Saint German Tendress: Needs a bit of a coffee renewal (updated blog)

Area: Midland Square B1 (building across the street from the Meitestu department store at Nagoya Station
Restaurant: Saint German Tendresse サンジェルマンテンドレス
Website:  http://www.saint-germain.co.jp/brand/tendresse/

Despite the French name, this bakery seems to sell a lot of the typical Japanese bakery fare (at a slightly higher price.  Until 2pm, they have a lunch menu such as soup with a basket of various bread, a bread and dip set, or a sandwich and salad set (all for around 1000円 each, including drink).

The BLT set came with a good-sized salad, pickled veggies and plain yogurt topped with strawberry jam.  Being a bakery, the ever so slightly toasted bread had a good density and is perfect for this sandwich.  The thickly cut bacon was delicious and is what made this sandwich a joy to gobble down.

I'm just not so sure about the coffee though.  Yes, it comes in a large mug, but somehow doesn't taste fresh at all.  For a store that sells lots of sweet baked items, I'd like to see this bakery sell better coffee to enjoy them with.

This bakery's lunches often sell out before lunch hours are over, so I took the opportunity during an early lunch break to come here.  I ordered the dip set (¥1020) which includes a drink, salad, 3 different types of dips and a variety of bread.  The salad was a colorful array of lettuce, red and yellow peppers, and red onion.  Its dressing was merely olive oil and a sprinkling of dry basil, which I found acted as a nice 4th dip in the end as well!

One dip was a ratatouille (zucchini, onion, tomato, eggplant, carrots).  This one could be enjoyed on it's own like a veggie tomato-based stew. it was a bit on the sweeter side, probably from the natural sugars if the softened veggies.  The orange colored dip was a tomato cream cheese.  I usually am not a fan of cream cheese but this one was light, almost as if whipped, and it only had a slight sourness to it.  The pineapple and coconut dip was my favorite of the three; it was also light and fluffy and the sweetness was just right.  

The variety of bread was also enjoyable.  One was probably made from rice flour; when eaten while still warm, it had such a delightful softness and chewiness to it.  The baguette was a little too crispy, but the sliced regular loaf was moist and had a nice bounciness to the dough.  The corn bread was also moist (not corn flour but white bread that has corn kernels dispersed throughout), but I didn't see the point of the corn, as it added no flavor.  The walnut and raisin bread was a bit different in that it also contained orange peel.  This one went well with the pineapple and coconut cream cheese.  For the amount of dip given, this set could have used more bread.  The loaf bread would've held up to the dips a bit more if it was slightly toasted.  

This bakery is busy and bustling, so despite the soft French instrumental music playing, it's a difficult environment to relax in.  And yes, the coffee was just as un-enjoyable as the first time around.