Another lovely set in the Friends line. After the City Park Cafe #3061, Butterfly Beauty Shop #3187, and Heartlake Pet Salon #41007, this is the 4th shop for Heartlake City: the Downtown Bakery.

Box/Instructions

The box is in typical Friends style with rounded edges and it has detailed pictures that show play possibilities. For a 253 parts set this box is surprisingly heavy.

Parts

Like many other Friends sets the Downtown Bakery also contains a wide array of colours but I think I haven't seen any nother set (of any theme) which had so many colours! I counted 23 different colours, hair parts not included! Nevertheless the finished build looks very harmonious and not too 'busy'.

There are lots of interesting parts. You get 32 tan bricks for the outer walls (amongst them many 1 x 2 x 2 and 1 x 2 x 5 bricks), a bread and a pretzel in medium dark flesh, three cherries (one is extra) in magenta (which I believe is a new colour for this part) and seven trans clear panels 1 x 2 x 1.

Minifigures

This time Mia and Danielle make their appearanc in the Friends line-up. Mia wears black trousers and a white chefs jacket, which is new of course.

The build

First you build the minifigs (well, Mia and Danielle) and then a very nice looking refrigeration display. The build of the bakery itself is overall straightforward. Being a corner building (the first in the Friends series) the LEGO designers added a rather ingenious sign board in a 45 degrees angle above the entrance of the shop using a couple of Technic pins and hinges. I found this the nicest part of the build. For an AFOL like me the build was not difficult but I'm sure that our kids will enjoy it even more than I did! There are three stickers and they are easy to apply.

The cakes on display in the bakery look gorgeous, especially the wedding cake. I got an appetite while building ;-)

The completed model...

... looks really nice. The only critical point I have is that there are two mini-builds that don't fit on the baseplate namely the well designed refrigeration display and the oven/dishwasher (?).

Summary

Overall a great set. The selection of parts is very useful for MOC-ing. The cost per piece ratio is very good. I suggest you buy one for your daughter and one or more for yourself.

41006 Downtown Bakery Was my first Lego Friends set I ever owned, while I did feel abit rip-off that I paid alittle more extra at Toys R' Us, this set was still solid during the early years of the line.

Box/Instructions:

Lego Friends at the time had a unique box design by having a "oval" like bloat from their packaging in purple. The booklet request 50 steps of building (ends at Page 65).

Parts/Pieces:

I'm not much of a System person but from browsing through the part appearance, but one thing I know about the Friends line is that their filled with variety of colored pieces and this set still keep that meta. This set contain 2 type of stickers that are relatively 6 studs wide.

Majority of the Medium Azure and the Tan Bow piece were relatively rare/new back in the days. This set also include Kitchen Accessories in Flame Yellowish Orange which was new from this color and surprisingly the only set that appeared in 2013.

Mini-Dolls:

This set contains 2 Exclusive characters:

Danielle sports a blonde hair with lavender clothing and Earth Blue skirt and she doesn't appear in any other set in any shape or form.

Mia has nothing new beside wearing a chef outfit that is only available in this set which looks ok.

The Build:

Like I mention earlier, im not a expert on System set, but the build doesn't have any unique technique that stood out beside the sign placement, however the colors blend so well. The oven is probably the weakest side build from the entire set while food display stand looks nice.

The Completed Model:

The bakery that Mia runs is relatively compact and filled with brick built cakes (plus other assortment of baked food). The model must be viewed by the corner since the back is a gapping hole, but it doesn't bother me.

I do find it odd that the 2 side builds (oven and food display) are suppose to stand outside, but I recommend connecting it inside despite some part sticking a few stud long.

Theirs a fair amount of small detail such as the bush, fire hydrant, and berry container. 2 cake sign require sticker and gives a better decoration to the set.

One grip I have with this set is a lack of a area to sit, you expect your customer to walk out to another location rather than set-up a bench or table to have a better experience at the bakery?

Final Thoughts:

Pros:

• Exlusive Mini-Dolls
• Wide Array of Colors

Cons:

• Price-per Piece ratio is abit off
• No Table to Sit

I will admit this set not as good compared to the newer food based location, but at the time, the bakery maintain a good assortment of pieces and a nice display set to play around with.