In the past, free and easy travellers relied heavily on hardcover guidebooks to find recommended eats in a foreign country; nowadays, the reliance is spread across blogs, guidebooks and TripAdvisor!
It's because of the ranking on TripAdvisor that i specially planned a visit to Furano Delice Honten; come on, it's ranked top out of 158 restaurants and not especially out of the way from the airbnb we stayed at the night before.
My only worry; it might be crowded and it will be a pain to queue when time might be better spent somewhere else! However, it was a picture of peacefulness when we arrived at the place; if not for the signage outside, i would have assumed it's a residential property!
I knew what i would be having that morning but if you are undecided, you may refer to the laminated poster at the entrance for recommendations. Coffee was supposed to be good although i didn't try since i am a sucker for local Singaporean coffee.
The walk in might appear somewhat un-Japanese with no manicured walkway and two trees blocking your way. In actual fact, it's still Japanese as they respect nature and it's better to keep the trees than cutting them.
Mistletoe in summer?
I bet this place would be even prettier come winter time!
Plenty of outdoor seating with one that's like an unsheltered tree house for those who enjoy the nature. For pampered Singaporeans who can't stand the heat, the nice, air-conditioned indoors shall be our preferred choice.
The simple, unassuming indoor seating.
Self-service plain water; in Japan, it's common to serve plain water without you paying a single cent. Now i can understand why some people were so pissed when some restaurants in Singapore started charging for plain water a few years ago!
Technically, Furano Delice Honten is not restaurant; rather, it's more a dessert store or bakery with a mouthwatering range of cakes to choose from.
For a man coming to almost 40 years ago, i honestly can't stomach as much as i would like to and could manage only the key recommended products; no prize for guessing what i had.
Hot Chocolate - Alex would usually get hot chocolate whenever he sees it on the menu; this one from Furano Delice was too thick and chocolatey! Luckily for me, i am happy with just the free cup of plain water.
Egg Madeleines - housed in a paper egg carton, this would be the kind of food souvenirs that receivers would remember for a long period of time.
A carton had six pieces of egg madeleines that were kept fresh in a plastic packaging. Definitely a plus point if i am going to buy a few cartons home.
Sadly, they failed to impress; instead of being soft and fluffy, the texture was a bit dense and it was overly sweet. Furthermore, my benchmarks when it comes to Madeleines are the warm, freshly made ones from DB Bistro!
The two stars of Furano Delice Honten; double fromage cheesecake and milk pudding!
They looked so perfect together but i had to order them separately; initially thought i could get a cheaper deal if they were a set. :(
Furano Milk Pudding - shake the glass bottle well and indulge! It's like swallowing liquefied egg tart that had been blended so perfectly; the richness of the egg and the sweetness of the caramel fused into a few mouthfuls of yummy goodness!
Double Fromage Cheesecake - everyone told me i should try the double fromage cheesecake in Hokkaido and i was utterly blown away by the above; it's a two-layer cheesecake with the bottom being solid cheesecake whereas the top was like a soft bean-curd like cheese topping. The taste was so amazing; it wins every other cheesecake i had in my whole life!
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Location
2156-1 Shimogoryo,
Furano 076-0017, Hokkaido
Operating Hours
10am to 6pm; usually closed on Tuesdays.
Check out the website (in Japanese) for more information
Website (in Japanese)
Instagram Hashtag
#FuranoDelice
Drink Menu
As above.
Pricing
Hot Chocolate - 400 yen
Egg Madeleines (6s) - 800 yen
Furano Milk Pudding - 300 yen
Double Fromage Cheesecake - 380 yen
(Subject to 8% Tax)
Additional Information
As expected, clean washroom with a bouquet of lavender flowers that acted as a natural neutralising scent for your ungodly purges.
There were many food souvenirs for you to bring back home and you can even order online! As instruction was mainly in Japanese, i presume it served more the local Japanese market rather than overseas.
Not sure if the postbox was a working one even though my objective was to show you the umbrellas. They were not free by the way but if you notice a rain cloud, maybe it's best to get one just in case; only 200 yen each.
You may check out my summarized 8-day, 7-night itinerary to Hokkaido in summer (including a few days of self-drive); click here for the information!