Hi there
Donq Japanese Bakery will be officially opened on 24 April 2012, and today I visited their store to check out their soft launch of this bakery, the first in South East Asia Store. 🙂
The place is already jam packed with shoppers who was visiting the Japan Fair at Takashimaya. Donq which is founded in 1905 pride themselves in using traditional “Scratch” baking method to ensure high quality freshly baked bread. Extensive variety of French bread and Japanese bread which can satisfy your tastebuds.
Once I got in there, I felt like a little kid lost in a Japanese candy store, I was totally immersed in this bakery paradise at the corner of Takashimaya, which is just right at the corner outside Cold Storage supermarket.
I love to check out new concoctions of bread from different bakeries, and this store definitely didn’t disappoint a bit. Signs in both Japanese and English are placed on every bread tray, and I can tell you, 9 out of 10 are really interesting flavours which I have never tried before, talk about excitement! 🙂
I managed to find quite a few variety of breads on this soft launch and was already rubbing my hands in delight. Also, staff working there comprises of both Japanese and local workers and as I was counting, I was quite surprise by how many chef is at work, including staff there were a total of 13 staff! wow.
Just right at the back of this bakery, its a small baking counter with oven all set up to make out batches of delicious Japanese bread and pastries, the first thing that attracted me is how nice the tongs for the bread are, it is sharper and smaller which makes picking bread less of a challenge when you need to balance that plate of yours. 🙂
I always find difficulty when I picked up my choices of bread in other bread shop because they use the commercial large plastic one and it always make me nervous that I may drop of the bread too. Not here, with the use of these precise tools. 🙂
They sell all sorts of interesting looking bread and also cute bottle of olive oil, and I was really tempted to get each and every kind! Figuring out my family might not like the idea of having bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I finally settled for :
- Cinnamon Roll – $2.80
- 5 Shokumame Ring – $2.20 (5 beans bread ring)
- Spinach & Sausage – $2.80
- Tart Bresson Frui – $2.80 (Soft bun with mixed berries and custard)
- Chocolat Boule – $2 (Chocolate bun)
- Chocolenu – $2.80 (Chocolate crusted bread)
As the bread on average cost around $2 plus, it is although slightly pricier but the quality and the variety is there.
There are also many baguettes and delicious looking crusty loaf bread available.
As you can see even in this soft launch, the bread are clearing out so swiftly. 🙂
I also saw quite many Japanese queuing for the bread too, some are mothers with baby in tow and some are regular office worker. They also have a chiller where they showcase some of freshly made packed sandwich, looks oh so good indeed! 🙂
Their packaging is very French looking, yup especially with that small little French flag. 🙂
Now come the taste test. 🙂
Tart Bresson Frui ($2.80) which is a soft buns with very tart mixed berries and custard toppings is one of my favourite, the berries are really tart! But somehow in between bites, you enjoy that very real tartness which goes so well with the subtle sweetened custard, interesting yet lovely pairing.
Next is the Chocolenu ($2.80) which is a soft bread with melted chocolate chips enclosed plus a over the top chocolate crust on it. I find the bread was a little dry but the chocolate crust is so addictive, the sweetness and depth of the chocolate is being infused in every bite. Good for someone who likes chocolate but not necessarily sweet tooth. 🙂
Now for savory bread, I picked Spinach & Sausage ($2.80) which is their recommended items. They have generous toppings of chopped spinach and sausages bits in it. The bread was very soft and will taste really great after you popped it into the oven.
The other popular and recommended item is the 5 Shokumame Ring ($2.20) which is 5 beans bread ring. You can get half a ring or a full ring. And you can enjoy every bits of the beans while working through the soft bread that enveloped all the 5 essence of the beans.
And finally comes my son’s favourite Chocolate Boule ($2), a Chocolate bun which looks more like a squid ink bun because of how dark the bread is! haha… Jokes aside, the chocolate bun is very soft and with a full on chocolate taste in every bite, I gave a quarter to my son and he still wanted somemore, and I am talking about after his full dinner. 🙂
So do try it out and see just how good Japanese bakery is 🙂 I know I am definitely back for more and check out other varieties they have, especially the baguette. 🙂
BAKERY REVIEWS : DONQ JAPANESE BAKERY AT TAKASHIMAYA
Locations : 391 Orchard Road, #B2-03, Singapore
Happy Munching!
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Cheers,
Dawn