CHAMI (Nara, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

We’re officially kicking off our summer holidays in the Kansai region this afternoon! With little nugget and our parents joining the tour, it’s shaping up to be an exciting family affair. Needless to say, everyone has been eagerly looking forward to this very special annual event.

We got off to a fast start upon arriving in Osaka. After picking up our rental van, we hit the road straight away, heading to our very first destination — Nara (奈良).

Speaking of Nara, most of us (at least five out of the six of us) should be familiar with the place as we have just completed a quick tour of the city last December. This time around, we are staying a little longer.

After parking our car at a multi-storey arcade near Kintetsu Nara Station (近鉄奈良駅), we took a relaxing stroll down Konishi Sakura-dori Shopping Street. While some of us popped into a supermarket nearby to stock up on supplies for the next few days, I had something else in mind.

Just off busy Sanjo-dori Street, CHAMI is a a specialty coffee roaster renowned for its rich, flavorful brews. Their signature blends often feature distinctive floral notes, with a sweet and tangy finish that lingers on the palate.

But I'm here for their desserts as they also carry one of the most impressive array of bakery goods and desserts in Nara, including their croissants, cheesecakes, cherry pies, cream puffs, Japanese puddings and more. Unfortunately, I arrived just 30 minutes before closing, so most of the pastries had already sold out.

Sand ganache raspberry (570 yen) – I forgot to mention that CHAMI also offers a very delicate ice-cream sandwich with a variety of flavors. And since they've run out of most pastries except for the Basque cheesecake (but I have other plans later), this immediately caught my eyes.

This was really nice. The crispy sable biscuit was a wonderful match with the raspberry ganache. The subtle acidity of the raspberry paired beautifully with the rich, buttery biscuit. Just the kind of refreshing treat I needed before dinner.

I booked this 6-person van thinking that we should have plenty of space to accommodate us and our luggage but as it turned out, we had to juggle around a bit.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 6-2 Tsunofurishinyacho, Nara, 630-8223, Japan

Closest Metro/Train Station: Kintetsu-Nara

Tel: +81 (0)742 31-1393

Website: https://chami.jp/

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 7:00pm daily