V^3 Cake Tour: Regent Cakes, Northbridge

After watching some good Yakitate! Japan and being quite hyped about bread and all things baked, my interests in cakes have grown ever since. Bread has become a daily part of our lives, it’s become a part of our staple diet giving us dietary fibres and carbohydrates to energise us throughout the day. But that is not the main reason why it is so popular. Bread is essentially sweet to the palate as starches break down in amylase enzymes, thus giving it an easily enjoyed taste. It comes in many shapes, sizes and textures. Never has a food been so diverse. There is indeed a bread for each and everyone of us.



So a place that has become somewhat of tradition for my bread needs is Regent Cakes. They offer some fresh baked Hong Kong styled butter buns with various fillings. Ranging from luxurious cream cakes to the humble butter loaf, there is something for everyone.



I had the pleasant opportunity to buy as many different cakes till I felt content. That being said, I settled for ten different types of cakes, that’s right. Ten. These cakes are great when enjoyed on your own, but slicing them up into bite sizes and sharing them with friends and family makes the experience more enjoyable.



The cakes come in both sweet and savour fillings, both of which are blanketed by the soft and fluffy sweet bread.

Let's begin.

Barbeque Pork Bun


This is a regent baked variation to the traditionally steamed cha xiu pao (sp?). The sweet butter bun combined with the sweetened pork offers a nice mixed of traditional flavours.

Custard Cream Roll


Rich in flavours, the texture of the smooth custard compliments the soft white bread to give a pleasurable bite of creamy goodness.

Coconut Butter Roll


This is one of the masterful buns that can be found in this establishment. The intricacy of this bun is revealed when you slice it. The filling is in a layer that spirals inside the bun itself thus allowing the bread to blanket the contents and give full flavour in each and every bite.

Mystery Bun


After being so enchanted by all these cakes, I forgot the name of this particular one, If you so happen to know the name, please inform me. What makes this bun stand out from the rest is its distinctive texture. Well actually, a composition of three textures. There’s a soft base covered with cream topped off with a crusty shell which makes it a delightful cake. This cake is topped of with icing and reflects a French influence in every bite.

Teriyaki Chicken


This bun was rather mediocre, the let down was the teriyaki chicken filling which did not taste authentic and was more like a chicken gravy mush. Fortunately, the bread balanced the bad much and made it a barely acceptable bun.

Butterfly Pastry


This was recommended as a tester, Regent is not renowned for its thin butter pastries. However, this one had the soft crumbly texture that was made of hundreds of thin layers, which was surprisingly delicate and sweet. While it’s not their specialty, it’s a good attempt nonetheless.

Ham and Corn


An unexpected combination this particular bun was. It was not mind blowing to say the least, the corn was not of the freshest variety and the ham had an off smell. It all made a rather disappointing bun in my mind. You can’t always win.

Butter Loaf


Simplicity is the key. This particular loaf is not normally on shelf and had to be specially requested, thus, it was served for us straight out of the oven with a rich sweet aroma filling the air. If you love the bread, buy the loaf. This can be enjoyed with any spread or topping you fancy.



Regent cakes offer a wide variety of baked good to choose from. There are many more that I have yet to try. If you ever feel like a nice cake or bun to fill yourself, Regents is top quality eating. Baked goods cost around $2 each and the more traditional cakes cost around $3 per slice.



Regent Cakes
Shop 10,45 Francis Street
Northbridge
9227 8081


Bon Appétit.

-Mike

V^3 Anime: Yakitate! Japan

There's English bread, German bread, and French bread, but Japan's bread, Japan, does not exist.
In that case, there's no choice but to create it.
This story is a serious, biographical ballad of a boy who possesses Solar Hands, Azuma Kazuma, who will create a Japanese bread made by and for the Japanese people, which can be presented to the world proudly.
- [ Opening Text for the Anime ]

Yakitate! Japan is the best anime I have seen. From the opening text, you can tell that this is an adventure of epic proportions. It's an anime about the creation of a bread to represent the nation of Japan, a Ja-pan (Pan being the Japanese word for bread). The show is filled with puns like this... and most of the time they get carried away to the point of absurdity.

One of the selling points of the anime is in fact it's absurdity. Y!J takes a simple concept like bread, and wraps it in all the cliches normally found in other anime, including power-ups, vast explanations of techniques and contains most of the archetypes found in other anime... such as the naive protagonist, the loser sidekick who'll never surpass the main character, the mysterious/serious guy, the random girl, and afro-wearing mentor-figure. Okay, maybe not the afro-wearing mentor figure.

The show itself has equal parts storyline and randomness, appealing to the two extremes of the anime-viewing public.

The storyline follows Azuma Kazuma in his quest to make a bread worthy of representing the Japanese nation, and his trials and growth as a baker through the various competitions in the show. Besides the fantastic baking segments, there is a back-story for every character, and an internal struggle within Pantasia (the main bakery featured in the show) for control and inheritance of the company, along with the mysterious pasts of several characters in the show...

With regards to randomness, most of it comes into play when the judging of the bread commences. The bread is usually so fantastic that it causes the person eating the bread to experience a reaction. The reaction itself usually references some pun on the bread's name, or alludes to Japanese / Western culture in some way, and just describing it like this doesn't do it justice. You should get out there and just watch it yourself.

Yakitate! Japan has often been called Iron Chef + Initial D in the fantastical nature of the baking combined with the in-depth analysis of the ingredients and baking procedures... but would definately appeal to fans of more random anime because of it's light-hearted nature and randomness. The only negative I can list is probably the rather weak conclusion of the anime that felt rushed and didn't do justice to the awesomeness of the rest of the show... I mean come on, it ended on episode 69. What kind of a number is that to end on?

Recommended for fans of: Iron Chef, Anime that take something normal and add fantastic elements (i.e. Prince of Tennis), Any Anime at all!

P.S. Be sure to have some Regent Cakes pastries with you while watching the show, because everyone I know who has seen it instantly felt an urge to go and eat some quality baking.