A pet peeve about bakeries: Walking in and being bull-rushed by a salesperson who asks “Can I help you?” before you’ve even made it to the counter, then follows you around while you peruse the display cases.  Always makes me feel pressured to make a hurried decision, when really I just want to stand there and take it all in.

No such problem at Parisienne Bakery, where the salesperson — may have been the owner — looked up at me briefly, then went back to what she was doing (I think she was sorting receipts), leaving me alone to poke around this intriguing Japanese bakery with the French name.

Poking around in the unknown is fun — there were many items new to me, like tofu bread, a hot dog in a roll with red bean paste, mochi doughnuts (which would have been RIGHT up my alley, but they were out of them!), and several things I couldn’t determine by name alone.

I was in need of assistance.

“Can you explain to me what some of these are?” I asked.

She quickly came over and gave me the lowdown on the items as I pointed to them. Many of the sweet treats contained red beans, a personal favorite.

I decided to go savory, with a potato doughnut, whatever that meant, and sweet… “Which do you recommend?” I asked, trying to choose between two red bean desserts.  She said the green tea bun with red bean paste.  Green tea bun it was.

First, take a look at the potato doughnut.

Familiar, and yet unfamiliar, like a doughnut, knish, and latke rolled into one, with a cold filling of potato, red onion and carrot — flavors reminiscent of a potato salad. Unusual, and very good.

The green tea bun, also unusual.

Strongly flavorful of green tea and barely sweet.  It was okay, but I wasn’t sure what the big deal was.  Where’s the red bean paste?, I wondered.  A few more bites revealed the answer:

There it was, tucked into the bottom.  And that’s when the bun came alive  – sweet red bean paste, complemented by the moist, not-sweet green tea bun.  It made sense. Yin and yang.

Now the salesperson had a question for me: “What’s your background?”

“Chinese,” I answered.

Hmm — maybe in her mind that explained why I knew so little about her Japanese pastries.

“I really like red beans,” I added, for no reason.

But it’s true, I do like red beans.  And I liked the lady at Parisienne — she left me alone, then steered me in the right direction when I needed help.   Now all she needs to do is save me a mochi doughnut for my next stop in.

Parisienne Bakery
8 N Central Ave
Hartsdale, NY
914-761-9600