Bakery Harevino

Bakery Harevino (ハラビノ)

Bakery Harevino is the familiar type of place in which you grab a tray and tongs, and proceed to select from a display of sandwiches, pastries, and breads. Here, they're arranged below a chandelier! There are drinks on offer, and seating or takeout. Most of the drinks are ¥100. They've got hot and iced coffee, cafe au lait, tea, and an assortment of juices, all listed in katakana and English on a board above the cashiers. When you order your caffeinated drink (in my case, cafe au lait), you're given a paper cup to take to the machine that makes all of the coffee drinks. The machine grinds your beans and brews your individual cup, which ain't bad for a hundred yen. There's a sign saying that they use Tera Coffee. The pear pastry I got was fantastic: flaky and flavorful (made with La France pears, the most common western variety I see in stores), with pistachios at either end, and beautiful to boot (¥340). The tiny kabocha scone had a good flavor and clearly contained the real deal, but was dense and a bit dry... I'm not a big fan of this style of scone, but perhaps you are (¥230)! I had a little chestnut anpan (bun filled with red bean paste... I think this was a mixture with chestnut) that was soft and enjoyable (¥170). The au lait was thin/weak but not offensive; it’s hard to complain for the price (¥100; refills were ¥54 as I recall). They have a small section near the door with coffee making devices and supplies, toasters, and specialty jars and bottles of tasty things. In addition to some pretty expensive Chiba grown and produced peanut butters, they had Martinelli's apple juice from my home state in the US (I was told it’s popular in Japan due to its adorable apple-shaped bottle). The music was a bit loud for my taste, but there were other folks successfully having conversations. It was a radio mix of mainstream American R&B and pop, with a little rap thrown in. There's plenty of seating: 2 2-tops, 2 4-tops, and a couple of larger tables down the center for maybe 16 more people. The tables are wide enough that it doesn't have to feel like you're sharing a table with the people opposite. LOCATION: Google calls it a 12 minute walk from Kashiwa Station. ENGLISH SUPPORT: Some written English. I'm not sure about their spoken English though! TASTE/QUALITY: On the upper end of the middle of the road. RECOMMENDED: Try the La France pear pastry in the photo if you see it! VERDICT: 5 star rating systems are tough. 3 stars seems low and 4 seems high, but I'll return to this place. URL: http://www.harevino.com/