I first heard about Japonaise over 5 years ago, so when we were stuck in a long line for Kyo Matcha and saw Japonaise next door, it felt like fate. I hopped on over and checked out their offerings. They have a display shelf of all of the non-refrigerated pastries so that you can peruse them before ordering. They also have day old pastries and bread sold at a discount, as well as shokupan loaves. There were so many cute and interesting pastries -- so hard to choose! I ended up choosing 4 items to bring back home, which we ate later that evening.

I got the shio butter roll ($2.50). It was very light and fluffy, with a slightly buttery inside, mild sweetness, and some salt crystals on the top. This was quite simple and good.

We also tried the chikuwa pan ($4.75), which has a cylindrical fish cake running lengthwise, stuffed with tuna, wrapped in Kewpie mayo, all inside of a soft bun (similar to the shio butter roll). It was quite the interesting pastry -- certainly unlike anything I've tried before. I probably wouldn't get this again, but I'm glad I tried it!

We got the kinoko cream ($5.00), which is a puff pastry with mushrooms and cheese. I really liked the mushrooms and crispy cheese on this pastry, though I don't think the pastry itself was that flaky/good. It's possible that it would taste much better heated/crisped up in an oven, though!

Finally, we got the black sesame melon pan ($3.95). The black sesame cookie topping was indeed pretty crunchy, while the bread was similar to the other breads we had tried -- light and fluffy. Since the topping and bread were not very sweet, I found myself wanting a filling. I think melon pan is usually more sweet/has more topping.

Overall I enjoyed trying the unique flavor combinations at Japonaise, and everything that I tried was good. If I came back, I would want to try one of their custard cream filled pastries -- I felt like the breads that I tried were quite plain and could use more flavor/texture contrast.