South San Francisco: Paris Baguette

This new Paris Baguette branch in South San Francisco opened in October 2014 and is the centerpiece of the strip mall Westborough Square, with its circular atrium grandeur.

I am so sorry for the super blurry photo...I was just so excited to be back at a Paris Baguette, since it was my staple cafe while studying abroad. The inside is quite spacious. This is half of the inside, and the left wall is lined with display cases. The beginning (not shown) has the trays and clamps for you to grab all the fresh bakery items you want, from the long table (shown).

Many of these items I didn't see while in Seoul, but some looked familiar. Above are croissant donuts, very creative! My favorite was this long, twisted sweet pea pastry, which was so sweet and delicious. On top of the table are jams and little bags of other bakery items. At the end of the table are refrigerated items like sandwiches.

Here is a closeup of one of the displays on the left wall. These are gift box sets, which cost about $10 and up and are really fresh, with expiration dates just a few days away. The top is traditional Korean snacks while the bottom are castella rolls which are also sold in Seoul. At the end of these display cases are refrigerated drinks.

At the center of the store is the cash register, and above that are TV monitors with an elaborate brunch menu for items such as

In the back of the store and to the right are all small tables, which were filled with customers when I visited during the early afternoon. The front also says they offer wifi and that they're hiring...how I wish I could work here and sample all the pastries!

There is also a reward system, where they give you a card (like one of those parking validation tickets) and they slide it into a machine after every $5+ purchase to print new information onto the card every time. So all your rewards depends on this one card.

To the left of the counter area is the cake display. Their cakes look so beautiful, especially the elaborate coffee mug cake, second from the right on the top! They're really becoming a diverse bakery that doesn't just focus on on-the-go snacks, but also they're expanding to have special Christmas cakes made to order for the holidays. There is a pamphlet on the counter with all their special cakes and gift sets to really push for these higher end items.

I'm so happy to see more and more Paris Baguette branches opening up in northern California, and I'm especially happy at how high end they look, keeping up with the style of those in Korea! (This is in contrast to The Face Shop, where the shops in California look like really run down, mom-and-pop hole-in-the-wall shops). I hope soon they'll start opening up more stores throughout the West Coast.

Downtown Palo Alto: Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette is a Korean bakery chain with a Parisian cafe theme. For the US branch, there are locations in California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. I visited the Palo Alto location in Northern California. This location is in downtown, which is very quaint and high class. The store hours are 7 AM to 10 PM from Sunday to Thursday and 7 AM to 11 PM on Friday and Saturday. I came at 11 AM in the middle of the week and nearly every table was occupied with many people of various ages and nationalities. The only other location I visited was in Koreatown LA, which only had middle aged Korean women at that time I visited, so I was so surprised this time.

The interior is very classy and glamorous, matching its nice location. Walking into the bakery, the first half is for sitting, with a long communo table in the middle, bench seating to the left and table sitting to the right. The deeper half of the bakery is where all the products are.

In this second half, the walls are lined with shelves of goodies, and there is a middle island with pre-made sandwiches and pastries as well. There is a sign indicating to start on the right side, where there are tongs hanging and trays and tissue ready to be grabbed.

Moving along the right wall, there are a few pastries. Then in section 1, there are also gift sets, boxes of truffle chocolates, and jams. In section 2, there are loaves of hard bread (like baguettes but more round) for roughtly $2. And lastly, in section 3, there are fridged items such as brand name drinks and Paris Baguette's own pudding.

On the top layer of the middle island, there are many bagged pastries and cookies that are ready to go. There was also a sample of green tea flavored dorayaki, which was very sanitary with toothpicks already poked in to each piece and a used cup to dispose of the toothpicks.

The bottom layer of this middle island had trays of beautifully crafted, fresh pastries. All of these need the tongs to grab them.

Along the left wall were gorgeous cakes on display. Above was a fresh menu with a soup of the day (one size), hot sandwiches and four baguette pizza options. The backboard also had an extensive beverage menu. You would order all of these at the cash register and pick up at the end of the counter.

The soup of the day was chicken with wild rice, my favorite American soup! It came with four slices of bread and a really nice paper plate. The soup also comes with a lid, so it's easy to take out.

We ordered all of our pastries to go, and the cashier separated them into brown cardboard boxes lined with tissue of garlic croissants, sweet pastries and salty pastries.

Here is the cute paper bag to go (that costs 10 cents)! the bottom is not wide enough for the cardboard boxes though.

Paris Baguette also has a couple of reward system. One is a loyalty card where you get certain discounts while another is a stamp card for coffee.

Overall, I really love this branch of Paris Baguette! The decor and location are lovely, the staff are friendly and most importantly, the food is delicious! My favorites are the soup and the green tea dorayaki. Next time, I'll be sure to try the pizza!

Los Angeles' Madang Plaza: Korean Shopping

Located in Los Angeles' Koreatown, Madang Plaza is an outdoor, multi-story mall that surrounds a small courtyard.  This cozy mall has a variety of Korean businesses, including eateries, a hanbok shop, a gym, a movie theater, and more.  I visited Madang Plaza at around 8AM, so most businesses weren't opened yet. Here are the places I saw:

The Face Shop

The Face Shop is located on the street, before walking into the actual courtyard.  Interestingly enough, this branch shares the same space as Chocolate Chair, with no barrier dividing the two businesses once inside.  I peaked in through the glass doors, and saw The Face Shop products are neatly displayed on shelves and tables on the left half of the space.  You can also see Kim Hyun Joong in the front display!

Caffe Bene

Two doors to the right of The Face Shop is Caffe Bene, a popular Korean coffee shop chain.  My Korean friend said this place is overrated, like Starbucks, and had more negative views of this chain.

What drew my eye, however, was the cutout of Jang Geun Suk peaking behind the glass paneled walls!

Cosmetic World

Inside the actual mall is a fairly large cosmetic shop that carries high end Korean, Japanese and Western brands.  Also there are photos of Nichkhun around the store, enticing potential shoppers!

Doni Burger

I didn't know Doni, entertaining MC of the variety show Weekly Idol, had his own chain restaurant!  One branch is located in this very mall, with an advertising banner just out front. This restaurant offers Korean burgers, with patties like bulgogi and pork katsu.

Paris Baguette

Paris Baguette is a Korean bakery chain with a defined presence is the US.  This branch opens at 7AM, and by the time I arrived at 8:30AM, all the tables were full.  I guess people, mostly Korean, stop by here before going to work.

The theme appears to be like a classy, Parisian cafe, which can be seen by the logo.  The workers even wear French inspired outfits like berets and black and white striped shirts.

This theme can also be seen by the decor.  Inside does look classy, with a dark gray color scheme on the walls and diamond pattern cushioned benches, elegant mirrors and chandeliers hanging overhead.  It's a bit hard to see, but the right half of the bakery is the sit down area, with the mirrored walls and upscale looking atmosphere.

The set up is like a typical Asian bakery, with tongs, trays and paper place mats neatly displayed at the front and rows of clear containers filled with different baked goods. Here is the view of most items on display, with individual buns inside the displays and prepackaged sets above the center displays.

Here is what I bought!  I honestly forgot what these are or how they taste...but the quality is pretty good and I definitely had a satisfying breakfast.

The cups are so adorable!  They are made to look like faces (there are two black dots as eyes and a smile towards the bottom).  I bought a green tea latte and a smoothie, both of which were very tasty.  As for my entire experience at Paris Baguette, it could have been better.   I was waiting patiently in line and was about to order, when the cashier interrupted me and said that I had cut in line, and then served a Korean man who was definitely not before me.  Then when she finally let me pay, she wasn't very friendly.  Despite this mishap, I didn't let it ruin the rest of my Korean bakery experience.

Overall, this mall is quite small but has a variety of shops.  I came too early to actually go into any shops besides Paris Baguette, but it was still fun to experience a mall centered around a courtyard!