Le pain de Daniel — Restaurant in Fujikawaguchiko

Beautiful shop producing delicious French style pastries. Operated and supervised by a true French chef-David Paquet-who is head chef at the French restaurant in the Fuji Lake Hotel across the street. It is NOT in the hotel as mentioned on Google. Much more than just a pastry shop, they also have a market area of French items, pre-made, and made to order sandwiches, coffee, creamy desserts, small salads, and take-home dishes. A lovely atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating. For me, when traveling, bakeries of all kinds are my Kryptonite. Always look to enjoy one whenever possible. All items on offer during our visit looked spectacular-no photos unfortunately. Choosing was too difficult to purchase just one so we picked four-two for now and two for later. Lemon Cream Danish, Mandarin Orange Danish, Kouign Amann, and a slice of Chocolate Banana Bread.

All I can say is wow! The Banana Bread had perfect flavor (more chocolate would have been nice) and I loved it. All three pastries were so light and flaky I felt like we were on the Seine instead of Lake Kawaguchiko. Kouign Amann had the perfect balance of buttery pastry layers and sweetness with a slight almond flavor. Outstanding. The mandarin Danish was unlike any pastry I’ve ever had. Mandarin oranges are a big crop here and appear everywhere. They are so sweet and flavorful from this area. It really works perfectly with the French style of pastry. If you see it, try it. I am giving this establishment the highest recommendation and urge anyone visiting here to explore Mt Fuji seek them out for a great...

I have to confess that I don't know the name of what I ordered. I don't understand Japanese so all I did was point.

That said, the chocolate (croissant looking) bun with chocolate fillings was fabulous (I'm a chocolate lover). The bun was tough when I had it (it was riding with the wind) but I can imagine it's texture if I were to toast it.

The bun was crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. I imagined they might have used glutinous flour for this? The filings were not some chocolate fudge, or those cheapo chocolate-look-alike fluid stuffed into many imitation chocolate bun. This one has chunks of chocolate, real chocolate, in the bun. If I could just toast it, the bun would be a delight to chew on.

They had a new chocolate drink on the menu. I've also tasted something similar in Philippines (is it call choco-latte?) and in Spain (forgot what it's call). I can taste the flavours of the cocoa bean in this hot chocolate. Even if I can find this back home, it's going to be very very rare. In fact, it's rare in Kawaguchiko too.

Drop by if you're around the...

Nice French Bakery. Went there for Breakfast. Had Bagel an Croissant, as well as coffee Bagel and Croissant was good, not special. Although we ate inside, coffee was served in paper cup We ordered jam and butter for the breakfast (as they advertise in their flyer) .. none was available, the lady referred us to a whole jar of jam, … and no butter at all Strangely, through the open set up, we could look into the bakery and saw chunks of butter.. why they don’t wanted to sell a small piece for the Bagel remains a mystery. Also, we wanted some toast, which was not available, although we saw quite a lot in the bakery. Same story, why a bakery won’t sell their own made toast to a customer, remains their very own secret Overall, way overpriced and for a French bakery, very low level of service Two stars because the staff was very polite...