All Hail the Angel Soft!

20 May 2015

During my visit to South Korea in 2013, I discovered the Korean bakery Tous les Jours and their wonderfully amazing THE+ Milk Bread. But I think I found a new pastry to claim the title of Mark’s Favorite Baked Thing! How did this fortuitous discovery happen?

First, visit one of the 255 Vie de France cafés in Japan.

As you enter, bask in the wonderful aroma of baked goods… And pray to the Baked Good Gods that they have Angel Soft in stock.

Yes – you read right. ANGEL SOFT – APPLE & CHEESE CREAM!!! It is a wonderful baked good – some may call it a gift from God – that is heavenly soft bread filled with pieces of apple and cream cheese (or cheese cream). We are truly blessed to live in this day and age.

Grab a tray and tongs, and grab one or two or all of the Angel Softs. To balance your meal, you may want to pick one of Vie de France’s small sausage sandwiches. You’ll want to try all of them at some point, but don’t forget – the star of the show here is Angel Soft!

You gotta pay before you eat. If you’re a バカ がいじん (baka gaijin, idiot foreigner) like me, just grab all the coins you have in your hand and start slowly picking out coins. The friendly servers behind the counter will throw you a bone and help you out by showing you the right coins to give them. Now that’s service!

Sit down and bask in the glory of what’s in front of you. You obviously need to eat the sausage sandwich first because YOU ALWAYS SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST! You rush through the sausage sandwich because who has time for a sausage sandwich when Angel Soft is sitting there right in front of you, waiting to be enjoyed!? You finish the sandwich… And now it’s time. You bite into Angel Soft…

And what else did you expect? It’s perfect! おいしいです (oishīdesu, delicious)! The bread is soft. The cream cheese is there, but not overwhelming. It’s not scary American cream cheese, it’s Japanese cheese cream, in both amount and texture. A piece of an apple will appear here and there, teasing you to bite some more for maybe another piece of apple if you’re lucky. And then it’s over… And you feel like a million bucks for only 160 yen!

See you tomorrow, dearest Angel Soft. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I leave Japan.