Better late than never as Godiva delivers a double-helping of melon bread at Godipan.

The established roadmap to success in Japan for restaurants, cafes, and sweets shops from overseas is to offer not only the things that made them famous in their home countries, but to also create tempting treats that adapt their existing expertise to appeal to Japanese palates. So when Belgian chocolatier Godiva opened a bakery in Tokyo’s Yurakucho neighborhood last year, they made sure to have Japanese bakery mainstays like curry bread, cream bread, and conical cornet pastries coming out of their ovens.

But up until now, the Godiva Bakery, officially called Godipan, has been missing what’s arguably the best-loved bread in Japan: melon bread. Melon bread gets its name from its visual resemblance to the ridged rind of a musk melon, but the flavor is all buttery sweetness, with a pillowy soft center and a crisp, cookie-like outer layer delivering a straightforward, undeniable deliciousness.

Melon bread is so widely popular that you could almost go so far as to say any bakery in Japan that doesn’t have it isn’t a true Japanese bakery. So as the Godiva Bakery reaches its one-year anniversary, it’s finally baking melon bread, and making up for its lateness by offering two different kinds.

Of course, this being Godiva, there’s chocolate in their melon bread, and in different places depending on which one you pick. Godiva’s standard version, simply called Melon Bread (or “Melon Pan,” if you’re asking for it in Japanese), has a cocoa crust.

Meanwhile, the Chocolat Cream Melon Bread looks like a completely orthodox piece of melon bread from the outside, but has a chocolate cream core of decadence.

In order to keep the chocolate cream from getting too watery, the Chocolat Cream Melon Bread is sold refrigerated, which should make it all the more enticing to sweets fans during Japan’s ongoing heat wave. Of course, the even better reason to eat it ASAP is because the Chocolat Cream Melon Bread is a limited-time treat that’s only on offer until August 31. The cocoa-crust Melon Bread, though, is a permanent addition to the bakery’s lineup.

Both types of melon bread are on sale as of August 1, with the Melon Bread priced at 378 yen (US$2.50) and the Chocolat Cream Melon Bread 432 yen (a little pricey by melon bread standards, but hey, this is Godiva, after all). To celebrate the bakery’s one-year anniversary, they’re also offering a special eco shopping bag for 1,320 yen…

…which is convenient since filling it up with melon bread to share later with your circle of sweets-loving friends is sure to make you a hero in their hearts.

Location information
Godiva Bakery Godipan / ゴディパン
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Yurakucho 2-10-1
東京都千代田区有楽町２丁目１０番１号
Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Website

Source: PR Times
Top image: Godiva Bakery
Insert images: Godiva Bakery, PR Times
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