Mochis, matcha ice cream, bubble tea, dorayaki… If you want to enjoy a selection of Japanese sweets and drinks, then head over to Panda Patisserie, the city’s one and only Japanese bakery, located right off Gran Vía at the popular Hattori Hanzo restaurant.

Although I’d been to Hattori for dinner before and even wrote an article about it back in 2014, I never had the chance to get to Panda Patisserie, which opens on weekday afternoons and for weekend brunch. The hours are from 4:30-8:30pm Monday through Friday, and from 11am-1pm on Saturday and Sunday (book ahead on the weekends).

As you walk into the restaurant, make your way to the back area where you get to sit comfortably in the floor, surrounded by fun decor and a welcoming ambience. Now onto the food: Although there are savory options on Panda’s menu, like the unbeatable baos, our eyes went straight for the desserts, as I’m sure yours will too. With the help of the nice server, here’s what we ordered:

We started out with two cold brew iced teas, one with strawberry and lime, and the other with grapefruit and yuzu. They were sweet, citrusy and refreshing. We also tried a few different homemade mochis, which are small rice-flour balls that have a gooey texture and are filled with flavors ranging from chocolate to green tea matcha.

Then we had the Sakura dorayaki, which are essentially two pancakes filled with fresh strawberry and white chocolate. So good.

And of course, we couldn’t leave without trying the newest item, fluffy pancakes served with fresh fruit and syrup that you get to pour on yourself. All the desserts were simply delicious.

Surprisingly, after all that, we felt satisfied but not heavy at all. Everything is light and tasty, and you’ll leave wanting to come back for more. There are so many other options on the menu that we wanted to try, from the matcha ice cream to the bubble teas!

If you haven’t already tasted Japanese sweets, then I highly recommend ordering an assortment of different flavors and textures to get the full experience. And if you’re already a fan, well, then welcome to your go-to Japanese sweetshop in Madrid!

Panda Patisserie

• Facebook & IG: @pandapatisserie
• Address: Calle Desengaño 11
• Metro: Callao

Ah, the merienda. It’s one of the best things about the Spanish eating schedule; one in between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner. While we normally think of a merienda as either a croissant or a tostada con tomate in the morning and then a pastry or sandwich in the afternoon, a little place behind Gran Vía meters from Terraza Gymage has a way for your merienda to have a more Japanese flavor. While for lunch and dinner Hattori Hanzo often requires a reservation at least 3 days in advance (see full restaurant post here), during the sacred afternoon merienda hours from 5 to 8 PM, you can get a taste of the sweet side of Japan at Panda by Hattori Hanzo. 

It is the first Japanese pastry shop and matcha bar in the city and allows you to experience a different side of Japanese cuisine (but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, never fear. There’s also a savory menu as well).

My friends and I found ourselves in awe with all of the choices of pastries, including Japanese-style macarons, mochi balls, teas, frappés, and more. Two main ingredients are highlighted in all of your options: sakura (cherry blossom) and matcha (a type of green tea that is currently all of the rage for its health benefits). I fell in love with matcha during one of my last trips back to New York when I found myself in a hipster coffee shop across the street from the Strand Bookstore (enough said) and the appearance of matcha in certain places in Madrid makes me incredibly happy. Within the different categories on the menu, there was a matcha option, a sakura option, and a traditional chocolate option.

Let’s just say my choices followed a pattern: that they contained matcha.

After thoughtful deliberation, we resorted to asking our waitress, the one who knows the menu inside and out. After asking us about our preferences, she suggested that we try the signature offering at Panda: the matcha swiss roll. We followed her advice and we did not regret it one bit.

The matcha swiss roll is a matcha sponge cake with a mascarpone filling. There are droplets of red bean and matcha paste, crunchy raspberries, and a beautiful strawberry cut as if it were a rose. This is the star offering at Panda, and is definitely the perfect choice for your first time. It really gives you a sense what the most popular desserts are like in Japan: a perfect fusion of eastern and western flavors. And for someone who normally doesn’t eat things that are sweet, it was absolutely perfect.

For drinks, I chose an iced matcha latte, while one of my friends had one of the numerous Japanese teas on offer (expertly prepared and we were left with a timer so it could properly boil) and another had the sakura latte.

The matcha latte was naturally refreshing, and is creamier than a typical tea. The next time I go back I’ll naturally have it hot, but it’s something that you can have either in the summer or winter.

Are you ready to enjoy the sweet side of Japanese cuisine? Get a bunch of your friends for a fantastic afterwork and merienda at Panda.

Info

Website & Facebook

Address: Calle del Desengaño, 11
Tel.: 91 786 57 80 / 606 282 608
Metro: Gran Vía (Lines 1 and 5)/Callao (Lines 3 and 5)