The name of a company Gateau Festa Harada (ガトーフェスタハラダ) became famous among Japanese people, thanks to their tasty sugar rusk called GOUTER de ROI. Their shops are available throughout Japan, and their products are chosen as a proper souvenir for someone special. Great news for this product is that it can be Halal or Muslim-friendly, too!
Let’s see the reasons why their rusk became this popular, and also the ingredients to help you find if the product is really alright to consume or not.
Credit: https://www.gateaufesta-harada.com/
History of Gateau Festa Harada and their GOUTER de ROI.
Gateau Festa Harada became very popular within these 10 years, but the company actually has a very long history. Started as a Japanese Sweet confectionery in Takasaki, Gumma, in 1901, they had been polishing their skills in making sweets. However, during the war they have also started producing breads. These skills helped the company to make this sweet crispy bread-like snack.
Rusk is a type of sweet that originally came from Germany. It was first made to make old bread taste better, by putting sweet sugar and egg on top of the dried bread and then baked to make it crispier. Gateau Festa Harada is now using French baguette to make their rusk, with slightly sweetened and crispy light texture. Their rusk is not too sweet, but with flavor of butter and the crusty texture. This is the reason why their product is super delicious, and people are buying their product.
So, is the product Halal?
To let you decide if the product is Halal or not, we list the ingredients below.
Ingredients: Flour, Butter, Sugar, Yeast, Salt, Vitamin C
As you can see, they are made from very simple ingredients. It is surprising to know that they do not neither egg nor shortening in their ingredients.
Price: 8 bags (16 pieces) for 691 yen~ Expiry date: 50 days
Credit: https://www.gateaufesta-harada.com/
What about the products with different flavors?
There are various flavors for their rusk GOUTER de ROI. For example, there is Triple Berry flavor, whose surface is coated with berry chocolates. Ingredients are as follows.
Ingredients of Triple Berry: Chocolate made from cocoa butter, sugar, lactose, strawberry and raspberry powder, skimmed powder milk, Flour, butter, blueberry puree, yeast, salt, blueberry and raspberry powder, emulsifier from soybean, Vitamin C, Silver leaf as decoration
It clearly says that their emulsifier is from soybean, a plant-based.
Price: 5 for 972 yen ~ Expiry date: 60 days
This is a limited edition, so the item is not always available.
Where can we buy the item?
GOUTER de ROI is available to buy in many major department stores and online. Unfortunately, as of May 2023, we could not confirm that they sell their products in airport.
Below is the information about their main shop in Takasaki, and the list of departments stores that are easy to be accessed by tourists.
Takasaki Chateau de BONHEUR
Address: 1207 Shinmachi, Takasaki, Gumma 370-1301 群馬県高崎市新町1207 Tel: 0274-43-1100 Opening hours: 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. *There is also a free factory tour, no reservation requires unless your group has 20 or less person.
Matsuya Ginza
Address: G1 Flr., Matsuya Ginza, 1-6-3 Ginza, Chuo Ward, Tokyo 104-8130 東京都中央区銀座3-6-1 松屋銀座 地下1階 Tel: 03-3563-0133 Opening hours: Same as Matsuya Ginza Department store.
Hanshin Umeda
Address: G1 Flr., Hanshin Umeda mainstore, 13-13-1 Umeda, Kita Ward, Osaka 大阪府大阪市北区梅田1-13-13阪神梅田本店 地下1階 Tel: 06-6345-0494 Opening hours: Same as Hanshin Umeda Department store.
Their branches are also available in Hokkaido, Chiba, Saitama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe, Fukuoka and Kumamoto. Check their official website for more details.
In conclusion
When we think about rusk in Japan, Gateau Festa Harada is the No.1 product. Also, the risk of contamination is so low for this product, which is another reason why we can recommend this product for Muslims.
The product can be bit fragile, but it is worth trying to get them home. We hope you can enjoy their taste with your friends.
