Hurry to Shiosai, a shop run by a 90-year-old veteran pastry chef!

Article production / Mie Travel Ambassador Mio Ieda

My name is Mio Ieda and I am Mie Travel Ambassador.

I usually travel around Mie Prefecture as a freelance writer and photographer.

In this fourth article, we will introduce Shiosai, a long-established Western confectionery shop in ShimaCity.

The husband, Ooshi Nakajima, is 90 years old!

Even now, he stands in the kitchen every day and creates various sweets with his own hands.

▼[Sea noise] Table of contents

• A long-established Western confectionery shop in ShimaCity that has been open for nearly 70 years.
• The most popular and delicious apple pie ever!
• Lots of baked goods such as cookies and roll cakes
• A close look at the 90-year-old shop owner, Mr. Nakajima Gyo
• Shiosai business information/access/map

A long-established Western confectionery shop in ShimaCity that has been open for nearly 70 years.

Shiosai opened near Kintetsu Ugata Station 68 years ago (the image above is the old store).

The shop has been run by Mr. Gyo and his wife Hisako, but in the fall of 2021, Hisako passed away.

Mr. and Mrs. Hisako Kyo were known as the loving couple.

As expected, Mr. Giant

“At that moment, I thought about quitting the store.”

It seems that he was depressed.

Also, due to the aging of the building, the store will be closed in 2022.

“I can no longer enjoy the taste that I have been familiar with for many years.”

It was a final moment that was missed by many fans.

However, Mr. Kyo had no intention of quitting baking.

Plans are underway to relaunch the shop by setting up a workshop in the home she shares with her son's family, and confectionery tools such as refrigerators, mixers, ovens, and scales have been carefully preserved, waiting patiently for their reappearance. .

In July 2022, six months after closing, the new store will finally open!

On the day of the opening, many fans eagerly awaiting the store's opening gathered before business hours, and TV coverage even came to the store, giving Shiosai a chance to prove once again how popular he is.

The most popular and delicious apple pie ever!

Currently, Shiosai mainly manufactures baked sweets.

The first thing I would like to introduce to you is apple pie, which is the most popular of all time.

It's not the type that oozes butter, but the pastry is light and crispy, and contains sweetly cooked apples.

Look at the layers of this beautifully opened pie!

Puff pastry is made by layering flour dough and butter to form a thin layer, and Mr. Kyo still does this process by hand using a rolling pin.

Nowadays, many (most) pastry shops use electric rolling machines called pie sheeters or pie rollers, so handmade pie dough is really valuable.

The work requires concentration, so they do it in the evening when there are fewer visitors.

For the apples that go inside, we buy a year's worth of apples every fall, peel and chop them, then boil them sweetly and preserve them.

It seems that hundreds of kilograms of apples are harvested by hand, and the process alone can be daunting.

It took a total of three days to make the apple pie, and we are still striving to create delicious products without compromise.

However, the price is 230 yen per piece, is it okay to be this cheap these days? As long as consumers are happy.

It's no wonder that many people buy large quantities as souvenirs for their families.

Lots of baked goods such as cookies and roll cakes

In addition to pie dough, we also manufacture baked goods such as cookies and pound cakes.

First of all, cookies.

From the left: "Mocha Shibori", "Peanut", "Chocolate Shibori", and "Dynamon (salt)".

This one also has a light and crunchy texture, is not too sweet, and has a refreshing aftertaste, so you can't help but reach for two or three.

There are other cookies such as ``Maple'', so you can look forward to seeing what's on display after you visit.

Each bag costs 150 yen, which is also a great price.

When you visit the shop, you will be served these cookies and iced coffee.

“You came to such an inconvenient place.”

and the warm concern of my son's wife, Hatsumi, who helps out at the store.

Hatsumi, who removes the baked sweets from the mold, and her granddaughter, Rina, who squeezes each cookie one by one, have now become accustomed to the process.

In addition to making sweets, the family also works hard to make sweets together as a valuable force supporting the shop, such as serving customers on behalf of the slow-talking giant and communicating the charm of the shop on SNS. is.

We also recommend the Florentine (230 yen).

This candy is topped with plenty of almonds and colored cherries and is covered with candy, allowing you to enjoy the rough texture and firm taste of the dough.

It looks colorful and cute, isn't it?

There are also various other varieties such as ``fruit cake'' baked with plenty of fruit, ``roll cake'' wrapped in apricot jam, nostalgic ``lemon cake'', and elongated ``almond pie'' with almonds sandwiched between puff pastry. Baked sweets are buzzing in stores.

Additionally, the ``Raccoon Cake,'' which was popular at the old store, will be sold again only twice a month.

The release date for these tanukis with a slightly confused look has not been set, so please keep an eye out for announcements on Instagram.

The products on display differ depending on the day, but it seems that they still have a repertoire of about 50 types of sweets.

A close look at the 90-year-old shop owner, Mr. Nakajima Gyo

The owner, Masaru Nakajima, is still in the kitchen at 7am.

I fire up my buddy's oven, which he has been using for over 60 years, and finish breakfast while it reaches the right temperature.

Unlike today's ovens that have digital displays, the thermometer and temperature control knobs on Kyo-san's buddy display analog displays!

Once the oven is warmed up, start baking the prepared sweets one after another.

Recently, the popular canelé has also been added to the repertoire.

Mr. Shiosai's canelés are large in size, and even just one canelé is satisfying.

“No canelé?”

Some people come just for this, and I have a feeling it's going to be popular.

Old mixers and scales are still important work tools that support Mr. Kyo.

It is carefully maintained and produces delicious sweets.

There is a notebook in the kitchen.

This is a recipe book by Mr. Kyo, who is kept out of the public domain.

When I was shown inside, all that was written was the menu name and the amount of ingredients, but no instructions on how to make it.

It seems that all the work procedures are in Mr. Kyo's head.

"Our recipe book has all the steps written down. Even if we look at grandpa's recipe, we still can't make it ourselves."

Both Hatsumi and Rina are once again impressed by Mr. Kyo's work as a confectioner.

Actually, Mr. Kyo is from Tokyo.

Near the end of the war, they came to ShimaCity as an evacuation destination.

After graduating from school, he trained at a bakery in Tokyo and returned to ShimaCity.

At first, he worked as a baker, but when he began selling sweets, they became popular, and at the age of 23 he opened a Western confectionery shop, Shiosai.

At the time of its opening, it seems that there were no Western confectionery shops in ShimaCity, and many people, from adults to children, came to try Shiosai-san's taste.

“I want it to be a candy that children can buy with their pocket money.”

With this in mind, we are working hard to keep the prices the same.

There are many local regular customers who have been familiar with this flavor for 2nd or 3rd generations of their families, and since the restaurant moved, the number of tourists has increased considerably as it has been featured on TV and other media.

Although he has been suffering from problems with his eyes and ears lately, he has no intention of taking a break.

“I want to do my best for the next two to three years.”

She declared that she would continue to make sweets as long as she was healthy and that she would continue making sweets for the rest of her life.

A regular customer who came to buy sweets

"I came because I wanted to see Grandpa's face."

I'll casually say hello.

The walls of the shop are decorated with portraits of Mr. Kyo and Mr. Hisako, drawn by regular customers.

Mr. Kyo laughs and says that he is not good at talking, but he is a sincere person who is passionate about making sweets, and most of all, he is attracted to delicious sweets, so it is no wonder that he has many fans.

I also felt that the bond with Hatsumi and Rina, who support Mr. Kyo, is connected to the warm atmosphere of the store.

This is a shop that I would like to support so that you can enjoy delicious sweets for a long time.

Shiosai business information/access/map

[Address] 1912-3 Ugata, Ago-cho, ShimaCity

[Telephone number] 0599-43-0416

[Business hours] 10:00-18:00 *Ends once sold out

[Regular holiday] Monday, Tuesday

[Access by public transportation]

・About 10 minutes walk from Kintetsu "Ugata Station"

[Access by car]

・About 3 minutes by car from Kintetsu "Ugata Station"

[Parking] 2 cars

Click here for official Instagram