Naturally a queue in Japan must be for something good.  On our final Sunday in Tokyo we had cycled from our hotel past the Imperial Palace and towards the area around the Tokyo Train Station.  We had read previously of a baker who imported French butter and created amazing pastries…  so we thought we should try them!

We managed to locate the shop (it had only just opened), and naturally a queue had formed outside so we joined.

There was much anticipation standing being in the queue, as you could see inside the shop and the piles of delicate crossiants slowly decreasing. We had read each person is only able to purchase 6 crossiaints each – given our position in the queue we were hopeful. White waiting outside a sign was suddenly put on the door – butter was sold out. Weph. We slowly edged closer to the front as other people emerged from the shop with their large blue Echire shopping bags, then we were allowed to join the queue inside. being inside had a couple of advantages, as we could see what was available, so we could decide before we got to the head of the queue. The second advantage was the strong smell of butter – ah devine.

Here are a few photos from the display inside the shop –

We had decided to purchase 2 croissants, 1 pain du chocolate, and an chausson aux pomme, and a tin of biscuits to take back home.  One we were outside we sat in the near by square and took the following photos:

the Croissant

… If you are wondering about the taste – they were fabulous.  The taste of the croissant was great, the pastry wasn’t too flaky but you could really taste the butter.  The pain du chocolat was warm, and the combination of the pastry and the chocolate was perfect.  Ah… Worth the wait!