pain･maison Sumida Asakusa Dori Street — Restaurant in Tokyo

Picture this: I’m a tourist in Tokyo, coming back from the Skytree. I am parched and desperately want a drink of water from a nearby vending machine. I make my way through an unfamiliar area and do a double take when I spot a line in front of this bakery. Without a second thought, I got in line myself. This was one of the best choices I have ever made and was, by far, the highlight of my trip in Japan. Over the course of the week, I ate shio pan, baked sweet potato shio pan, melon shio pan, and a shio pan sandwich. The shio pan was salty, buttery perfection. The baked sweet potato shio pan was flaky and filled with a delicious smooth filling that I originally mistook for marzipan. The melon shio pan was crispy, sweet, and exponentially better than any scone I have ever tasted. Pain Maison is the best bakery I have been to in my life. Sadly, I may never have the chance to go back...

This place should be considered illegal for selling cholesterol as bread. Firstly, dough for bread should ferment for 12 – 24 hours, while their bread is obviously fermented for less than 2 hours. Secondly, they add so much butter that you cannot tell it is bread. Thirdly, they have the audacity to add, to this already too buttered bread, a stick of butter with anko and sell it to customers, thus not caring for our health. I bought the one with egg and ham, the ham was not tasty and the egg spilled out. They didn't provide me with paper so I couldn't clean my hands. I am not sure why this place is popular, maybe because it's cheap due to cheap...

As we were heading to the Skytree, we passed a bakery and were instantly drawn to the aroma of freshly baked bread. The smell was irresistible that we had to turn back to find out what it was. Saw a line up of people and knew we had to try it. Pain Maison specializes in salted bread. We tried the regular salted bread and the melon pan salted bread. It was AMAZING. Just the right amount of salt, paired with the softness of the bread. We are it at the little counter table that they had inside the store and watched the never ending line of people waiting to buy their buns. We had to get a few more. If you're in the area, be sure to...