The Best Pastry Shops in Asia

French pastry

All three Asian shops on the list make French pastry. La Fossette in Taipei is a takeaway shop run alone by its French owner, who bakes canelés in limited batches every hour and sells Nantes cakes and almond cookies beside them. At busy times there is a queue and a limit per person, and pre-orders go by text message. La Vie en Rose Pâtisserie in George Town, Malaysia, is a café with croissants, canelés, bomboloni and tarts, made with halal ingredients.

Tokyo shortcake

Aigre Douce, near Mejiro Station in Tokyo, sells French-style cakes and cream puffs and has a small eat-in corner. Its best-known cake is the Chantilly Fraise, a strawberry shortcake, which in Japan means sponge layered with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Lines form before opening, the shop takes cash only, and whole cakes are reserved by phone on weekdays.