It started out as a small workshop where handmade chiffon cakes and baked goods are the mainstay.
Currently a café space and a kitchen where lunch can be enjoyed,
The store has also grown into a complex that includes a gallery.
The artistic and warm space is impressive.
Sally Garden.

A synonym for "chiffon cake" in Nakakyushu

In this gourmet report, we introduce Sally Garden, known for its original chiffon cakes, located in a peaceful area surrounded by rice paddies and rivers, yet very close to TOKIWA Wasada Town, a large shopping mall in Oita City.
It all started seven years ago in April with a small chiffon cake workshop. At that time, it was just a store selling handmade cakes and baked goods at the Beppu Bay Service Area and at the workshop, but today, it has grown into a complex that includes a cake store, a café, "Kitchen Sally" serving lunch, and a gallery, "Mochizuki Michiyo Museum". The store has grown into a complex of stores.

The space that used to be a pastry studio when the restaurant was founded is now "Kitchen Sally" (top image), where customers can enjoy lunch and other meals. The menu, consisting of original recipes supervised by culinary experts, is popular among women.

Also located on the premises is the "Mochizuki Michiyo Museum" (image above), which displays the works of Mochizuki Michiyo, an artist whom the owner, Eiko Hashimoto, has admired for many years.

Sally Garden started out as a small workshop making chiffon cakes by hand and won the hearts of its fans with its chiffon cakes, but rather than riding the momentum of its success to expand its brand and sales network, it has conversely purchased the site around the workshop where it started and gradually expanded it, opening not only a cafe and store but also a museum. I am sure I am not the only one who is intrigued by this unique development.
With this in mind, this report will introduce not only the chiffon cake, which is synonymous with Sally Garden, the café menu, and the lunch menu, but also the owner's journey from the establishment to date, with interviews.

 

Store Appearance

▲Sally Garden is divided into the Cake Shop & Cafe, Mochizuki Tsukiyo Museum, and Kitchen Sally. For the Cake Shop & Cafe and Museum, the store entrances are located on the ramp next to the mural.

Along the slope is a cake workshop, with a large glass window on the wall through which visitors can watch the cake making process. This concept has been in place since the founding of Sally Garden, and the large glass windows were designed in this way because "we want to show people who come all the way to our store that we take baking cakes by hand seriously, so that they can enjoy our cakes with peace of mind.
At the end of the slope, a soft lawn garden called the "Sculpture Garden" spreads out, with a work by artist Michiyo Mochizuki installed in the center of the garden, creating a unique atmosphere.
The terrace seating allows customers to enjoy the café menu while feeling the pleasant outside air in the garden.

 

Store Introduction Interior

　Entrance to the Mochizuki Tsukiyo Museum, a cake store and café.

　When you enter the store, a showcase of cakes is placed in the front, displaying Sally Garden's signature "chiffon cakes" (six standard varieties are always available) and other baked goods of which they are proud, displayed in an easy-to-understand manner by type.

　Behind the showcase is the café space. Each table is decorated with wild flowers from the garden. In this artistic space, warm antique interior and table sets are arranged to relax and enjoy the "Cake Set" menu, which includes a drink that goes perfectly with the chiffon cake and a selection of cakes from the store. (Menu information will be introduced later.)

At the far end of the café space, there is a library with books recommended by Sally Garden, which you can browse freely. For those who want to spend a leisurely time to themselves without being disturbed by anyone, we recommend the counter seats facing the window with a view of the scenery outside☆.

 

Recommended Cafe Menu

As mentioned earlier, you can enjoy the "Cake Set" menu, which allows you to choose and eat your favorite cakes sold in the store at the café. Here we have photographed "2 sets" of the "3 omakase cakes" drink set menu.

 

3 kinds of omakase cakes (drink set) No.1 1,080 yen

Adult carrot cake (in the foreground): ¥361 per cut
　The carrot cake is a traditional English pastry, with plenty of grated carrots and an orange-flavored sauce designed by the owner, Hashimoto, in a refined design. The carrots give the cake a firm texture, while the nuts mixed in add a nice accent and a hint of spice, and the freshness of the orange flavor is very impressive.

Poppy Seed Lemon Cake (back right in the image): 216 yen per cut
　Poppy seeds are "poppy seeds. Many of you may be familiar with the small sesame-like seeds that are topped on the skin of bean-paste buns. The fine dough crumbles in the mouth, and at the same time, the texture of the cake is interesting. The harmony of the cheese flavor coating is exquisite.

Cocoa chiffon (back left side of the image): 324 yen per cut
　Cocoa Chiffon" is one of the most popular chiffon cakes in our lineup. Like a down comforter, it is elastic and fluffy, and its carefully selected cocoa aroma is addictive.

 

3 kinds of omakase cakes (drink set) No.2 1,080 yen

Sour Cream Nut Cake (front of image): ¥361 per cut
　A luxurious cake for adults with a sour cream-flavored batter and plenty of nuts. When you take a bite, the fresh aroma and rich buttery flavor will instantly fill your mouth. Nuts are used so lavishly that no matter where you cut a slice of the cake, a grain of nut appears. It seems to go well with brandy or wine.

■ Cuttlecurls Lemon (back right of the image): 162 yen per individual cut
　One of the most popular home-style pastries in Paris, this simple pound cake is made with only flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. As you can see in the image, it is tightly packed and has a rich flavor that has quite an impact, unlike its small appearance. The freshness of the lemon helps to smooth the palate.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake (back left of image) 324 yen per cut
　Chiffon cake with coffee-flavored batter and chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Since it is not a regular item, it is often not found in stores, and many people take the opportunity to buy it when they come across it. The bittersweet flavor of the coffee and the sweetness of the fine chocolate spread out.

 

One kind of cake of your choice (drink set) 850 yen

If you want to take your time to savor one of the cakes, we recommend that you make your own choice from the showcase and have it paired with a matching drink. The pear tart (image above), which is in season in the fall, is one of Sally Garden's most popular items. The glossy surface of the tart shows off the green color of the pistachios.

And the key to making the chiffon cake and other baked goods even more delicious is the whipped cream that accompanies it! After much trial and error to match the chiffon cake, they arrived at their current style of blending creams with different fat contents and whipping them by hand. Incidentally, when the blended cream is aerated by hand, the result is a very mild and gentle flavor that is strangely different from that obtained by whipping a single cream by machine. It goes well with other baked goods as well, so if you order a cake at the cafe, please enjoy it with the accompanying whipped cream as well.

 

Sally Garden's chiffon cakes from 324 yen per piece

■Standard Products
Plain 324 yen
Cocoa 324 yen
Banana 324 yen
Maple nuts 324 yen
Black tea Earl Grey 324 yen
Matcha Dainagon: 361 yen

The chiffon cakes are cut into large pieces and carefully packaged one by one, making them perfect for take-out or as souvenirs. For those who want to try a variety of cakes, we recommend the individually wrapped type (see image above). The plain chiffon cakes can be served with ham, cheese, or salad for a café lunch style meal.

 

Others available in one hall

A "whole" chiffon is perfect for when you have tried a variety and your tastes are firmly established, or as a gift. For birthdays and other events, we recommend topping it with whipped cream and fruit to make it more festive.

Other baked sweets are also individually wrapped and lined up in the showcase. Seasonal chiffon cakes and other specialty baked sweets line the store shelves, satisfying the stomachs and hearts of visitors☆.
It is also sold on the Internet, so if you are interested or are far away, why don't you take a look?

Internet store

http://sallygarden.shop-pro.jp/

 

Mochizuki Michiyo Museum

This is the museum of the artist Michiyo Mochizuki, whose works Hashimoto has been fascinated by and admired for a long time. In fact, the name of the store, "Sally Garden," is a song from a CD book titled "Sally Garden: England's Love Song," which was created by Michiyo Mochizuki. Of course, Michiyo Mochizuki also created the store's logo and symbol mark.
When they originally planned to open the café, they wanted to display Michiyo Mochizuki's works in the café so that visitors could enjoy looking at them and eating chiffon cakes in the space. After meeting Mr. Michiyo Mochizuki and expressing this wish, the museum is the result of their world view.

The exhibits are planned by Mochizuki himself, and include numerous paintings, books, Mochizuki's bronzes and iron works, and even rare items that can only be seen here.

The table inside the museum is another recommended space. You can look out the large glass windows at the garden outside, read a book or sip a cup of coffee, and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Sally Garden.

 

Kitchen Sally (Lunch)

Business Days] Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Business hours】11:30〜15:00（LO.14:30)

Once outside of the Cakes & Shops and Museum, follow the pathway right next to it to find Kitchen Sally.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, this corner of the building was used as a pastry workshop and store when it was established, and is now a space where lunch can be enjoyed only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The large glass wall behind the table sets is the space where the owner Hashimoto actually made cakes when he opened the workshop.
"Now that I think about it, we were working in such a small space. ...... I think. We built the workshop with an amateurish idea, so when we actually tried to use it, it was too small and inefficient (laughs)," says owner Hashimoto with a wry smile as he looks back on those days. The fact that the starting point of his memories is displayed in a glass-walled "visible space" shows that he has never forgotten the concept of the company's founding and is still as serious about his baked goods as ever.

 

lunch time

Under the guidance of culinary experts, we have built original recipes that match the world view of Sally Garden, and we also focus on the freshness and safety of the ingredients in our lunch sets. As you can see, there are always two types of lunches available, all of which are healthy and vegetable-based.

 

Tofu hamburger steak with sweet-and-sour sauce 950 yen

■Minor cereal rice
Chinese-style soup with mozuku seaweed
■Avocado tofu
Mozzarella cheese fritters wrapped in prosciutto
■Carrot Rapé
■Quinoa Salad
■Green Salad

The fluffy texture of the tofu hamburger steak naturally blends with the rich sweet-and-sour sauce, creating a main dish characterized by its gentle flavor. The quinoa used in the salad also has an amazing texture. This dish is packed with novel textures that you have never tasted before.

 

Kitchen Sally Original Green Curry 950 yen

■Minor cereal rice
Chinese-style soup with mozuku seaweed
■Avocado tofu
■Carrot Rapé
■Quinoa Salad
■Green Salad

The Green Curry has been very popular since Sally Garden started serving lunch. It is filled with vegetables in a tangy spiced roux. The homemade tofu kneaded with avocado has a mild texture and rich flavor. However, it has a very light aftertaste due to its vegetable content and the effect of yuzu kosho (Japanese pepper).

 

Interview with Eiko Hashimoto, Owner

It has been about 8 years since I left my previous job and suddenly founded the company. I am happy to feel that I am growing while interacting with many people through the cakes I created, and that the staff I work with is growing as well.

Q: When was the company founded?

Mr. Hashimoto:It was April, about eight years ago, and I was at my old job until March, and the month after that I started the store."

Q: What did you do before?

Mr. Hashimoto:I was a faculty member. I had no idea about running a business, but someone who happened to eat one of my chiffon cakes asked me if I would be interested in opening a store. Of course, at first I declined the offer, but the person was a certain management mentor, and as I talked to him, I gradually became interested in trying it out.

Q: Did you have any concerns?

Mr. Hashimoto:Of course I was full of anxiety. My parents were against it, too. ...... But I thought it was now or never to give shape to the worldview of my life and my passion for cakes."

Q: How did you initially operate?

Mr. Hashimoto:The first time I was given the opportunity was as a tenant at the Beppu Bay Service Area. I built a pastry-making workshop and made the workshop glass-walled so that customers could watch me at work, and I communicated the concept to them so that they would be able to purchase the cakes after they were convinced.

Q: How do you feel frankly after starting the operation?

Mr. Hashimoto:One month after the start of the project was the beginning of the Golden Week holidays, so even without doing any PR, there was still no end to the amount of baking. I couldn't keep up with the amount of work at my own pace, and I was desperate to produce. For a while, sales were so good that PR did not even cross my mind, but after the Golden Week holidays, the pace suddenly slowed down and sales stopped. That was the first time I learned from my mentor, who had helped me establish the company, that I needed to ”make efforts to make people aware of the company and communicate with them. Since then, I have been visiting the Beppu Bay Service Area every day.

Q: What is your best memory of those days?

Mr. Hashimoto:Where were the sales during Golden Week? We were at a loss. We decided we had to do something, so we set up a tasting corner at the ”Beppu Bay Service Area” and began to stand there every day in order to make people aware of Sally Garden's chiffon cakes, even if only a little. One day, a small child who could not speak yet was crying and shouting ”fluffy, fluffy, fluffy,” and her mother, recognizing the chiffon cakes, came to my booth. I was sorry to say that we were sold out, so I put a sample chiffon cake that I happened to have left over in the child's hand. I put a piece of chiffon cake in the child's hand, and she gave me a big smile. At that moment, I realized, ”I am doing my best for this smile,” and I felt empowered. I still remember that moment.

Q: Where did the store name Sally Garden come from?

Mr. Hashimoto:I got the name from my favorite CD book ”Sally Garden: English Love Poems” by Michiyo Mochizuki, an author I have loved since I was young (see above). I am fascinated by this worldview, and I try to make cakes with the feeling of this world, and I take my baking seriously every day. This book, which I open and look at over and over again, is my precious treasure.

 

Q: When did the site become this large?

Mr. Hashimoto:About five years ago, when the landowner who managed the rice paddies in this area passed away, he said to me, "If it were me, I would make the most of it," and I purchased the property. I wanted to leave the place in its original beautiful form, where you can feel the murmur of the river, the cry of birds, and the whisper of the wind. Then I worked out the concept with Mr. Michiyo Mochizuki, who had envisioned it since the establishment of the company, and it took its present form."

 

Q: What are some of the best things about running a business today?

Mr. Hashimoto:He said, "At first I was baking cakes frantically on my own, but after about six months I hired someone for the first time. At that time, I took a day off for the first time since becoming independent, and I realized that I needed to think about how to approach my work in order to stand firmly on my own feet and lead a meaningful life, rather than letting my staff feel that way. Now I am able to discuss with my staff members and entrust them with the work site. This is one kind of human resource development, and I was happy to see that my previous job, the art of teaching, was put to good use. Rather than expanding the number of dealerships, I am first concerned about creating a good working environment."

Q: What is your vision for the future?

Mr. Hashimoto:Sally Garden has been kept alive by the relationships it has formed with many people. We would like to continue to cherish our relationships with various people and nurture our chiffon cakes while nurturing the younger generation. Also, about two years ago, we decided to take over an inn in Kannawa Onsen in Beppu City.”willow seller“I had the company founded as a business. Currently, I am running around trying to open my ideal gallery right around the corner with the sundries and artwork that I love."

Thank you for your time.

 

Access

Address: 1472-1 Shimomunegata, Oita City, Oita Prefecture
Phone: 097-542-4446
Hours of operation: 10:00-18:00
Regular holidays:Irregular holidays (Basically, no holidays)
Parking: In front of the store
URL:http://www.sallygarden.jp

 

If you are using the Oita Expressway, please exit at the "Oita Mitsuyoshi" interchange. It takes about 5 minutes by car from the interchange. As you can see in the image above, there is a signpost, so take Prefectural Route 41 in the direction of "Akegawara".

Continue on a one-lane road through a residential area. On the way, you will pass under the Oita Expressway.

When you see the levee in front of you, turn left on the path just before the levee. After passing a few houses, you will arrive at the large grounds of Sally Garden.

There is a parking lot in front of the store and a second parking lot next to the store.

MAP

1472-1 Shimomunegata, Oita City, Oita Prefecture, 870-1141 Japan

 

Production and Editorial Staff

Model Report: Nozomi Nakamoto
Photographed and produced by: VOKE Ltd.