Japan: From Tarts To Buns

I like to have bread for breakfast. I grew up with white bread of traditional coffee shops. In France, I discovered many types of loaves: baguette, croissant and other types of bread, which contributed to my then chubbier cheeks. Now in Melaka, wholemeal bread, white toasts, "roti canai", etc. keep me energetic to climb up the stairs to the 13th floor at city campus.

In Japan, while I was enjoying the typical breakfast which consisted of rice, I still desired something made of wheat flour. One evening, we went to a bakery to buy bread for the next morning. After that, we entered the supermarket next to it. Inside was a bakery department which was promoting their buns with different fillings. I was so happy to help myself with the free samples that I temporarily put aside my habit to abstain from bread at night.

Later one day, Emi drove us to another bakery. It looked French from outside especially because of the terrace.

There was a nice display of a variety of bread.

Some buns with toppings looked like cute animal faces. Those ideas were most probably from Japanese creative brains.

While the French people liked to be served at a bakery, we Asians preferred self-service.

After tasting a few types, I loved the ones with bacon and chopped potatoes filling most.

The day before our return, we bought bread again for the next morning. It was a stall with the title "Vie de France" at the food court of Moriya railway station.

The best-seller there was also Emi's favorite: buns with apple and cream cheese filling. I also picked other buns with bacon and spinach filling.

While tasting those buns, the memory of the French cuisine, especially the tarts, returned to my mind. But in fact I had never seen similar buns in France. Finally, I realized that the Japanese had simply converted the French tarts with topping into buns with filling, using almost the same ingredients, to suit the Japanese teeth.

Back to Malaysia, I found bread with delicious fillings. However, I began to think of those buns in Japan.

Maybe after all, I miss bacon.