Melonpan is a soft enriched-dough bun topped with a thin layer of crisp sugar-cookie crust scored in a melon-skin grid. No melon flavour despite the name; sweet, fragrant, sold hot.
Melonpan emerged in Tokyo's bakeries in the early 20th century, with the cookie-topped form attributed variously to Kobe and Tokyo bakers in the 1910s and 1930s. The dish is now a national bakery staple, and Asakusa's Kagetsudo (opened 1945) is widely credited with making the city's most famous outsized melonpan. Tokyo bakeries push variations (matcha, melon-cream filled, chocolate-chip) but the canonical form is the plain bun with the grid-scored cookie top, baked twice a day and sold warm.
3 editor picks for Melonpan in Tokyo, ranked by editorial score. All Tokyo signature dishes · Melonpan across every city.
Pelican Bakery ★ 4.8
Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0042, Japan
Pelican Bakery in Tokyo's Asakusa has baked only two products since 1942: shokupan and dinner rolls. Loaves sell out by mid-afternoon and reservations help.
Centre The Bakery ★ 4.7
Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan
Centre The Bakery in Tokyo's Ginza is the shokupan-only counter where queues form for the milk bread tasting flight by 11:00 most days. Cafe seating upstairs.
Nakamise-dori snack street ★ 4.1
Tokyo 111-0032, Japan
Nakamise-dori in Tokyo's Asakusa is the 250-metre snack street between Kaminarimon gate and Senso-ji temple. Ningyo-yaki, agemanju, senbei since 1685.