Opened in late January last year, 坂田焼菓子店sakata yakikashi ten is a shop located in the 西陣Nishijin area that sells American-style homemade baked sweets made from fresh, quality ingredients; for those who live in the country, sakata will deliver after receiving orders by phone or email. When I discovered sakata yakikashi ten in a magazine at the beginning of last year, I immediately put it on my list of shops to visit. When I went to 松田珈琲店Matsuda Coffee in March, the owner, Matsuda-san, who knows Sakata-san (and Eriko-san and Kyuu-san‘s wife from their days at 一保堂本舗Ippodo-honpo, claimed that he can only handle the sweets from sakata (he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth).
After lunch at 喫茶ウズラKissa Uzura in mid-April last year, Mason agreed to walk with me to sakata yakikashi ten. It was a warm day and so we kind of worked up a sweat walking the half hour there along 西大路通Nishioji Street until turning onto 今出川通Imadegawa Street. Although the shop is on a small road off of Imadegawa, we were able to find it with no problem.
a charming and pretty blue exterior that would catch anyone’s eye in a simply colored Kyoto…the name of the shop is hand-written discretely on a rusty metal pan.
There were a few customers inside but the display cases and counter were still full of goodies…great, we had come at a good time!☺
the area further in
the area close to the door
These tables are for those who want to have their buys in the shop; although they don’t provide drinks, one is welcome to walk to the nearby 7-Eleven to get one to have at the shop.
I came with the intention of getting the チェダーチーズアップルパイCheddar cheese apple pie, ￥475, and that I did with a generous-sized ナッツ＆チョコチップ”Nuts & chocochip” cookie, ￥227, which we took to go.
the inside of the apple pie
Sakata-san, the young female owner, and an older woman whom I took to be her mother, were manning the store at a table in between the dining space and the counter in front of the kitchen, upon which was the register. They heard Mason and me speaking in English, so they addressed us in pretty fluent English, well, Mason more than me. They were very friendly and happy that Americans had enough interest to drop by. Since more customers arrived after us, we headed out to ひだまりHidamari close by.
I had my goodies once I got home: the cookie was of a soft yet firm texture, filled with nuts and chocolate chips and had a wholesome flavor, kind of that of oatmeal cookies I’ve had in Japan; I’d definitely get it again. The apple pie wasn’t overly sweet and actually a bit on the tangy side; although I had expected the Cheddar cheese to be baked in with the apples instead of lightly topped on the crust and I prefer big chunks of apple over thin slices in my apple pies, it was still a yummy treat worth having again, not to mention a generous portion…I didn’t even reheat it.
Next time I’ll have to try the other cute and delicate cookies.☺
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