Cream Pan has been a popular Japanese bakery for years. As a result, this year, the owners were able to buy the adjacent strip mall space, dubbing it Japonaise Bakery & Café. Now the original space, still labeled Cream Pan, churns out pastries to supply the next-door café. There’s always a line, and favorite baked goods are known to sell out by noon. Arrive early, since some pastries qualify as required eating.

Join the fast-moving line and marvel at the selection of fresh baked treasures, including several kinds of donuts, rolls, Danishes, muffins and more. Be mindful. Further down the line, the counter holds various onigiri, including a new variety of grilled rice ball, filled with shrimp tempura. You’ll also find a refrigerated case containing some of the shop’s signature items, including open-faced strawberry croissants, the namesake cream pans (cream puffs), along with culinary oddities like croquette and yakisoba sandwiches.

Three of us filled a wooden tray (and more) with an assortment of pastries, some to eat in-house, and others for the road.

The open-faced strawberry croissant was pretty remarkable, with chilled vanilla custard, discs of strawberry, remarkably flaky pastry and a dusting of powdered sugar. My only quibble: strawberries are well out of season, and the discs had no flavor. In the summer, when strawberries are at their peak, the croissant is bound to be even better.

The pastry filled with sweet potato paste and black sesame seeds was nearly as impressive. The square was topped with a slice of candied chestnut.

This fluffy donut contained earthy sugar-fortified red bean paste and was rolled in kinako – soybean flour.

The only pastry that wasn’t terrific was the ham and cheese croissant. Out of the oven, the cheese probably would have been pliable and the oils would have seeped into the flaky pastry. Since it was sitting on the counter, the cheese had a chance to congeal.

Japonaise (a.k.a. Cream Pan) certainly delivered some of the best baked goods in Southern California, and the bakery will be a regular stop on my frequent Orange County eating forays.

Related Posts

1. Tartine Bakery – San Francisco, CA – Sunday, July 6, 2008
2. Heirloom Bakery & Cafe - South Pasadena, CA - Sunday, November 4, 2007
3. Old Sasoon Bakery - Pasadena, CA - Wednesday, August 13, 2008
4. Koko’s Bakery – Pasadena, CA – Saturday, November 15, 2008
5. Tartine Bakery - San Francisco, CA - Saturday, January 26, 2008

1. Teenage Glutster, December 26, 2008:

   kinako soy bean flour?!

   wow.

2. Joshua Lurie, December 26, 2008:

   The pastries were pretty special at Japonaise. It’s worth a trip to Orange County just to experience their strawberry croissant, sweet potato pastry and kinako donut. Even better, Little Saigon is only 10 minutes away and jam-packed with interesting Vietnamese restaurants. Might as well combine the two.

This entry is filed under Bakery, California, Japanese, Orange County, Southern California.