Brown Basket: you'll need more than a basket if you want to try it all

Area:  One block north of Marunouchi station, Exit 8 丸の内駅
Shop:  Brown Basket ブラウンバスケット
Website:   http://brownbasket.net/
Map: http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23032391/

Hours:  7:30am-7:30pm (3pm on Sat), Closed Sundays and Holidays



I've found a nice quiet place to be able to sit and enjoy a take-out lunch during my break, so I've been trying some take-out only places lately.  This time, it was a sandwich specialty shop.  Each half sized sandwich is anywhere from 170 yen to about 240 yen.  There are different types of bread such as brown bread (which I think is black sugar), sesame, plain white, etc.  it seems they make their bread in-store.  It's a great that they sell by the half size; it allows you to try a variety.

I tried the chicken and tomato sandwich (200 yen).  The chicken breast meat was not cooked with a lot of seasoning so the natural taste of chicken was the highlight.  The tomato was a first for me; I'm not sure how it was made but it seems the juices were taken out, and only the meat of the tomato was mashed into a fine purée.  The acidity that a tomato usually has was not there, and it had a mild sweetness to it.  The texture was mysteriously something like mashed potatoes.  Because of the mildness, it went well with the slight sweetness of the bread and the chicken's natural taste.  

The spinach sandwich (170 yen) had a ball of boiled spinach seasoned in a Japanese style (probably dashi was included).  There were tiny pieces of ume mixed into it, but was not sour or overpowering.  Sesame is often included in spinach ohidashi, so the sesame bread went well as the base for this sandwich.  

I don't know why they shape the fillings into a ball and then stuff their sandwiches leaving the outer edges just two layers of bread; perhaps it makes the sandwich look bigger, but it's also kind of difficult to eat when you bite into the filling and it oozes out because biting into it squishes it.  On the bright side, this does allow just the bread alone to be enjoyed in the last bites.  

I'm not used to seeing dessert sandwiches, sweet cream fillings between regular bread, but in Japan it seems to be normal.  I tried the maple sandwich (190 yen) which was whipped cream topped with shavings of white chocolate and I think the bread was drizzled with a few drops of maple syrup (the flavor of maple was barely evident).  I must say that this type of sandwich dessert is nice if you want something that is not too sweet.  The bread and pinch of salt added to the dough compliments the sweetness of the cream.  I can understand why this is a staple in convenience and grocery stores. 

I normally like my sandwiches with toasted bread, or with bread that's not so flimsy and holds up better, but the reason I'd come back here is for the huge variety of standard and non-standard flavors to choose from.