Right after a three day weekend, we have another three day weekend in September! This time, Sunday the 22nd is the Autumnal Equinox, but because it’s a Sunday, we get the Monday off in exchange. I took this opportunity to make a short trip to Aomori, because I love apple treats. September is also apple season while also having not-as-expensive plane tickets. Stay tuned for my apple pie ranking at the end!
September 21st: The start of the 3 day weekend meant it was time to fly to Aomori! I would be landing in the afternoon, so it was just a casual souvenir shopping day.
I got on my usual bus to Sapporo, and arrived around 10:30. My plan was to head straight to the airport, but I got distracted by this train festival at Akarenga Terrace. There were booths running different giveaways and activities, information on different trains, advertising different stations, and some small train models. There was even a bounce house for kids in the form of a shinkansen. Very interesting.
I arrived at the airport around 11:30, and immediately went to the LeTao booth. About a month ago, I learned that the airport shop was selling an exclusive seasonal shine muscat parfait for just the month of September. Never have I been more grateful that I was going to the airport in September. Originally selling for 1000 yen, I got it for free because my point card had racked up enough points.
The sundae includes a wafer, aloe vera, grape bubbles, jersey milk ice cream, grape jam, white chocolate flakes, and a slice of the signature double fromage cheesecake. The ice cream was yummy, not too thick and not too runny with a rich milky flavor. The shine muscat sauce was very good, and the entire dessert was very refreshing.
I was eating my ice cream in peace at my table, and this old man walks up, doesn’t say a word, and sits down in one of the empty chairs. He rearranges his bag, and a few long minutes later, gets up and leaves. If he had asked to borrow the chair, I wouldn’t have minded, but not saying anything makes the whole thing awkward.
At this point it was nearing 12, and my flight was at 1:30, so a proper lunch was looking suspicious. In America, I would go through security immediately, but here with domestic security, I can go 10 minutes before my flight and still make it. I walked around the 3rd floor restaurant area scoping out the lines, and Meer Pasta was looking pretty open. I immediately got a table, and ordered their version of a Napolitan with fetuccine noodles, which came out pretty fast.
The pasta was piping hot, and it indeed was like a fancy take on the usual ketchup pasta. I believe the mushrooms were shimeji, maitake, and shiitake, along with thick cuts of bacon. The thick slightly sweet, tomato sauce with a bit of parmesan cheese covered the thick, al dente noodles. If you like a very tomato-forward pasta, I highly recommend this. For some reason, the restaurant was playing nostalgic American pop music.
I went through security with an hour to spare before boarding!
The flight was spot-on on time, lasting 50 minutes. Probably a combination of being a short flight and a baby plane, they didn’t have a drink service (boo, was looking forward to the Japan Airlines Sky Juice). In exchange, they gave out candies.
My flight landed at 2:20, and the next bus to Aomori City was at 3. I spent the time scoping out the airport: there’s a family mart and a souvenir shop on the first Arrivals floor, and a small food court and a couple larger souvenir shops on the second Departures floor. Not a whole lot, but good for last minute souvenirs. There’s a lot of apple, garlic, scallop and seafood, and senbei goods in particular. The food options looked pretty so-so.
The bus to the city takes about 40 minutes to reach the last stop, Aomori Station. The first order of business was…local boba at a Taiwanese Cafe. Read about my boba here!
When in Aomori City, the two main places to shop are A-Factory and ASPAM, the local tourist information center. I went to A-Factory first because it was closer, and did some apple shopping to start out the trip. Interestingly enough there was a coffee festival happening in the A-Factory and Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse plaza.
At the gelato shop, I got a double scoop of 2 of their 3 apple gelatos. I didn’t get a triple was because the 3rd one was rated a sweetness 1 and a sourness 5. They were both super good! The Jonagold (4 on sweetness and 5 on sourness) tasted like eating an apple, but in icy gelato form. Essentially, a real apple flavor without the eating texture of an apple. The Ourin (5 on sweetness and 2 on sourness), was like eating solidified icy apple juice. It was sweet, no sourness at all, and was the one I liked better of the two. This is what converted me to Ourin (I literally bought every Ourin product I laid my eyes on after that). I honestly thought red apples were the sweetest, but it seems like yellow apples are quite sweet.
Next door to the gelato shop, I then bought an apple pie from the Skip Egg / Macure cafe. After carrying it around for a bit, I ate it later that evening. It was really good! The crust was still flaky, but not super crispy anymore (putting the blame on me, to be expected). There were two slices of really juicy apples, still a bit of crispy, but also sweet.
I wanted to try out the apple cider tasting they have on the second floor, but the apple cider here is default alcoholic. I don’t drink alcohol. Boo.
There were a ton of apple goods and treats, but most of them weren’t very individual friendly. This is good for people giving treats to family, friends, or coworkers, but I’m not doing that this trip. There’s also an overwhelming amount of apple juices to choose from. I ended up buying 2 apple juices that came in a pair, an apple tea (with actual tea, some were just apple), and matcha chocolate covered dried apples.
Then I headed over to the Aomori Prefecture Tourism Information Center ASPAM, to hunt for more souvenirs, and grab an apple pie. My goodness the instant I stepped inside it smelled absolutely amazing. There’s also a paid observatory you can go up, but it was a cloudy day, so there wasn’t a point in going. Pampam sells three different pies: the Crumble Apple Pie, Chausson aux Pommes, and a Cheese Apple Pie. At first, I was going to get the Chausson because I read that the Crumble had sweet potato in it (didn’t want to distract from the apple), but then I realized the Chausson only had jam, and I went with the Crumble in the end (490 yen).
I also saved this pie, and ate it later that night. Oh my gosh, it was so yummy. The pie was still crispy, the apple slices were a bit thinner, but still juicy with a bit of crispness to them. There was also some kind of custard layer under the apple slices, which may have been the sweet potato cream.
On a side note: something is absolutely wrong with the Tohoku region. First, Sendai doesn’t have the Miyagi Kirby in sight, and all of the souvenir shops I went to in Aomori and Hirosaki City don’t have the Aomori one. What gives?
Anyway, it turns out I had time for the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse (an entrance fee of 620 yen), as it would close at 6, and I managed to get my shopping done by 4:30. One of Aomori’s most renowned events is the Nebuta Festival every August, where there’s a giant parade with this specific traditional style of floats and dancing. They had a few floats on display, some smaller parts available to touch, displays telling the history of the festival, as well as regular shows with live music teaching you how to dance. It’s not a huge museum, but still pretty cool to see if you’re not here during the actual festival.
Then it was time for dinner! I headed over to Osanai Shokudo, a famous eatery for scallop and other seafood dishes, around 5:30, to spot a line out the door. When there’s a line, it has to be good, right? After I got in line, more people kept joining, Japanese and foreigners alike. I overheard some local shopping street staff say that there were more people than usual…
After about 30 minutes, I got in, which I think is pretty good timing for dinner. I had to get something scallop, and went with the miso grilled dish, which seems to be a local dish. Google also enlightened me to the fact that they have apple gyoza, so of course I had to try it.
Everything was super yummy! The miso soup was a very strong, classic tasting miso soup, and the side was a sweet and savory marinated daikon? There were a ton of scallops in this dish, as well as fluffy strands of egg in a seafood-y, salty, miso broth. Their rice was fine, a bit mushy, but large is free.
The gyoza was very interesting! It had a strong apple aroma, which also adds a bit of fruitiness and sweetness to the normal gyoza filling. Surprisingly, it didn’t clash with the classic gyoza. Not sure if I would order it again, but I definitely didn’t hate it.
Then I checked into my hotel, unpacked my apple haul, and ate my apple pies.
End of Day 1: 2 apple pies eaten, 2 apple pies bought, and 2 apple juices bought.
September 22nd: My full day in Aomori was a day-trip down to Hirosaki, which seems to be the apple capital of the apple prefecture. The plan was to go to the apple park, check out the castle, and eat all the apple pies (and I mean it). Hirosaki is serious about their apple pies, with a literal official apple pie map detailing around 40 apple pies around the city. Unfortunately as a solo traveler, I do not have the room or time to eat them all, but I will be going to all the recommendations I was given. It also just happens that on the one weekend I’m in Aomori and the one full day I have, the weather decides it’s the perfect time to rain.
For breakfast, I headed bright and early at 7am to Gyosai Center Nokkedon for some nokkedon! A nokkedon is essentially a customizable, build-your-own seafood bowl. You buy tickets at the reception counter, where 1 ticket goes for 170 yen, or you can buy a set of 12 for 2000 yen. You then exchange tickets for seafood around the seafood market to put onto your seafood bowl, starting with rice. This seems to be an Aomori thing. It’s a pretty fun activity, and a great way to choose what you want.
I picked up some giant scallops, chutoro, fatty salmon, surf clam, hamachi, kanpachi, and a cooked eel. The scallops were so tender and sweet, and even came with some of the skin part (which also seems to be a thing here to include). I’m biased toward scallops, but my next favorite after it would have to be the tuna. I kind of regret getting the eel (as it was 2 tickets!), and though it was yummy, wasn’t as super special as the rest of the sashimi.
I also brought one of my apple juices (I got a pair of Sharirin) I bought the day prior as part of breakfast. Shaking the bottle made it very obvious that the juice inside was thick, and after drinking it, it was quie pulpy, with some apple bits throughout. It was yummy, but I wouldn’t call it juice. It was more like drinking apple sauce from a glass bottle.
At 7:56, I took the train down to Hirosaki! The ride is a little less than an hour long.
When I arrived, I got on the bus at 9 to go to Hirosaki Apple Park! The bus ride itself takes about 30 minutes, but isn’t regularly scheduled, so if you’re planning to go, take note of the bus times! For example, the next couple of busses back to the city were at 10:30, or 1:30 (there’s an 11:30 one, but it doesn’t run on weekends!). There was an old couple who got on the bus and had the same plan to leave on the next one to get to the castle, ha!
I walked around the park a bit, and made my way to the Apple House, where the main lobby, gift shop, cafe, and some apple exhibitions are. They offer an apple picking experience every 30 minutes from August to November, where you can go pick apples from their orchard, and pay 100 yen per 100 grams for your apples, and I signed up for the one at 10. The two varieties available for picking that day were Cute (a yellow apple), and Saika (a red apple). They have signs telling you of their sweetness, sourness, and hardness level, as well as taste tests so you can know what to expect beforehand. This is now why I’m convinced that yellow apples are the best, because the Cute is higher on the sweet scale and a little lower on the sour scale.
Our apple picking guide led us around, and said that there were around 2,300 trees with around 80 varieties of apples in the park alone. He also showed us this baby apple tree. The baby apples may look baby, but in reality that’s their mature size! He let us sneakily take one for free even though it wasn’t part of the scheduled apple picking.
I was speaking to an employee earlier, and she said at 11, there was going to be an event where a storyteller would speak in the Tsugaru dialect. That sounds cool, but my target bus was at 10:58, and the next one wouldn’t be for another 3 hours. The apple park is fun, but not big enough to spend that much time at. Before I left, I filled out a survey for foreign tourists to get a free apple juice!
I bussed to Hirosaki Park, and the first order of business was to grab a lunch. I headed for this cute cafe in the park, and along the way saw a Starbucks. Not just any Starbucks, but one that’s located in a historical building.
I ordered the scallop and vegetable galette (which also seems to be a thing around here?), and added a non-alcoholic apple cider/sparkling apple juice as a set. Everything was super yummy! The vegetables and scallops were perfectly grilled and covered in a light, refreshing sauce, the the gallette was soft and warm. The apple cider was also very good, and made the whole experience feel very fancy.
After lunch, I walked over to the center of the park to go see the castle! Most of the area is free to walk around, but for the main portion, there’s an entrance fee. They had two types of tickets, one for the main castle only, and one that include the surrounding botanical gardens (around 600 yen). I went for only the castle portion, which was 320 yen.
The park is really pretty, but the main castle itself is pretty small compared to other castles in Japan. You can go in, see some old artifacts, and climb the really steep stairs all the way to the top. It’s pretty cute, but maybe not something to go out of your way for if you’re not a history buff.
I headed up North to a local cafe for my first apple pie of the day: Hanamaru. The cafe is really cute, and they offer two apple pies. I was very tempted to buy both, but I decided to get the Kougyoku one, since this one seems more unique and what people get when they come here. Although I was planning to eat-in, it seems like you need to order a drink, so I got it take-out instead. I ate this one later that day.
The apple pie guide said it was slightly on the sour side, but I didn’t get that at all. the apple flavor was very balanced not too sweet. I ate it at end of day, going through some things as I carried it around all day, so perhaps it was a user error that it was not crispy, and a little soggy. The apple slices in it were on the slightly softer side. I don’t know why it’s red, but I think it’s just the kougyoku variety. There was some crispiness where the pie was thicker in some parts, and some custard on the bottom.
Around this area is the Nakachō Traditional Samurai House Preservation Area. There’s a total of four former samurai family residences along one street that are open to the public to walk in and take a look. If you’re in at the right time, there’s staff that can give you some more detailed information about the place. For example, the lady that talked to me at the Former Ito Residence told me about the functions of each room, and that from specific points you can tell this family was lower class.
Then I made a pit stop at Boulangerie Four. They had just put out their apple pies on display just as I walked in, so surely that meant they were freshly made, right? The cafe is super cute, the all the baked goods looked yummy.
The apple pie pictured in the guide for Four is not the same as the one in the store, so I’m not sure what’s up there. I ate this one almost right away. and the apple pie was still crispy with a bit of that burnt flavor! There were some apple chunks inside, as well as apple slices. They were soft, just a bit sweet, and there was a great balance of pie to apple. It wasn’t hot or fresh to the degree I thought it was, but it was still very good.
Right next door is the Tsugaru-han Neputa Village. It’s essentially a small collection of shops that sell local goods, as well as a paid experience to see and perhaps make your own Neputa float piece. I decided to skip that because I had already gone to the museum, but might be cool to check out!
My next stop was another pastry shop, Jardin, just slightly south of the station.
This specific pie was also not in the Hirosaki guide, but the entry for Jardin was a large one meant to be cut up and served. I reheated this one in my toaster at home, and it came out warm and flaky. Compared to the other ones, this folded triangle shape ended up in a lot of pie crust, with some bites being majority pie. The apple chunks on the inside were a lot smaller, softer, and the flavor itself was more mellow. The apple flavor was not too sweet, and perfectly balanced.
My next stop was…another pastry shop. Bonjour, unlike the rest of the places I visited that day, is located on the east side of the station. At first I wasn’t going to go all the way there just to obtain another apple pie, but I finished everything in my Hirosaki schedule pretty early, and decided to walk over for more apple pie. Good thing I did, because apparently, they won the best apple pie in Hirosaki 3 years in a row. Even just approaching the shop, the outside smelled absolutely amazing.
I ate this apple pie the next day on the plane home. It had been a whole day, and I didn’t have anywhere to reheat or toast it, but it was still really good. The crust was still flaky and crispy, thin, but just the right amount of pie. The apples were soft, and so sweet, but not overwhelmingly sweet. As expected of a 3 time winner.
My next stop was…another apple pie. This one is located pretty close to the station, and is actually a pastry shop located in the basement of a department store. Unfortunately, I believe Ito Yokado (the department store) closed on September 29th, meaning Siegfried is going along with it. Rip Siegfried.
Now, the one main difference between Siegfried and all of the other apple pies on this trip was that this apple pie contains cinnamon. This is probably normal for Westerners, but in Japan, is not normal. Apparenty Japanese people don’t like cinnamon, so apple pies will specify if there is cinnamon or not (as with the apple pie guide).
I toasted this one at home. Something about the cinnamon actually just hits different…The cinnamon presence really enhances the apple pie experience, giving it a much more different taste than the others. The perfect amount is mixed in to the apple filling, not too strong, making it a really satisfying apple pie. There’s a sugar glaze on top, and the rest of the pie is crispy and flaky. Yum.
While I was in the department store, I may or may not have stopped by the Loft that was having a giant closure sale…oops.
The last order of business was to grab boba. I saw that there is exactly one shop (claiming to be a boba specialty shop) selling boba in the city, which made it an easy choice on where to grab boba that day. Read about my boba here!
I stopped by the Appleise store at the station to do a quick look at the souvenirs, and then hopped on the 4:51 train back to Aomori City. I decided to stop by A-Factory one last time for any last minute souvenirs, and ended up buying an apple juice.
Why, I already have the other one of the pair right? Well, after drinking one that morning, even though the pulpy one was good, it wasn’t quite the apple juice experience I was looking for, and I wanted a real one. I hadn’t had one yet at that point (just a pulpy one, and a sparkling one)!
Speaking of apple juice, the gelato place offers fresh apple juice, but they had sold out when I went the day before. I got there and it wasn’t sold out, so I was going to get it…only for the cashier to say, “oh we’re sold out”. How was I supposed to know when you didn’t put the sold out sign on the juce?? Sad. Right after I left the line, she put out the sign.
I had a dinner reservation at 7, but because I had gotten back earlier than I thought I would, I went to go see if they would let me in early. They did! It was a good thing I made a reservation, because it seemed like their dinner was fully booked for the night. One thing to note is that their lunch options include a lot more ramen options, and if you eat at their izakaya at dinnertime, there’s a whopping 800 yen table charge.
I suppose in exchange for the expensive table charge, you get a pretty fancy appetizer. I thought that this was just some sort of salad, but it acatually was a few vegetables and scallop sashimi. Very happy to have raw scallops again, and they were so good and sweet.
I ordered their beef mabushi (the less expensive one), and this was pretty yummy. The steak was just the right amount of tenderness, and the rice was saucy and flavorful. You’re meant to eat it on its own, then add some of the garnish, and finally, use the dashi to make chazuke. I usually like the chazuke experience, but I found that their dashi was kind of…sour? It wasn’t for me. The soup that came with the set was a nice broth, with an interesting seaweed thing in it.
End of Day 2: 5 apple pies bought, 2 apple pies eaten, 1 sparkling apple juice drunk, 1 apple juice drunk, 1 free apple juice obtained, and 1 apple juice bought.
September 23rd: Time to say farewell to Aomori and head back to Hokkaido!
Around 7:30, I headed over to Kudo ramen for some morning Aomori ramen. Of course, ramen is everywhere, but there seems to be two main types of ramen around here: niboshi ramen (made with dashi from small dried fish), or milk curry butter miso ramen (if this sounds familiar, it’s because someone thought it was a good idea to mash Hokkaido’s specialties into one ramen bowl). Morning ramen seems to also be a thing.
Kudo is especially famous as it’s been open from 1948, and is supposedly one of the founders of niboshi ramen (according to a video I watched). It’s located in this red shack that’s hard to spot if you’re not looking for it, but definitely go for a good bowl of ramen. They only serve one type of ramen, with varying sizes and toppings. Their sizes range from small, medium, large, to extra large, with options for different add-ons. The main difference with the base sizes seems to be the amount of noodles you get, and the small gives one less chashu piece. I went for a medium wonton noodle.
This really hits for a morning ramen, especially in the colder Aomori weather. The broth is light, but as a distinct shoyu ramen and fishy flavor. The noodles are thin and bouncy, and I appreciated that the chashu was lean, yet still tender and not tough. The menma was heavily marinated, and the wontons were pretty good too.
I also had the second pulpy apple juice, this one the Ourin one. This one was slightly less chunky pulpy. The flavor was light and refreshing, sweet, and very llittle acidity.
There isn’t too much to do in the morning around the area, though I did stop by the Auga Fresh Market. I walked around a bit, checked out what the stalls were selling, and then walked to the station. Most of the stores weren’t open (as expected), but I did give in a buy an apple juice from the apple-juice only vending machine.
I ended up buying a Fuji blend, but the part I’m most salty about is that right next to the machine is a chart of all this brand’s juices on a sweetness and sourness chart. They have an Ourin one supposedly, but all of the drinks in the machine were red apple varieties. Where are the yellow ones??
I ended up getting on the 9:15 bus to the airport (take the times into account!), as there was nothing else to do. I’d rather chill indoors with wifi at the airport than have neither at Aomori station.
To kill some time, I may or may not have done some last minute airport shopping including Ourin gummies and apple juices…I swear I don’t have an addiction. The first photo, I saw both of the juices on the left at A-Factory, but not this company’s Ourin. I saw Tamura Farm’s pie being sold at both Hirosaki Apple Park and at Hirosaki Station, so this is probably good, right?
The Tamura Farm pie I toasted at home. It’s definitely the tallest pie by far, with red apples like Hanamaru on the inside. The filling had a soft, mellow, not-too-sweet flavor, accompanied by the glaze on top. The crust was flaky and light.
I made my way to the observation deck. It’s pretty cool. You can climb up top and see most of the planes just because the airport is so small. There’s even a display of different airplane models in the indoor area.
I went through security (took less than 10 seconds) an hour before my flight. Bless Japan’s domestic security check for allowing liquids on carry-ons, because I had 5 apple juices in my bag. There’s not much past security in the domestic termina. There’s some vending machines, one of which is the Shiny apple juice brand, and a small Japan Airlines souvenir shop that also has a couple hot foods. I’d say the airport is smaller than the Sendai one, and comparable to the Hakodate one.
I ended up buying a Hi-C Apple drink from the normal machine, and a sparkling one from the Shiny machine. NOTE: do NOT buy from Shiny before checking with the shop, because the shop also sells some of the Shiny juices. For example, the vending machine sparkling went for 180 yen, and the same item in the shop is 172 yen. Does 8 yen make a difference? No, but I feel quite scammed. The machine sells a “mild” version of the sparkling apple juice, which I did not see at the shop. I got the Hi-C drink because I’ve never seen it before, and the machine advertised it as a Tohoku exclusive. Tasted like a good apple juice, but the Hi-C is not 100%.
My flight was at 12, and the flight was pretty smooth. They gave us candies again, and the attendant this time offered multiple per person. I ate my Bonjour pie on the plane, and my god was it good. The pilot made the “We are preparing to land” announcement halfway through the flight, which I found hilarious (the flight itself is 50 minutes).
The first order of business was to get my revenge at Afternoon Tea from a week ago. Since I would essentially arrive in Sapporo at 2, right when they start serving the shine muscat pastry, it worked out perfectly. Seems like they don’t do a pastry only option, so I ordered the apple tea as my drink set.
The waitress brought out my pastry (I’m not sure what else to call it, it’s not a cake?), and as she set the plate on the table, one of the grapes on top fell off the pastry onto the plate. She apologized profusely, and took it straight back to fix it. She didn’t have to, but I suppose this is Japanese hospitality. Aside from the fresh shine muscat grapes, there’s also muscat and lemon peel infused whipped cream, sandwiched between two pies, a kirsch aroma whipped cream, and green grape jelly.
Overall it was very yummy! The pie was super flaky, though a bit difficult to eat in small pieces without it crumbling everywhere. The whipped cream was definitely flavored, and there was a thin layer of cake in the inner layer. I’m not a huge fan of the almonds, but that’s just me. The tea was ok, not bad with an apple aroma, but mostly a black tea taste.
Then it was off to Sapporo Autumn Fest (ending at the end of September!) to see the rest of the booths this year and get some real food! The week before we had only gotten Blocks 4-6, and it went up to Block 11 of Odori Park.
I grabbed an octopus skewer from the Hokkaido Town promotions at Block 7, and a plate of spareribs from the Meat focus at Block 10. The octopus was marinated in a slightly sweet, savory sauce. The baby ones were super tender, the but thicker tentacles needed a bit of chewing. The spareribs were super flavorful and came with some potatoes, and I did avoid the giant chunks of fat.
I ended the day with boba as usual! I was going to get the new grape seasonal from The Alley, but they had sold out of it for the day apparently, so I went with Gong Cha. Read about my boba here!
And I took the bus at 5 to go home! 8 apple pies and 8 apple juices later, I made it back home.
End of Day 3: 1 apple pie bought, 1 apple pie eaten, 2 apple juices drunk, 1 sparkling apple juice bought, and 4 apple juices bought.
Onto the apple pie rankings! Clearly there’s some bias because most were not eaten right away.
- Aomori City: Pampam, Skip Egg.
- Hirosaki: Bonjour, Four, Siegfried, Jardin, Tamura Farm, Hanamaru.
This time, I stayed at Aomori Green Park Hotel Annex. It’s not super far from the center of the city, and was a pretty good deal. Very classic business hotel, not anything fancy, but the staff are super nice, all the basic amenities, and the single room was very cozy and plenty of room for one person. They even gave me a free water bottle.
Bonus storytime: Oh my gosh, I had a revelation on the way home. There is a shop in the airport called Macure selling Bonjour‘s apple pie, and advertising it won Hirosaki’s best apple pie 3 years in a row. Obviously I already bought one from the shop itself so I didn’t need to get it at the airport, except the Skip Egg cafe at A-Factory also goes by the name Macure. What did that Macure sell? An apple pie that looked suspiciously like the apple pie at the airport Macure.
I went back to my photos to check, and sure enough, the A-Factory apple pie also had the label “Won Hirosaki’s Best apple pie for 3 years in a row!”, except it didn’t give the Bonjour name. Skip Egg’s was 500 yen (don’t remember the airport price), and the Bonjour one was 390 yen. It’s the same apple pie. Except the Bonjour one was a better experience. What the heck? When I thought I tried 8 apple pies, really 1 was a repeat. Does this mean Pampam is the entire winner? Hmmmm…I don’t think so actually.
Aomori pro tip: If you plan on going to Hirosaki, do NOT get an apple pie at A-Factory in Aomori or the airport. Unless you really like that apple pie. The best way is by bus, and the times are not super regular, so check the bus times! The airport is good for last minute shopping, but don’t count on it for the best food options or killing a lot of time.
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