Review: Maruichi Bagel ★★★★★
Bagels are not an easy thing to get right. I should know, as I’ve tried to make them at home. Factor in that there aren’t cultural or historical bonds to bread, especially bagels, in Japan, and you probably see where I’m going. Too overly generalize; most Japanese don’t know what a good bagel tastes like. So when Maruichi Bagel popped up on my radar, I was intrigued.
It has a lot of good reviews, which claimed an authentic New York bagel was served here. As a real NYer, I thought I would see if this would pass the test.
Not Even Close to a NY Bagle
Let’s get down to brass tax; the bagels don’t taste good. They taste like generic white bread, which is disappointing considering they nail the texture. Yes, the bagels are the perfect amount of hard on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Naomi and I got a few varieties and styles, just to give Maruichi Babel a fair shake. We started with an Everything Bagel with butter. The first thing I noticed was there were no seeds or ingredients on the bottom side of the bagel. I’ve never seen any real bagel place do that. I can only assume that they were doing that as a cost cutting measure. After taking a bite, I found that the butter was unsalted. NO! Who puts unsalted butter on a bagel? It was such a disappointing experience.
Next up, we tried one of their bagel sandwiches. As noted, the bagel itself is generally tasteless white bread. So the sandwich faired a bit better. The bagel didn’t take anything away from the sandwich, but it certainly didn’t add anything. Being that this is a bagel joint, can’t really say this is anything to celebrate. I did enjoy the chewyness when chomping through the sandwich. They also do have a lot variety in fillings, so that’s nice.
From a NYer, take it from me; skip Maruichi Bagel and get a far superior bagel across town at Ozo Bagel.
While you’re here, why not check out some of other REVIEWS or TRAVEL WRITE UPS from around the world.
Contact & General Information
Price: Inexpensive to Mid-Range
Hours: Tues-Sun, 7am-5pm
Website: Maruichi Bagel (Official Website)
Location: Google
