Brio Brio Bakery & Café / BRI BARU

We've ordered roast beef, pulled pork sandwich and a chocolate briochi today for lunch. The sandwich portion was big, super tasty but a bit too salty. After the lunch i could feel my salty tongue! Briochi was amazing! It's warm, smell and taste so good, and the softness is at the right level! Briochi is the best!!

We had our lunch outside at the patio with music, more quiet then at the inside. Good place for a slow-mo lunch there!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery

Amazing food, it's no wonder the place gets packed so fast. I especially enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich and artichoke and cheese bread. Will definitely be revisiting for more sandwiches and bread even though I live kinda far away.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Sandwich

2024.12.21 \First visit/

Let me start with the conclusion. Roast Beef Don and KUROBUTA Pulled Pork are delicious.

This week I saw someone recommending this Roast Beef Don for dinner on Threads, but the menu is only available for 12/22, so I made an appointment with my husband. Although I won’t be able to eat it in the future, I still go there while the menu is at the end. Find out.

This store has a very Japanese feel. When you enter the store, you will first walk through the store selling a variety of very Japanese products, including plates, cups, many desserts, as well as matcha powder and sencha powder. I like so many of them and want to take them home.

The waiter helped us arrange our seats in a gentle and friendly manner, and the wait didn't take long before the meal was served.

We weren't very hungry and didn't order much. Among them, KUROBUTA Pulled PorkT aco tastes surprisingly good. I once tried this way of cooking pork in a famous restaurant in Hawaii. I was frightened to death by the fishy smell and never wanted to try it again. But not only does the KUROBUTA Pulled Pork here not have any fishy smell, the seasoning is also very detailed, and it is very juicy. I am surprised that they can make me like this taco so much. If there is a next time, my husband and I will definitely order it again, but unfortunately there is no next time.

The Roast Beef Don again did not disappoint! The tenderness of the beef, the accompanying dipping sauce, and the half-boiled egg on top all complement each other. The overall taste is surprisingly refreshing and not burdensome at all. The thoughtful thing is that they offer three sizes of full/half/mega to choose from, which is very flexible. People who want to eat a little or want to eat a lot have suitable choices. They are very friendly! I really hope I can eat there all the time, but unfortunately I won’t be able to see it again after 12/22.

Another one that we were also very interested in, but just couldn’t eat, was the Wagyu Smashed Burger. This is limited to only 5 pieces a day, and there was still supply when we arrived at 7 o'clock. Hope to have the opportunity to meet you in the future.

Wagyu Beef is more ordinary and drier.

It's such a pity that I won't have the chance to eat such a cute dinner menu in the future. Hope to have a chance to meet again.

The store will also adjust its business hours in the future. If you want to go, you can pay attention to their Instagram announcement.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

A real Japanese Izakaya style experience in Lake Forest? Bri Baru was delightfully surprising. Approachable standards like Curry Udon, Beef Curry and Pork Don all made in house for a truly authentic experience. The menu is a perfect representation of what you might see in Japan with fusion-y elements like tacos and tried and true modern izakaya style dishes like Mentaiko Udon.

We got a little bit of everything:

Mentai Udon - Impossibly creamy, umami, deep and rich with delightfully chewy and soft udon noodles. A slight hit of spice rounds out the creaminess to give the dish dimension.

Curry Udon - House made curry was fantastic, spiced perfectly with a plethora of flavors.

Takoyaki - Fluffy, chewy and doughy octopus pancake balls were saucy and delicious.

Shrimp and Wagyu tacos were very unique each with completely different flavor profiles.

Beef Curry - House made curry again with healthy chunks of beef. Each bite uncovered a new layer of spice as you ate through the dish. Wonderful.

Brio Dip - Think deconstructed, elevated tuna salad sandwich. Light and delicious.

Japanese Fish & Crisps - Love this Japanese take on fish and chips. Mackerel was lightly fried, oily but not fishy. Salty and fantastic. Herbed Japanese ridged potato chips were a great accoutrement. House mayo was slightly sweet and umami delicious. Would only ask for a wedge of lemon to squeeze on the fish?

Roast Beef Don - Generous slices of cold roast beef on rice with a wasabi mayo. Roast beef was cooked perfectly, tender and juicy.

What a phenomenal experience! Will certainly be back for more and to also try the Brio Brio bakery, the baked goods and breakfast items look great too. See you soon!

Everything is delicious 😋
Especially the mentai sandwich🥪 and the cheesecake
Matcha latte and hojicha latte👍

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Delightful first time experience. Ordered the roast beef and pulled pork sandwiches. Both were generous, on fresh baked baguette, and served with a simple salad. Very cute place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Sandwich, Salad

This place is amazing with all authentic Japanese food! We ordered like crazy

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery, Sandwich

All aspects of this place were amazing. Highly recommend!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

What an amazing bakery/coffee shop. I had a Lemon Brioche, out of this world. Also had an Oat Milk Mocha Latte, again, killer. If I lift anyone in easier this would be my everyday stop without question

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I've visited Brio Brio many times in the morning during the Bakery & Cafe hours and I'm always delighted by their brioche and cheesecakes. My usual breakfast order is the artichoke ham & cheese and a cafe mocha! The portions are perfect. This time I was able to visit BRI BARU during the evening and enjoyed their drinks (the Sparkling Yuzu & Japanese Hakuto cocktails) which have a strong fruity flavour! It was impressive how much the peach flavour came through, especially because the light fruit flavours are more at the forefront than the alcohol. The Smoked Salmon Tartine was AMAZING and I will recommend it to anyone remotely curious. The Karaage is also crispy onnthe outside, super juicy
on the inside, and sauced to perfection!

The staff is always kind and the store is always very clean.

Please do yourself a favour and enjoy a meal from Brio Brio during the day, or Bri Baru in the evening!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Matcha Cheesecake Slice, Bakery, Takoyaki

Their shokopan Japanese loaf of bread is fantastic. However last time they cut it wrong for me (I even overheard them in the kitchen in Japanese saying they sliced it wrong based on the thickness I requested). They did not fix it. Also their tuna sandwich was horrible - I tossed it into the garbage after one bite. Worst $17 I ever spent. Burnt bread and sweet tuna salad with spoiled lettuce. Terrible. It’s a nice venue and their bread is good to take home but otherwise I would never dine here. They really need to improve their customer service and sandwiches especially for the crazy high prices they charge.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Taka energy is so amazing! The sandwiches was delicious, definitely recommend

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Sandwich

Really good cheesecake!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Sandwich, Prime Beef Curry

Wow, the match cheesecake is a show stopper. All the food was great, big fan - will be back

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery, Sandwich

Food is very fresh and delicious! Really good portion sizes, even split-able, if you're used to eating smaller portions.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery, Salmon Egg Sandwich