Balsan Station café for pistachio and Oreo financiers: Byway Bakers

I came to Byway Bakers Balsan Station after a health checkup because I was starving and craving something sweet! And I discovered a financier spot that absolutely hit this bread-lover's sweet spot...✨ This is a Balsan Station dessert café I will 100% revisit.

A quiet bakery café on a Balsan Station side street

Byway Bakers Balsan Station is about a 10-minute walk from Balsan Station, on a side street by an apartment complex, so the area is fairly quiet!

The smell of bread the second I walked in was insane, okay? Bread kept baking in the back🩷

As a dessert and bakery café, it had tables for eating in and a wide range of drinks. It was relatively quiet when I visited on a weekday afternoon, but takeaway customers kept coming in, so I thought, is this really that good? Better pick my bread quickly. Hahahaha.

The watermelon juice looked delicious, but I wanted to pack up the bread and get home quickly, so passss... I need to try it next time🍉🍉 Since the financiers were so good, I am definitely going back!!

Choosing bread, from butter rice cake to financiers

Time to seriously start choosing bread. I also loved that the tongs and trays were clean :)

Oh! I spotted butter rice cake. I am the person who never tried butter rice cake when it was trending... Since they had it, I put one in my tray, but I should have taken more,,,, So tasty. I love egg tarts so much that I buy one whenever I see one, and Byway Bakers had them too, so into the tray it went. The apple cinnamon tart looked good too ><

A financier lineup worthy of a great-financier place~! Ah, every single one was totally my style, so choosing was not easy. I agonized over Oreo versus almond chocolate and picked Oreo, but next time I am just getting both😊

They also had salt bread and what looked like a delicious jambon-beurre baguette. I chose egg salt bread as a meal substitute!

In the display case, they had the trendy waxy-cheese salt bread. I did not think it would be my thing, so I looked beside it and saw a pistachio fig tart??? This is it. A pistachio maniac has entered. Plus, it looked way too gorgeous not to buy~ Get, get. They packaged everything beautifully, and the person at the register was so kind too🩷 It really makes me want to go back.

Financiers and salt bread are discounted when purchased as packages, so if you are buying several, a package seems like the way to go! The packages were pretty enough for gifts too, so I thought they would be perfect if you are looking for a dessert gift near Balsan Station. There are lots of offices nearby, so it seemed like they get plenty of group orders too.

Bread-shopping haul: complete.

Egg salt bread and butter rice cake, my first bites after fasting

I bought pistachio cream fig tart, egg tart, egg salt bread, butter rice cake, vanilla financier, Oreo financier, and pistachio financier✨ And then I ate all six of them within one day.

First, because I had been fasting, I ate the egg salt bread as a meal substitute, and it was perfect for that. The egg salad had never heard of dryness! It was completely soft and nutty, and it went so well with the soft salt bread. The egg salad was generously packed in too, so I was very satisfied. This is the kind of non-stingy egg mayo portion we want.

Why did I only buy one butter rice cake? After the egg salt bread, I was so curious that I tried it too. The outside was crispy? More crackly than crispy, while the inside was chewy—so delicious;;; I should have bought more,,, Butter rice cake, butter rice cake. They say it is a perfect match for condensed milk, but it was delicious even without it. Then it must be insanely good with condensed milk?

The sweetness of pistachio and vanilla financiers

Byway Bakers, the great-financier place—this is it, this is it,,,. The egg salt bread and butter rice cake were the meal; now it was dessert time. The pistachio financier I had been most curious about!!! Ah, this thing is crazy good;; The moment I took a bite, the pistachio aroma burst out—it was basically made for me.

The pistachio cream on top was delicious, and since the cake itself was green, it seemed like pistachio was in that too! The pistachio flavor was rich and sweet, so good. The pistachios on top gave it a nutty crunch too, and I am going back for this💚 I love sweets, and I loved how sweet it was.

After happily eating, taking a little nap, and waking up, it was immediately egg tart time. First of all: delicious, and I would buy it again!! The tart shell was tasty, and especially the custard cream inside was so good. I do not like egg tarts that taste too eggy and are not sweet—if that is the case, just eat steamed eggs. Byway Bakers' egg tart was nicely sweet, soft, and just right!!!

The custard cream was so soft and sweet—can you see the vanilla bean specks dotted through it? The gentle vanilla fragrance means I need to buy it again. I had planned to eat only the egg tart, but it was too good, so no, that would not do; I pulled out the vanilla financier too. This one had vanilla bean specks and icing as well.

It had a subtle vanilla aroma and, again, I loved that it was sweet. The pistachio financier was sweeter, while the vanilla had a gentler sweetness! I liked how fragrant it was. I thought it while eating the pistachio one, but the financier cake was soft with just the right density; eating the vanilla confirmed it. Haha. This is a true financier spot.

The Oreo financier that I thought about at dawn

The Oreo financier I pulled out because my mouth was bored at dawn. It was just freaking sweet, intensely Oreo-flavored, with Oreo bits to chew on—ah, major recommendation, so delicious. It was so good that I bragged about it to my friends at 2:50 a.m.;; The little mound on top is Oreo cream and Oreo cookies. So Delicious!!!!!!!!! 🖤🤍🖤🤍

Yes, dessert should be sweet to count as dessert. If you like sweets and Oreo, you have to try the Oreo financier~ I debated between the almond chocolate financier and Oreo, then chose Oreo, and I have no regrets... My only regret is not bringing home the almond chocolate one.

After finishing even the Oreo financier, I got curious about the other financiers too haha. Even the financier batter differed by flavor and had its own character, so I can see why people would call this a great-financier place!

The gentle pairing of pistachio cream and fig tart

I ate all six within half a day, and the next day~ the last thing left was the pistachio cream fig tart! Isn't it so pretty?

Because the egg tart was good, I knew the tart shell would be delicious, and I was so excited for the pistachio cream-and-fig combination inside. It met my expectations. The tart shell was crisp, while the pistachio cream and figs had a harmonious, gentle sweetness.

A tart with a pretty cross-section too. While the pistachio financier was sweeter and more intense, the tart had a gentler sweetness, so the figs were not overshadowed and everything worked beautifully together. Everything I tried was delicious, so now I am curious about the other breads too. I need to revisit soon. If you are looking for a bakery or great desserts near Balsan Station, or doing a bakery crawl, this would be a nice place to visit haha.