Satisfying your Autumnal cravings

The season of the appetite has once again returned to Japan and what's a better way to satisfy your cravings other than an all-you-can-eat?!

A couple of days ago I found out about a very affordable all-you-can-eat at one of my favourite bakeries. The bakery is a chain bakery called Antique Heart Bread and has stores all over Japan.  

If you want to take advantage of it and try many different pastries this all-you-can-eat is the best way to try a large variety and find your favourites. 

It is a breakfast exclusive menu so be sure to check out the hours of the store want to go to. The bakery I went to is located in Machida, Tokyo, and the last possible order there was 10.30 a.m.

You can order it by going to the cashier and asking for "食べ放題" (tabehodai). There are three different menus to choose from:

1. All-you-can-eat including one drink (580yen plus tax)

2. All-you-can-eat without any drinks (400yen plus tax)

3. All-you-can-eat with all you can drink (+200yen)

On the weekend it's 100 yen more. There's a children's menu which costs 200 yen less on any days.

If you are going with friends or family and they want to get tabehodai or nomihodai you have to get the same menu. My friends both ordered the all-you-can-eat with one drink but I opted for all-you-can-eat without any extra drinks but, as with basically every other restaurant in Japan, you can get free water and water refills. The store I went to offered cold lemon water so I stuck with that.

When ordering you will receive a number which lets wait staff know that you ordered the all-you-can-eat menu. 

This all-you-can-eat is not a buffet style all-you-can-eat rather, when ordering it at the cashier, you pick a basket with a pre-selected assortment of breads and pastries. The time limit for this all-you-can-eat is one hour.

From time to time wait staff will walk by with a big basket offering you a greater variety of breads and pastries which you can freely ask for. This variety includes some of the limited-edition breads and pastries, but not all of them.

My favourite one this season has got to be the Halloween-style chocolate bread with a dried, hard style chocolate filling and some cranberries if you are lucky (I mention that because my friend did not have any cranberries in his part).

Another seasonal pastry is the maple-flavoured croissant with almond flakes on the outside.  Depending on the store and season the variety may be different but at the store I went to in Tokyo they also offered small breads with walnut fillings, pastries with sausages inside and other delicious goodies.

After about an hour wait staff will come to your table and collect the number. After that you are not able to try any other breads or pastries so be sure to try the most wanted ones before the time limit ends (and before your stomach is full).