Gingerbread Apple Prune Roll by Muji Cafe from their Festive Menu

I have had great experiences with Muji Cafe's menu curation and taste balance, which displays a very on-point Japanese sense. So when their festive menu came out, I made it a point to try. It covered both Thanksgiving and Christmas flavours, so it was very timely for Nov/Dec.

The most innovative items were the desserts IMO. I tried their Gingerbread Apple Prune Roll. It pairs less-common Christmas fruity flavours with gingerbread-flavoured sponge and whipped cream, packaged as a Swiss roll, but enhanced in Japanese style with more cream in the middle.

It's beautiful to look at! The roll sponge was soft and moist, but with a rich gingerbread spice flavor. It was a tad sweet for me, but much less sweet than traditional European gingerbread, giving this sponge roll version a meaningful edge over normal gingerbread. This was my favourite part.

The filling was decent, but a bit of a letdown for my standards. First, the good part: the apple chunks were very nice. Plump and juicy with a bit of fruity texture to the bite, kinda like aloe vera cubes. They also had a nice apple fragrance and were a tad winey in flavour, but I don't think they mentioned using any alcohol. They probably just used good quality apples for this and caramelised them nicely. That said, it felt more like they were marinated in some juice or even wine rather than caramelised, as I didn't notice much of that dark caramel taste.

As for what I didn't like, the prunes didn't really contribute much flavor because they were so scarce and small. As such, it was kind of flat, and the fruity flavours were separate from each other and did not blend with the cream. 

Furthermore, there seemed to be a tinge of cardboard-like taste in the cream, but it was very slight and not enough to make it a bad experience. I'm not sure if it was the use of some special raw milk in the cream (which can have such a flavor if it's on the goaty end of the spectrum). It could also have been shortening or some very slight rancidity in the oil, but I really doubt so because the rest of it was very fresh and nice, and this hypothesis doesn't match the rest of my Muji experiences. Finally, assuming the slightly weird taste was not from some special milk flavor, I did not notice much rich cream taste.

Verdict: Only worth trying once for the gingerbread sponge.

BUT, I would recommend the rest of the menu in their Christmas set. Extremely good pairings, innovative, yet featuring items with that special authentic touch, like some American items that reminded me of meals I had in US college cafeterias. 

Quick review here of some noteworthy items, since I won't be covering it separately: the items were:

1) Roasted Butternut Squash and Turkey Ham Salad (right of the bowl)

2) Parsnip and Pear Salad (left of the bowl): Nice pairing overall. The parsnip was like potato, so kinda like a fruity potato salad. 

3) Cranberry Red Wine Chicken (opposite the bowl, bottom left): Very tender chicken marinated in the typical American spice and herb mix you find in turkey stuffing, so paired with the cranberry, it really reminded me of the hearty authentic American meals I had during Thanksgiving!

4) Braised Pork Collar and Apple Stew (in the bowl): extremely tender pork with thick porky taste reminiscent of young pork or kurobuta, so I think they used a good source, although some may not like that gamey aspect. This flavor infused the broth and blended very wonderfully with the fragrant, sweet and slightly tart apple! The apple fruit texture went well with the super tender pork, which was firm (hence well cooked) yet extremely easy to the bite and not powdery at all. One of the best pork textures I've had, beating a lot of e.g  tonkatsu dishes.

5) (off picture) Bacon Onion Quiche: As perfect as a quiche can get. Goot shortcrust with good texture from reheating. The filling had a strong umami from the bacon and onions and was perfectly balanced eg not too salty etc.

6) (off picture) their usual Pumpkin Carrot soup