Sage Bakery
3860 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 571-3484
Sage Bakery is a small japanese/french bakery in the same plaza as Nijiya market. The bakery offerings are mainly French desserts, but made in a Japanese style, so the desserts tend to be lighter versions of the French treats.
I’ve had some cakes there. While they’ve always been pretty good, I’ve never been wowed by any of the desserts and I find it to be very pricey. Recently my friend brought me a few desserts from Sage.
When I was photographing these desserts, I actually didn’t feel like eating them. I don’t know what was wrong with me. Not in the mood for sweets?? Luckily it was just temporary, and a few hours later I was dying to dig in. I really enjoyed each of the desserts. I do still think they are a bit overpriced though.
This one was like a coffee flavored tiramisu. This was probably my least favorite because it was more bitter than sweet.
I really loved this one. The cake was light and fluffy. The cream wasn’t too sweet and the strawberries were fresh. I think I’m going to try to recreate a similar cake.
Chocolate mousse cake. Very rich and chocolatey, which I love.
I loved the cream inside this pastry. The cream/custard tasted a lot like the vanilla cream that is in the Beard Papa’s cream puffs. Yummy.
hi kirbie,
maybe next time you’re in the SGV, you can make a quick stop to vanille. the cakes they serve with tea are their selection – they are 1 day old (hence the cheap price). i especially liked one that was green tea cake with red bean filling. they also taro flavored cake and some other types that had exotic fruit flavors.
The prices at Vanille de Patisserie sound cheap! And it does sound like stuff I’d like. I need to somehow work in a visit.
Surprisingly, trying to find a recipe for “asian bakery cakes” is quite hard! Finally found one, I’m going to try it out when I get a chance. It seems a bit time consuming.
I had their tiramisu cake at a birthday once and it was really good. I just don’t like how expensive it is here. The prices are more that of fancier bakeries like Extraordinary desserts. Nice tip about ordering cake ahead of time. Thanks!
Hi Kirbie, I really like Sage bakery. Their desserts taste as light as a feather and they look cute too! They remind me of the desserts at Vanille de Patisserie in San Marino (it’s Chinese owned). If you’re ever there, check it out. I think you’d like it. If you go during “tea time”, you can get 6 slices of cake (half sized) plus tea for $5 or $7. Haven’t been to Sage recently but after seeing this post, I have an urge to go there.
The strawberry cake looks like the type of cakes my mom used to get me for my birthday, which I absolutely loved! Can’t wait to see how yours turn out!
I had to purchase a cake for a last-minute dinner party once, and went to Sage Bakery. I was surprised to see just two whole cakes (this was a weekday mid-morning), and then got sticker shock at the price. However, the cake was a hit at the dinner, so it was well-worth the expense.
They have an ok variety of cakes by the slice, but it’s best to pre-order for a whole cake.