The Leaf Pie Challenge Episode 1

"So what's a leaf pie?" Basically, it's pure pie pastry, without any filling, baked in an aesthetically pleasing and usually bite-sized shape.

So a normal competition would have many participants, but I suppose I could say that the "qualifying" rounds have already knocked out the vast majority of the competitors - I won't even consider those that use margarine.

In this round, there are two - Gateau Festa Harada's, bought from Osaka's Hanshin @Umeda department store, and Rokumeikan's, from Singapore's Takashimaya food basement. (I couldn't find the second company's page on the product.)

First up, Rokumeikan's, since it is available in Singapore.

This had a moderately nice buttery taste, but I felt that it was overwhelmed by too much sugar, which masked the pastry's flavour. The texture was nice and relatively crispy, but there was a hint of sogginess to it. I also felt that the granulated sugar could have been finer, because it would have been more aesthetically-pleasing and smoother on the palate. As you can see, it looks a bit over-crusted with the sugar. The good thing was that it came in two bite-sized pieces, which significant affects the experience when eating something so crumbly... it tends to become a mess if you can't put the entire thing into your mouth at one go.

Intuitive Verdict: 7/10

Next up, Gateau Festa Harada's, which they call Gouter de Espoir.

Visually, it is a lot more appealing, because of the intricate design of the leaf, as well as it not being too cluttered with the grains of sugar. Taste-wise, it was also perfect, not coming across as too sweet, and with the pastry's buttery flavour very prominently evinced. The texture was also great - a delicate kind of crisp, without any hint of sogginess and yet without being too crunchy. The downside is that it is physically rather delicate too... the packaging doesn't come with any support, and the faultlines in its shape make it extremely easy to get damaged, especially when flying it back to Singapore. I suppose it can't be helped - pretty things tend to break easily.

Intuitive Verdict: 9/10

If you have any leaf pies to recommend, please do give me a holler in the comments section! Even if it's overseas, I don't mind knowing about it, so if I happen to travel there I can drop by. I think these are especially common in French culture-influenced countries... besides Japan, I've also seen them in Vietnam and Boston's Little Italy.

And besides the leaf-shaped ones, I've also seen heart-shaped variants, which I would consider to be the same thing. So let me know about them regardless of the shape!

Found these pastries interesting? Check out more unusual pastries here!