Milk Sticks, how I adore thee

These my friend is Fuji Bakery’s Milk Sticks.  They are unassuming goodness from my youth and brings wonderful nostalgic with its simple flavors of condense milk spread on good baguette.  I don’t know about you, but growing up my mother would give my siblings and I mini baguettes and a bowl of condense milk to snack on after school.  Fuji’s simple but sophisticated version of this is small thin 8” baguettes that has been sliced in half and smeared with a combination of whipped butter and condense milk. Trust me, all little kids will love this snack. I know my friend, Enna, who is three year olds loves it and can devour one in just minutes.

The creator of this yummy goodness is Takahito Hirai, or known as Taka.  He is the Pastry Chef for Fuji Bakery at the young age of 26. Taka graduated from Tokyo’s Kokusai Seika Senmon Gakko, specializing in breads and French pastries. 

My friends, Kendra and Michael, were one of the first people to discover them when they first open and introduced us to this bakery on our way to hike Rattlesnake Mountain.  I remember each of us devouring five or six pastries to energize ourselves before our long hike! Good thing we burned a lot of calories on that hike that afternoon.


Once you walk into Fuji Bakery you can smell the amazing varieties of different sweet and savory baguettes from mixed olives, bacon, tomatoes, and chestnut, just to name a few in the store right now.  The best part it is ever changing with seasonal fruits and vegetables.  Breads are only a small portion of what you can find at Fuji Bakery. They have Japanese inspired French pastries like brioche bread filled with azuki and raspberry jam to give it a subtle tartness, chocolate croissants, and melonpan or pastries known as cookie bread favored with green tea, chocolate, raspberry or just plain! Also they do decorated cakes for special occasion in all sort of flavors, check out their website.

Taka fully believes in using the best and freshest local ingredients, along with organic milk and butter. He scours Pike Place Market, Whole Foods and Farmer’s Market to see what is being grown right now and it inspires him to make unique and delicious bakery goods for his customers. 

One of Taka favorite things to make is actually not only the pastries but making a natural starter for his levain, which means he does not use any yeast in making his levain but harvests it naturally from the air.

Another personal favorite you MUST buy is the panettone. It’s not your regular Italian panettone that you usually find around the holidays.  It’s filled with plump raisin and citrus peels, and it is light and slightly sweet and just plain decadent, especially if you spread a bit of honey butter on top.

Fuji Bakery is a must visit if you live or visit Seattle and luckily they have two locations, one on the East side and one in Seattle!

SEATTLE (Weekdays 11-7, Saturdays 11-6, and closed on Sundays & Holidays)

526 S. King St.
Seattle, WA 98104 
On the corner of 6th & King Street, one block north of Uwajimaya 

BELLEVUE (Weekdays 11-7, Saturdays 11-6 and closed on Sundays & Holidays)

526 S. King St.
Seattle, WA 98104 
On the corner of 145th & Lake Hills Boulevard, in the same lot as QFC
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