Japonaise Bakery & Cafe

Love this place! Amazing pastries and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a packed sandwiche for lunch. Yummmm !!!
Down side, they run out of food wayyy early and thet close at 4pm

Japonaise Café is now closed. To clear up some confusion, Japonaise Café was a restaurant located next to Cream Pan. TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RESTAURANTS. Japonaise closed to «renovate,» but the owners ended up selling their side of the building to Cream Pan, so Cream Pan has expanded and Japonaise is no more.
If you’ve ever bought a strawberry croissant, it has come from Cream Pan NOT Japonaise.

Great place but «closed for remodel». More like CLOSED.
Stop next door to Cream Pan to pick up some delicious pastries.

Love this place!!! awesome coffee (and I’m a coffee connoisseur) and they allow coffee refills!
which make it even better, taking into consideration the quality of the coffee (far from Dennys coffee).
Their pastries are heavenly! a bit pricey but totally worth it.
Their breakfast are great too: they gave a variety of breakfast but all are done with such a taste and elegance that is a pleasure.
My favorite: was a Japanese breakfast with salmon and all.
I forgot the name but it was great!

So confusing!
I came for sandwiches and it was a Japanese restaurant? Whatever, I went with it.
I got a bento box. The food was ok. Service was ok. Nothing to write home about.
I went next door to Cream pan to see if I did something wrong. Apparently you can order the same things inside of Japonaise. Oh well. The strawberry croissant was awesome. Highly recommend.

Maybe Saturday for lunch is not the best time to go to Japanaise. Service was almost non-​existent. Every request took 3 times asking for it to be fulfilled. (Straw, butter knife, chopsticks, spoon, napkins…). Forget about even getting refills. We got nuthin’.
We were seated and unfortunately, I may have shot myself in the foot requesting the corner table against the window. It felt like they forgot about us as soon as our butts were planted into those seats. The people seated right after us were already enjoying their drinks when we were still waiting for someone to come ask us what we wanted to drink.
Bread came but we had no utensils, bread plates or even napkins. There was no way for us to enjoy butter with the bread without squeezing the butter onto the bread and using our fingers to spread it. So we waited… and waited… for a butter knife.
Hubby ordered a set with a rice bowl and some udon. Even the extra 50 cent upcharge for the Yasai udon couldn’t save the fact that it was kind of bland and unremarkable as far as udon goes. The rice bowls were better but the bad service just tainted everything.
Again, the pasta was the star of the meal. I ordered the soy sauce butter pasta with shiitake mushrooms. It was watery but still very flavorful. Not my favorite sauce though so I might try something else next time… not at lunch on a Saturday…

I’m not quite sure these people understand the concept of a bakery, unless Cream Pan is actually part of this restaurant. Japonaise has all sorts of real food, think donburi, pasta, noodles, etc. It’s kind of a fusion of Japanese and non-​Japanese food. Unilocalers keep commenting on how delicious my eggplant pasta looked (
) so I feel a need to review it. It was actually mouthwateringly delicious and affordable (under $ 10). I’m definitely coming back each time I feel the urge to get some Strawberry Croissants next door.
Verdict: The pasta here, at least what I had, is better than the legendary strawberry croissants next door.

I’ve gone here twice for lunch now as I’ve missed the breakfast both times by about 10 minutes :(
Surprisingly, the pastas are really good.
The spaghettis were perfectly al dente and very rich in flavor.
The truffle oil pasta is very rich and creamy with a flavorful ham.
I also had the Napolitano Spaghetti, but asked for the spicy arabiata tomato sauce instead of the sweet one. It’s served with sauteed onions and red peppers.
The bentos are good if you want to have a standard Japanese lunch with like 9 different items. The karaage was kind of bland, but the frying and juciness of the chicken was perfection.
The curry was decent, it has a sweet flavor at first, but after it settles in your mouth it has kind of a spicy bite to it. My GF loved it. I prefer spicier curries, but the flavor was fine and the rice was good.
I’ve never experienced a wait here and the servers are very friendly, but often busy behind the counter. I’ll be trying the kushi katsu next which were mostly between $ 1 or 2. There’s a sign also that mentions 10 sticks for $ 6.
Coffee here is pretty good too, it’s like a smooth breakfast blend, but I didn’t catch the brand.

Lunch Special: Udon and Donburi Chicken bowl. YUMMY!!!
I definitely would like to go back to try the eel and salmon bowl. :)
They do NOT allow you to eat Cream Pan items in their restaurant though.

Okay,
I read the hype and I wanted to see what it was all about. The location isn’t too far from other plazas which I love. Brownie Points there. They have decent food and the service is on point. Another point for you! Plus, you serve alcohol?! DING DING DING! One more point for you!
BUT.
I came here to try the Strawberry Croissant. Unfortunately, Japonaise Bakery, you did not make the cut. I loved the fact that the croissant is different and has a flaky texture and the custard is decent. But, the extra sugar coating on top that is glazed was a little much. You would think that for $ 2 something, the Croissant would be bigger! It’s okay!
I’m sorry Japonaise, I guess Bön Epi stole my heart with their unique custard.

I’ve heard rave reviews for the bakery cream pan, but the café/​food side isn’t so great. I ordered the Oyako Don Buri which was bland and tasteless. The chicken pieces were a bit small and could have been larger. The miso soup was a bit salty as well, so I would have wish they would not have messed this up as well.
So all in all, if I come back I hope to order something else that may increase these stars.

Tried their breakfast menu this morning.
I ordered the mushroom omelette. Mmmm. so fluffy and yummy, perfectly seasoned. They also offer lunch menu too. I’m not
sure if this place is related to Cream Pan next door but it appears to be.
Décor: Pretty nice, has the diner feel but with some Japanese cleanliness.
Food: Not bad, but toast that came with my breakfast was not «toasted». I prefer mine browned and crunchy.
Coffee: I don’t drink coffee but 2 others in the group reported being too strong.
Service: Just mediocre for a Japanese owned restaurant. Wished the waitress stopped by to give me some water refills.

I am over here all the time and even worked over here recently, and still never noticed this place. Bummer…
So I hit it up today to see what all the reviews and hype are about. Long story short, I was a little disappointed. Not because the food was bad, it wasn’t. Not because the place wasn’t clean or orderly, it was. But the service here (while they were kind) was probably one of the slowest places I have been to this year.
I ordered a cold Udon lunch special with tempura on the side. I used to get this in Japan all the time and loved it. The Udon noodles where a little too soggy for me and the rice wasn’t «all that».
In Japan, they serve the «sauce» for the Udon noodles on the side and also bring sides of ginger and/​or garlic, and also green onions. This places served my Udon up already IN the bowl with sauce and green onion in it too. This made for soggy noodles. Fail.
Service was very slow, and I mean VERY slow. There we two other people in the joint besides us and it took over 15 minutes to bring our dishes out. That is ridiculous IMHO for something as simple as Udon and Soba.
The place was pretty cool though, all things considered. Clean, nice colors, decent menu and great prices! Not to mention Cream Pan is connected to them next door. This saved them from getting a 2 star review.
Come on Japonaise, you have a Unilocal sticker on your door and you have a nice setting. Step it up and hire at least one more wait staff and another cook. I would love to give you a 4.

Japonaise is the restaurant half, attached to the Cream Pan bakery on the other end. The seating area is kind of small, about 5 – 7 two-​tops and two really big long tables for groups.
It’s menu is simple: Japanese styled pastas, Bento Boxes, Donburis. My friend and I decided to order different foods so that we could share.
We were both desperately eyeing the Butter & Soy Sauce Pasta with Shitakes but that was not offered that day. In fact, of the 10 pastas or so on the menu, only 5 were available. I’m not sure if that’s always the way it’s going to be with pastas. Instead, we ordered the TARAKO (Cod Roe) Pasta. It was prepared simply: spaghetti with tarako and nori strips across the top. Having just eaten a similar dish at Café Hiro just a few weeks ago, I really had a chance to compare the two recipes. Café Hiro’s is practically swimming in cream. Japonaise’s is much drier and it’s clear just a bit of oil or butter was used to break up the roe to coat the pasta. I actually thought it was bland-​ish and dumped a bunch of chili powder in to give it some oomph. ($ 8)
My friend ordered the Pork Katsu Donburi, which came with a bowl of miso soup and a few pickles. There is a bento box that’s similar but without the eggy-​oniony mixture of the donburi and that comes with salad and rice. In my opinion, the pork was just okay — could have been more moist and flavorful. Also, I like Fukada’s donburi’s more. Their egg mixture is simply out of this world good.
For veggies, we split a $ 1 salad which is iceberg, a slice of cucumber and a wedge of tomato. The vegetables were all freshly washed and kind of watery, making it hard for the dressing to stick.
All in all, this was a perfectly acceptable meal and easy on the wallet. If i were in the area and craving Japanese comfort foods, I would definitely return. But apart from that, this is not a destination restaurant by any means. There are lots of others that can make the same thing better.

After buying some breads at Cream Pan, I decided to indulge myself further by having a nice hearty breakfast (for once in my life!) at Japonaise. The exterior doesn’t look very pleasant or inviting, but the inside is very nicely furnished and decorated. Comfy and relaxing, with lots of natural light.
I ordered the D set breakfast ($ 4.95) — egg white scramble with spinach, 2 slices of bacon, salad, potato, toast.
Holy amaaaazing, Batman! The eggs were delicious, the bacon was delicious, it was all very satisfying. And all that for five bucks?
When I got my check, I noticed that the waitress forgot to include the tea I ordered. I was about to pretend to not notice (don’t judge me!!), and if I had not enjoyed my experience here, I probably would’ve just paid the $ 5+tip and left. But I loved it here. And alas, my morals kicked in. I un-​begrudgingly paid for my breakfast & tea :)
Can’t wait to come back again! Why can’t it be closer to me :(

Found it on Unilocal!Never really had good udon in Tustin, and Fukada in Irvine is just too far from where I was. So after skimming through a few reviews of Japonaise Bakery on Unilocal,I decided to venture there with mom for some udon therapy since my tummy was still a bit touchy after having gotten some bug. Ugh.
If you haven’t been there before, heading north on El Camino Real, turn left when you come up to Sixth Street and you can make an immediate left turn into the parking lot. .
There are about 12 individual tables of twos or fours, and then they have two tables of bench seating for parties of about 6, maybe 8 if you squish together.
There’s one long bench alongside the windows, and then individual wicker seats. It was around 1, but there were only about 3 or 4 tables taken, so we sat where we wanted.
Mom ordered the tempura donburi with sansai (veggies) cold soba and I had the hot udon sansai with oyakodon. It came out right away and were the perfect sizes for us. The udon was a good consistency, although I wasn’t really blown away. The oyakodon was good, but only a few pieces of chicken, but the flavor of the sauce mixed in the rice was tasty.
Mom loved her tempura and said it was better than some of the places in Gardena. I tried her soba and I wasn’t too crazy about the consistency. Had kind of a grainy consistency, or kind of powdery. The dipping sauce came with a plop of wasabi, but no green onions or radish. It was a little bland for me. Our lunch combos were $ 8 each. The donburi was smaller compared to what you normally get, but it was very cute and still filled me up. Who needs to eat that much anyway.
The service was good and quick, but how can you really hate on little Japanese ladies. And here’s a first, you can pay with American Express! Almost impossible to find Japanese places that take AMEX in Gardena.
They had a good range of espresso/​coffee drinks from which to select, but we wanted to wander over to Cream Pan next door to check it out. They have a separate entrance, but when we walked in, there wasn’t much variety. They have a refrigerator that held a few sushi bentos, but the place looked cleaned out. I’m wondering if it’s because it was after the lunch rush and maybe in the mornings they’re more well-​stocked?
Either way, it was good and I plan on taking my cousin there next time since she lives 5 minutes away. I don’t know if the udon or donburi had MSG in there, but I’ve been super thirsty all day. They don’t do takeout for noodles.

This place is finally open. I read Nick H’s review and decided to go there for lunch today. I got hamburger curry and lunch combo (udon and donburi).
Hamburger Curry: The meat is tender and the spicy sauce is good. They give you a chunk of beef and shredded beef with the curry sauce. I still prefer Curry House over this.
Udon and Donburi: Udon was very plain and donburi (egg & beef) was not bad.
Overall it’s a nice lunch experience and I will go back there to try other stuff. 3.5 stars.
Japonaise Bakery & Café is yummylicious!

Japonaise Café is now open!
This is not the same as Cream Pan. Before, I was able to get my bakery items here. no more. I came for breakfast and they made me go next door to get my bakery stuff.
I was expecting a complete transformation. I thought they were remodeling. I actually like how it was before better. Here are the details.
1. Various dishes from breakfast to curries.
2. I ordered the B-​Set. Eggs were perfectly prepared. Yummy potato
salad. 4 bucks. 4 Stars.
3. Free Wifi.
4. You still can get your bakery next door.
5. Ambiance-​3 star.
6. Coffee-​average.
I am a fan but, quite frankly, I would rather spend my 4 bucks on the eggs for another bakery item next door.
Japonaise Bakery and Café, Tustin. Another reason OC is the best place to live!

The first thing my bf says when we get here is …“They spelled JAPANESE wrong” hahaha…
We walked in for 2 strawberry croissants… but we walked out with two bags full of goodies & $ 40 less in our pockets (O’;‘o)
STRAWBERRY CROISSANT (4 stars): Crumbly triangles of puffed pastry filled with vanilla custard & thick slices of strawberries… & topped with a dusting of powdered sugar. The flaky layers cause a minor avalanche of powdered sugar once bitten. Ahh… the infamous croissant did live up to all the hype but it is trumped by the…
BANANA CROISSANT (4 stars): Rather than being sandwiched in between two pieces of pastry there was just one single layer of pastry topped with CHOCOLATE in addition to the custard & bananas with a dusting of powdered sugar… MmMm… I kept alternating bites between the two unable to decide which I preferred. I get chocolate with the banana so yay chocolate always wins.
CURRY PAN (3 stars): I don’t even like curry but I really enjoyed this. Half was all I could handle. The other 3 we bought are still sitting here… unravished.
MELON PAN (2 stars): This reminded me of gom bo bread from Manmi bakery
which I actually prefer a lot more.
CREAM PAN (2 stars): It’s like a giant cream puff… I’ve had better at Manmi.
HOT DOG (1 star): Way too salty… instead of a pinch i think someone threw in a handful =/​
MIXED BERRY SCONE (1 star): This was the cashier’s favorite… the scone was as dense as Jessica Simpson… like John Mayer… one bite and I was done.
CHEESE BOULE (no stars): It tasted BITTER. There was a small puddle of oil in the middle where all the cheese was. Forget the boule and just order another strawberry croissant before they run out!
We didn’t enjoy any of their premade sandwiches either. I wouldn’t say this is a place worth going out of your way to try but if you happen to be in the area the croissants definitely make it worth visiting. Bön appétit!

After my return to the Bay Area last week and brought back 3 loaves of bread from Acme, I’ll have to say, the bread I usually get from Japonaise has NOTHING on Acme. I’m talking about the artisan breads: walnut, whole grain, baguette and ciabatta. Whenever I buy bread from Japonaise, we have to finish it the day we buy it, otherwise, by the next day, the bread’s gotten so hard that you could seriously knock someone out if you threw one at them.
My 3 loaves of Acme bread were still good 3 days later and they didn’t even need to be refrigerated or reheated in the oven. That’s the difference. The Acme baguettes were bigger and cheaper than Japonaise, but I give them that seeing Japonaise is a small independent bakery while Acme is a lot larger, though still not an industrial-​sized bakery.
I miss Acme.