I discovered this awesome cream puff store, Beard Papa’s Fresh’n Natural Cream Puffs in NYC (you can read my full review on NYC location at: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/beard-papas/). They have stores around the world, and of course, they have several locations in Japan, as they are one of the best countries who does pastry creation so well…

So, we found one in the Shimbashi Wing Shopping Plaza attached to the underground subway station. It was located more of a walkway between few subway platforms. We walked by there during off hours, so there was no line, and we got to see all the delicious offering at this location without anyone getting in our way. I liked how everyone was dressed in a “chef” attire, from top to bottom. They had crazy amount of advertisement of this one kind of cream puff they offer, which was offered only at this location (so it said on the ads). It was Pudding Cream Puff. Sounded really good, of course we had to try it.

So, we bought one Pudding Cream Puff (250 yen, roughly $2.50). It came in a paper wrapper that said “limited time only” with cute Beard Papa’s face. From the outside, it looked like a normal cream puff, but heavy like most of their cream puffs, which means it has lots of rich filling in the inside. After one bite, We can see the creamy custard filling with vanilla beans. The filling had its regular vanilla custard flavor, mixed with sweet vanilla pudding flavor which is like a crème brûlée flavor. Even though the pudding flavor was not so strong, and more like a hint of pudding flavor, but it was still very good. I mean, their original custard filling alone is really good, so you can’t go wrong either way. Very decadent, creamy, and rich, the velvety sweetness makes your taste buds scream out with joy. The puff pastry is light, thin and airy, I don’t know how it holds this heavy filling without falling apart.

Then, we also saw something that looked different, they call it the SHIRO cream puff. Shiro means white in Japanese, and the color of the cream puff is much whiter than all the other cream puffs. Since it was so different, we bought it to try also. SHIRO cream puff (180 yen, roughly $2), is different from the inside and out. The outside is more like a sweet bread, with more dense texture than the puff pastry. Inside is a mix of their original custard cream, whipped cream, and fromage blanc. It tasted like a sweet bread filled with vanilla cheesecake, and yes it was awesome! The filling was really great, it had everything I love, with the vanilla custard, whipped cream, and then adding that fromage blanc…it was a dessert made in heaven!

Both items were really amazing, and even though they said “limited time only,” I am sure they will bring them back at their stores with enough customer demand. So, check out their locations or website to see if you can find them somewhere! They are worth the search…

Beard Papa’s – Wing Shimbashi, Minato, Tokyo Japan