La Boulangerie Riche — Restaurant in Niigata

Visited on Sunday morning near opening time, and there were a few people, but it wasn’t extremely busy. The lay out of the store is simple, but I can imagine the slightly narrow aisles among the bread offerings could be cramped when the store becomes busier. Tried the banana bread, but it wasn’t too my liking. I enjoy banana mashed into the batter and baked into the bread rather than a whole banana baked right into the middle of the bread, but the flavor of the loaf overall was good. I went in search of bagels, and bought a blueberry and a plain, and after eating them, they were more of what I’ve come to expect from most Japanese bakeries, circular bread. They taste fine, but they lack the sinewy texture that I got used to eating them in America. The Japanese palate may just be different. The variety of breads and sandwiches was varied, and the pistachio and raspberry croissants looked flaky and delicious, but this bakery also does this odd thing of not putting out all of their baked goods before opening. Most of what’s on offer is out, but then a staff member methodically delivers a few more croissants or other baked goods throughout the morning. The staff overall didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the running of the store which was a bit of a departure from the stellar customer service that I’m used to. I may try a few different breads, but based on my experience and the bread’s just above average quality, I’ll most likely stay in my local area for...

I’m French, been in Japan for over 3 months now including a month in Tokyo, and I miss French viennoiseries so much. Even Tokyo’s French district has nothing that comes close to this place. Just have the plain croissant. It’s better than 99% of the croissants you’ll have in France. Really. I almost cried while eating it. Yes it’s expensive, but really worth it. I also had a fig kouign Amman (wasn’t a kouign Amman at all, could barely taste butter so skip that one), and 2 sandwiches. Skip the baguette sandwiches, the bread isn’t good and there’s barely any butter on them. I’d love to go back and try the pain...

This is one of the best bread shops I have ever been too. I was surprised with the vast amount of baked goods they had that were so appetizing. The first time I bought 12 types of bread in just one go and I was very satisfied. The sandwiches were pretty good. I especially like the panini sandwich! The croissant was surprisingly delicious with the pistachio cream on the center. This was the first time I enjoyed eating a croissant. The bagel was perfect! This is definitely a must try and would definitely...