Andersen: a grown-up bakery

Area: Nagoya station underground shopping area (basement level of the Meitetsu department store) 名鉄百貨店
Store:  Andersen  アンデルセン
Website and map:  http://www.andersen.co.jp/shop/shop-3542.html

Hours:  8am-8pm


There is no place to sit at this bakery, but I thought some of the items were different than regular Japanese bakeries, so I bought some bread and found a table to sit at elsewhere.

First, I wanted to try the muesli roll (¥180).  It had a crispy outer layer that was rolled in lots of pumpkin and sesame seeds.  The inside was soft and dense, the way a baguette should be, and was sweetened with the presence of raisins.  There was also the surprise of walnuts hiding inside.  Very nice texture with subtly flavored whole wheat dough.  

It's rare to find blue cheese or at least the pungent kind in Japan, but the one at this bakery was ridden with blue mould that made it look so tasty!  It was also the perfect personal size (¥180).  Upon opening, the smell of blue cheese immediately hit my nose and I knew I was going to enjoy this one.  It was ever so slightly sour, but the strong blue cheese flavour made up for that.  I know that blue cheese is supposed to be mouldy, but there were some bits of white mould growing on one side of the block; not so sure if that's a good thing.

The other product that caught my eye was the mochi bread (using glutinous rice four, I assume) butter and red bean paste French toast (¥180).  To me, it was not reminiscent of French toast at all but maybe that's because it was cold.  The egg flavor just wasn't there and it was not very sweet or buttery as I imagined it would be.  It might be a good idea, but when sitting out and cooled down, it becomes a bit of a let down.

Conclusion...I would come back for the baguette items, and the personal-size cheese.