On off days my joy is found in visiting and attesting to great bake houses on my wish list for the longest time; today this visit to Rosemead had just sent me right into bread & pastry heaven.

We decided to share 3 sweets, each a star in their own rights. First, the almond blueberry tart may sound like a general classic but you get a precise and flawless tart base pleasantly infused with rosemary; an ingenious play of flavors.
Second the egg tart here is influenced I believe by the Spanish roots of Rosemead executive pastry chef. You get flaky pastry layers holding a hefty impeccably smooth egg custard filling; one of the best takes on Portuguese egg tarts you will ever have. The last sweet we had was a small but lovely to nibble on sticky date toffee pudding which also had an ingenious surprise of fresh lavender.

I reminded myself I came for bread so we ended with a savoury shiitake shokupan with house cultured butter; it was intriguing how the Japanese mushroom flavors are infused into the soft white bread that tasted like they were baked with the highest standards of precision.