now, but we are disappointed with the quality of the sandos lately.

Consistent & friendly. They have pastries, buns, loaves of bread, and refrigerated cake slices. I'm a big fan of everything except their cakes because they lack sweetness. Although Asian desserts are already much less sweet than American ones, the cakes here are even less sweet than Korean or Chinese bakeries, in my opinion. Also, I spoke with one of the workers about food allergies (specifically nuts and sesame), and she was took the time to answer my questions. I didn't see nuts in anything, and she said sesame is only present if it's obvious (ex. sesame seeds or sesame paste).

About a 1-1.5: Sorry, Pastry House Hippo - it's you, not me. This bakery nestled inside Mitsuwa has always been one of my pit stops during my Chicago visits. My go-to has always been the warm hot dog bread, the UFO, and the apple-shaped bread. Unfortunately, these items just do not taste the same - the hot dog bread, which I usually retriever from the warmer, has a sickly sour, off-putting odor to them; I also feel like it made me sick this time around. The UFO was deflated and didn't contain much of the yummy and creamy custard inside, but rather cold chunks of it. The breads just did not taste fresh, as they seemed more on the stale side, cold, and were like leftovers from days prior. Staff are friendly here, and they do keep the line moving. They also have seasonal items (such as the pumpkin breads during the fall). I love their hippo plush decor, which is always cute to check out while standing in line. +odorous hot dog bread +cold, stale, and unfilled breads +friendly staff +located inside Mitsuwa

Great Asian bakery with lots of dessert and breads to choose from. Small line but loves fast. Tucked in Mitsuwa market with lots of little restaurants you can order food from.

I think this place gets worse every time we visit. This time when we were there they had almost nothing out for purchase. The melon pan and other breads/treats we tried tasted like they were from the day prior. Very dried out; especially the chocolate melon pan bread. We even tried a chocolate cake slice and it was just disappointing. I can go down the street to IKEA and get a slice of chocolate cake much better. I was super disappointed this last time to say the last.

As far as finding staple Japanese pastries you'd imagine Japanese school girls and boys grow up eating, Hippo's got'em. They've got the yakisoba sandwich. They've got the curry croquette. They've got the melon bread. They even got the anpanman bun (sweet red bean paste filling inside a bun, shaped like the staple anime character, anpanman) I'm only just naming a few items the you wouldn't normally find in any other ethnic bakeries. Believe it or not, different Asian countries have very different baking styles and methods they incorporate, both traditionally and with foreign influences. So even as an Asian American, I don't always have the same pastry choices everywhere I go. Anyway, I'm usually not able to make it here early in the morning, which is usually when most bakeries will have their fresh baked goods lined up. I had a chance to be there right before lunchtime during my last visit, and I was very happy with the offerings. I think I got my daughter hooked on yakisobapan. Carbs in carbs... could be too much most days, but if it's delicious, zero calories!!! So some of my Asian friends say...

SO GOOD!!! But for the BEST selection - especially on the weekend - get there EARLY! Like when they open - because most of the fruit salad sando's are GONE!!!! And they are AMAZING! This time - we tried some various pastries including a corn mayo (NOT my favorite) and other red bean and melon pan w/raisin (my favorite!) They range from around $2.40 - $4.50 each depending on size and what's inside. These are the pastries. This is inside the Mitsuwa shopping center. It's in the grocery store section next to the coolers...not in the food court.

Excellent bakery, have been going here since I was a child. Quality is always the best! Delicious baked goods and their cakes look / taste amazing. Never disappointed with Pastry House!

Best pastries around!! My favs are the onion roll and the chocolate cream ones. We also always get the crustless bread. I've even gotten my daughter into loving the turtles. We also get the bun with the hot dog inside and a few others. I will say it does get crowded but it's goes relatively fast. And there are trays with tongs to grab the pastries yourself. The staff are super friendly and helpful and inside is cute with cute decor. Also get the tiramsu! Def would recommend to anybody and will always keep coming myself.

I absolutely love this place. Wonderful variety of delicious pastries and breads (some in cute shapes)! Azuki choux is my favorite dessert ever. The apple pastry is a close second. Also love the Japanese fruit sando. Wish it was easier to order things from the pastry case.

the bakery i always go to when i visit chicago since i was younger! it's always just as good whenever i go. their pastries and bread are so fluffy and flavorful and SUPER cute. it's so nostalgic for me.

Very popular little bakery hidden inside Mitsuwa. There are always long lines here - lines on weekdays lines and weekends. Understandably so, when you see the ride variety of savory and sweet pastries they have. Everything is quite tasty and attractive. In particular the steamed buns and cased in a special warm steamy stand by themselves. There are the vegetarian buns and the pork buns both are delicious.

Pastry House Hippo is the best bakery in Chicagoland! Quality goods at a great price. I have never been disappointed and am amazed at their consistency! Employees are very friendly and practice excellent safety precautions during my visit. The pastries taste authentic Japanese and the cost is about the same as Panera Bread. The bread tastes fresh and offers discounts for day-old bread! Fantastic bakery to get some great selections for breakfast and brunch. This will be a place I take family and friends for years to come. Everything I've ever had from here has been delicious! I recommend the choco crab and any of the fruit custards. As cute as they are tasty. Thank you!

Due to my preschooler having food allergies, we have to be very careful when going to any pastry bakeries. We are well aware that most ingredients contain eggs and there's probably cross contamination with peanuts and tree nuts. I give them 5 stars for having their ingredient list posted on wall that makes it so easy for shopping. Typically at other places, we'd have to ask an employee and they look up in a binder and tell us whether it contains xyz or not so we have to choose from a few because we feel bad for them having to look through so many. However, with this ingredient list posted, we were able to easily point out which ingredients contain eggs or not, so for that, thank you Pastry House! Your shoku pan is amazing. I haven't tried your Danish bread but my friend tells me that it's amazing. Can't wait to return to hopefully catch one one day. It sells out fast & it's limited to 3 per person.

Delicioso. Everything was fresh and super yummy . Cashier is very friendly. Great job.

Although I didn't have a pic but there limited danish bread is legit!!! Goes so well with butter and toasted!

I enjoy their custard buns very good. The yakisoba dogs are also tasty. The pastry house is located inside of Mitsua grocery store.

My fiancé and I were in Chicago for my friend's wedding shower and we stopped by Mitsuwa, a Japanese market, and came across Pastry House Hippo inside! I've never had authentic Japanese pastries before, since Cleveland only has the Chinese variety that everyone is familiar with. I was excited to check it out! A lot of pastries, buns and cakes appeared to be very similar to the Chinese variety. You start off by picking up a tray and a pair of tongs, load it up with whatever you chose from the displays and then pay at the end. The buns are self serve, but you have to ask for assistance with the cakes since they're more delicate. They were quite busy on a Sunday, so you know the baked goods were fresh. The bakery staff kept bringing out new trays of goods as people snatched them up! We were both very full since we had just had a ramen lunch at Misoya down the road, but I picked up a tray and chose a good variety of buns to take home to my parents. I tried a few of them when we got to my parents' and they were light and delicious! My parents seemed to enjoy them as well. The red bean buns were excellent and there was one shaped like an apple with a pretzel stick as the stem. Fancy! The cakes looked so good, so I'll have to give them a try next time I'm in Chitown. Prices were maybe a tad bit higher that what I'm used to seeing for Chinese pastries back home, but all the buns were easily under $2 a piece. The girls and guys working the counter were super friendly and made checkout a breeze! Definitely check out the Hippo if you're in town!

Great Japanese bakery with fresh, quality products. We've actually been here scores of times over the years but I never bothered Yelp reviewing.   We often pick up bread loaves here as well as cute and fanciful pastries (like the apple, turtle, kitty kat, or panda bear shaped ones) particularly if we have one of the kiddos in tow.  Bread loaves are discounted at the end of their business day if not otherwise sold.

Whenever I visit my parents we go to Mitsuwa. One of our first stops inside Mitsuwa is Pastry House Hippo because we have to make sure our favorites aren't sold out. I love the pandas which are filled with chocolate cream. They also have delicious steamed buns. I think they're only sold on the week-end. We've been trying one new thing each visit and have loved everything.

The Pastry House Hippos has many options for delicious desserts and baked goods. You have to wait in line to really look at what you want. They have the desert pastry display up front. This includes their cakes. Therefore, you may feel a little rushed to pick what you want. However, if you want some of their breads or buns, you can look and pick them up as you wait in line which is nice. I ordered two cakes. One was the strawberry mousse cake and the other was the matcha mousse cake. I really loved the flavors of both. They weren't overly sweet. The cake part was a little stale; however, they were probably sitting out awhile and we came in the afternoon. I have tried their bbq steamed buns. They are absolutely delicious. The pork is filled with flavor.

Offers wonderful array of European desserts and Japanese bake goods. Reasonably priced and friendly service.

Takes me right back to university life in Japan, where a farmer and a baker would visit our dorms every Monday afternoon. Just past the rows of lush greens and colorful fruits lined up in the parking lot, you'd find tables of golden pastries at the entrance to the dorm lobby. Savory offerings of crisp-fried potato croquettes and curry-pan along with a plethora of sweet treats of all sorts. Flaky fruit tarts, intricate French cakes, creamy mousses and puddings. My favorites were always the pillowy milk buns filled with all manners of jams and creams, chocolate cream being an obvious campus favorite. The trays of whimsical choco-cones (or chocolate cornets) never lasted long. I imagine they still don't every Monday afternoon in a certain Japanese university dorm lobby. No surprise that it would be a table of milk buns taking center-stage in front of the entrance, then, that would direct my attention towards the charming little bakery. Nor that choco-cones were present and disappearing fast. Though it likely helped that they were running a special as well. My guy and I grabbed a sanshoku pan (a triple bun) and a choco-cone. A triple bun consists of three buns filled with azuki red bean paste, custard cream, and chocolate cream. A great introduction to Japan's most common and popular treats if you're an uninitiated Irishman, or if you simply can't decide which you'd like to dedicate your taste buds to. The choco-cone was for memory's sake, and for the sheer fun that is a choco-cone. Both treats were delightful, though both milk buns were definitely on the dry side, as could even be seen in photos. They did have the lovely mild sweetness that milk buns carry, though. The azuki was dense and not too sweet. The custard had soaked into the milk bun, which we found amusing. It tasted nice and light, which was lovely and unexpected for a custard. We did have to fish for the chocolate cream in the triple bun - it took two bites to find the hiding nugget. Still good, just could have been filled a bit more evenly. A lovely reminder of lovely memories, and a lovely medley of treats to share.

I told the boyfriend I only wanted one main thing for my bday. An Asian birthday cake. If you haven't had one before, i would highly recommend going to any Asian bakery and ordering yourself a cake just to try it. It's okay, you deserve a cake. Asian cakes are a lot less sweet than your traditional cake and is usually made with a light sponge cake. Also, the toppings is usually some kind of fruit with a whipped cream kind of frosting versus the heavier frosting. In fact, I was sad when I first saw my cake with the chocolate heart on it and not the traditional circular pattern of fruit until I was told to lift it. Yes, I like chocolate too, but not on an Asian cake. I chucked the chocolate disk to the side of the box and stared at the pretty pretty fruit-filled cake for a good minute or two. Oh, how it glistened. Five shiny stars because it was everything that I was wanting and so much more. I'm not sure of the price, but it was the perfect size for two people. And by two people I mean, he got one slice and I got the remaining four. Score! Also, as another edible bonus, I was given some random pastries that the store sells including two of the cheese puffs (like Fogo de Chao), octopus bun, red bean and a green tea-looking bun. Even after being in the fridge for a few days it was still good. Good job Hippo House!

I have eaten at quite a few bakeries in my time and my favorite was probably Let Them Eat Cake. Trying to find an equivalent to their tripple fudge cake and their caramel nut brownies is still an impossible task for me, but at this point my taste buds probably betray the memory of it I decided I to settle at Pierre's Bakery as an alternative for the post part since then. Until I found this diamond of a place that is. It is very difficult for me to say unequivocally that somewhere is the best place I have eaten, but when it comes to bakeries I have to give it to this place and say it is the absolute best and I have tried just about every slice they offer only to be pleasantly surprised by the result. So far my favorites are the Chocolate cake, green tea cake, cheese cake, and the crepes. I still have a couple more slices to try if I can peel myself away from the chocolate and the green tea cake every single time I go! I couldn't recommend this place enough enjoy!

Whenever we shop at Mistuwa, we have to stop by Pastry House Hippo! This little bakery can be difficult to find because it is located inside the supermarket section of Mitsuwa rather than the food court section of the store. My favorite thing to buy is the cranberry bread, followed by the shokupan - both are staples in my opinion. You can buy the shokupan in thin, thick, or regular slices as well as without the crust. Pastry House Hippo also has a large assortment of yummy pastries including red bean buns, chocolate croissants, and hot dog buns. They also sell cakes as a whole or by the slice. Through the years I have tried the green tea cake, strawberry mousse, and chocolate cakes, and all have exceeded my expectations. And at $3-4 per slice, it is much cheaper than Lady M (located on the other end of Mitsuwa). If you happen to be shopping later in the evening, they occasionally will have specials around 7:30 PM and you can get pastries for less than $1!

I wish I live closer to this place. Croissant bread is heaven...followed closely by the Japanese milk bread. I always get the coffee cream bun. I Love that all their desserts are not overly sweet and the frosting is light as air. I wish they had a chicago location. But for now I'll gladly suffer being stuck in traffic if it means I get to eat their pastries.

i love this place in all its whimsy and uniquity. fresh and delicious pastries of all types.

The Japanese does not do anything half heartedly and they take their breads and desserts seriously too. Love the quality and variety of breads here. They feel soft, taste great and looks awesome. They have a wide selection of cakes as well so a great option for birthday cakes. There is another upside to their bread and cakes, besides looking fabulous, they are light and balanced in sweetness and cream. So you can rest better knitting that you are getting the best of the sweeties without too much sweeties ;-)

THIS PLACE IS SO CUTE. Located in the grocery area of Mitsuwa it immediately caught my eye and sense of smell. If you love pastries you have to go in and look around. Their pastries look so beautiful and delicate. I tried a couple things and they were all delicious. I can't wait to come back and try the other items they have to offer!

I was so happy to see this place is still here. I remember going here as a kid, and it's just how I remember it. It's located within the grocery store section of Mitsuwa Market, in its own little bakery nook. Be warned that you must pay for any pastries IN the bakery, you do not pay for them at the main check out counter with the rest of your groceries. It's also worth noting that it's cash only. There's a ton of variety here. There's bakery cases filled with both sweet and savory buns. There's shelves stocked with cookies and breads. There's a refrigerated section full of sandwiches and beverages, and a warm section full of more lunch-y items. Near the cash register, there's two refrigerated bakery counters filled with all sorts of fancy cakes, tarts, and mousses. I selected four different buns and a sandwich to sample. The first was an Apple Bun, which is shaped like an apple with a sweet dough "leaf" and a pretzel stick "stem" on top. The bun is sweet, similar to a Hawaiian roll. Inside, there's a layer of vanilla custard underneath a layer of diced apples. It tastes like an apple pie filling, and it's delicious. The pretzel gets a little mushy in the to-go bag though, just a warning. The next one that I tried was a Panda bun, which is a chocolate roll adorably made to look like a panda. The dough itself is chocolate and is sweet, but just a touch. The inside is filled with a chocolate custard similar in texture and flavor to chocolate pudding. It was my favorite of the four. I also got buns that were further on the "savory" end of the bakery spectrum. One of them is a simple round bun that's is a color similar to matcha. It's a Japanese Spice Bun. I got it because in parenthesis it said (mugwort). I'm familiar with that word for scent purposes, but not as food, so I was intrigued. I'm not a fan, though. It's salty with a seaweed taste, which isn't at all what I was expecting. I also got a Takoyaki, a bun filled with octopus. This one was much better. The octopus was well cooked and tender, and the rest of the filling had a nice citrusy-ginger flavor. All of these four buns were around the $2-3 range. I also got one of their sandwiches, which come pre-packaged in the fridge section. The one I got? Fruit sandwich. It was so pretty that I couldn't resist. It's white bread with peach, pear, kiwi, and strawberries on it, as well as a white filling that to me tasted like old-fashioned whipped cream. The kind that's not super sugary and leaves that little grease feel in your mouth. I can honestly say I've never had a fruit sandwich like that before, but I'll be damned if it wasn't delicious. It's definitely worth visiting Mitsuwa for this little pastry gem alone, just be sure to bring cash.

Nice Japanese bakery with a good selection of bread and cakes. In particular, the breads filled with red bean or the cream one are the best. Good price too. I did not try the cakes, but was told they are of better quality compared to other local cake stores.

Located inside Mitsuwa, this pastry store has been around even before Yaohan (name before Mitsuwa) opened up (I just cannot remember their old location. Was it next to Kanpai on Oakton & Elmhurt?) Anyways, Hippo expanded their size within Mitsuwa by having the entrance inside the store, instead of at the food court. They have good shoku-pan (Japanese style loaf of bread) along with creative pastries. As for their cakes, there used to be an old debate about whether Monbranc (just down the street) or Hippo has better cake. Hippo used to lose out on this debate, but some how, Hippo kept enhancing their quality. Now, they are at the same level, or perhaps better than, Monblanc. Try their Anko-shucream. It gets very messy eating it, but it's great. I would stay away from their cheese cake, which lacks taste. Chocolat is pretty good, too. p.s. Ex-Japanese TV star, Hatsuki Reona, used to work here when she lived in Palatine. Well, she worked at many places, this being one of them. I wonder if she remembers me...

Everything made here is perfect, soft and delectable. I come here for red bean paste cakes, apple pie and the chocolate pastries. We also get a sliced loaf every time because they are great for French toast!

Pastry House Hippo is suuuuuuch a nostalgia factory for me. I remember coming here years ago on Saturdays after Korean school and picking out delicious Japanese pastries and baked goods for the following week. It's so good to see them still around, baking wonderful goodies after all these years. Every time I come back to Chicago, I try to stop by. This latest trip back, I came every single morning I was in town LOL. My favorite things are the potato croquettes, curry pan, custard breads, and the thick cut Japanese white bread loaves. Those are perfect for sandwiches. Give it a try! It's worth the trek out to the suburbs.

I really enjoyed the huge variety and unique pastries from here! I tried a little of everything and I overall enjoyed them all, with some more aligned with my tastes preferences than others. My favorites were actually the more savory breads like the hot dog, spam cheese bread, and ham roll. They were all incredibly flavorful and tasty. All the bread items were incredibly soft, moist, and fluffy. You could tell it was very high quality, well made bread. The hokuo pan is huge but you'll definitely be able to finish it because of how sweet and soft it is. The items I was less fond of were the cakes as the flavors were very subtle. The Mille crepe cake was fresh with nice fruit layers but it was very chewy and lacked any other taste aside from the fruit. The sesame pudding was my least favorite item as it tasted strange to me. The Mont Blanc had a dry cake and subtle icing but the Tiramisu was perfectly soft and flavorful. I think there's something for everyone here, especially their bread items as they sure do know how to make good bread.