Node 43° Bakery & Pastry (Sapporo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, are known to have some of the most fascinating desserts in all of Asia. You are almost guaranteed to find a pâtisserie or bakery store on every street corner courtesy of a promising local pâtissier or a world famous pastry chef.

But unlike those cities, Sapporo does not possess the same number of high-end pâtisseries. You will still find your fair share of pastry shops on the streets but definitely not from the same big-name players or household names in the market.

Although our online research came up empty, we decided to take matters into our own hands and find out more about the pâtisseries in Sapporo.

The first patisserie we found noteworthy was a small bakery shop located inside the famed Sapporo Grand Hotel, called Node 43° Bakery and Pastry.

On the ground floor of the Sapporo Grand Hotel, we would find a bistro style cafe Node 43° Brasserie. According to various sources, this cafe serves a dessert buffet during the afternoon and was quite popular among the locals.



Directly across from the Node 43° Brasserie, right next to a Starbucks, there it was - the little pastry store - Node 43° Bakery & Pastry.



There was not a great deal of variety here. Most of the cakes on display were predominantly cream cakes.



At the end of the day, we all fell for appearance. In this case, it was their "Tomato Fromage" that stole my heart.



Based on what our server has told us, it was a "re-make" of an award-winning cake called Tomato Fromage, that captured the grand prize in the 2012 Sapporo Sweets Grand Prix. 

Grand Prix for pastries you asked? Yes. Turned out this was an annual event (started back in 2006) where the city's best pâtissiers gathered to compete against each other based on originality, creativity and of course taste.

While the 2012 award-winning version of Tomato Fromage (Link) was a cheesecake made in the shape of a tomato, this latest version seen at Node 43° was slightly different. It was a custard cream tart base with light cheese cream and tomato compote.



Too bad apart from the Tomato Fromage, there wasn't much to get excited about.


Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Sapporo Grand Hotel G/F, Nishi 4-chome 1-jo Kita Chuo-ku Sapporo, Hokkaido
Closest Metro Station: Odori

Website: www.grand1934.com/english/restaurant/#rest04

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