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Asanoya
Photograph: Asanoya

The best Japanese bakeries in Singapore

Where to find fluffy shokupan bread and matcha-filled croissants

Written by
Cheryl Sekkappan
,
Pailin Boonlong
&
Mingli Seet
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When it comes to Japanese breads, there’s something that strikes a distinct chord – it’s sweeter, softer, and leaves us craving more. It could be the attention to detail with intricately-layered cream rolls or even unique fillings like red bean or matcha. As much as we enjoy picking up a fresh loaf of bread at Singapore’s best bakeries or devouring the best sandwiches to try, these seven Japanese bakeries have left their well-deserved mark on Singapore’s food scene.

RECOMMENDED: The best cafés in Singapore for brunch and coffee and the best traditional bakeries and cake shops in Singapore

  • Restaurants
  • Bakeries
  • Chinatown

Opened by the same people behind Asaru Studio, Paaru – both a bakery and café – transports you straight to the heart of Japan by engaging all your senses.

Located just a stone's throw away from its café at #01-18, lies its bakery where the magic happens. Here, you can find a selection of freshly baked cakes and plain shokupan at just $12. Small bakes like financier and madeleines are also available at $2 each.

TRY Eggs On Shokupan ($11 for poached, $13 for scrambled) with portobello mushroom (+$5) from their café and freshly baked madeleines ($2) from their bakery. 

  • Restaurants
  • Bakeries
  • Raffles Place

Nestled discreetly within UE Square, this charming Japanese bakery is owned by Akira, a Japanese baker chef trained in French baking with a culinary background enriched by esteemed Michelin-starred restaurants such as Béni and Joël Robuchon. The bakery's focal point is its plain shokupan bread that is handcrafted using flour sourced from Hokkaido, highly recommended to consume on its own to savour its true flavour.

You can choose to take out or dine in at their cosy space with a seating of no more than 15. The selection boasts a variety of bakes – plain or matcha azuki shokupan, sourdough, sweet croissants, and more. For those seeking something more filling, the bakery offers an assortment of sandwich meals, salads and soups, all priced below $20.

TRY The egg mayo sandwich ($8.50) that’s basically a glorious mash of egg sandwiched in between the signature fluffy shokupan ($10). Honey and cream is used to give the bread its soft and chewy texture.

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Kamome Bakery
Photograph: Kamome Bakery

Kamome Bakery

At both of Kamome Bakery’s outlets, Novena or Joo Chiat, it’s the Kid’s Red Bean Butter Bun ($2.30) that’s the constant bestseller. This humble bun is most loved for its simplicity – a thick slab of salted butter over a soft, sweet red bean filling. A baguette ingeniously stuffed with yakisoba ($5.30) or a classic Japanese curry bun ($4), the recipes here are solely their own and it’ll be hard-pressed to find another bakery like this in Singapore.

TRY The teriyaki chicken bun ($6.20) that’s paired with kinpira burdock, a classic Japanese vegetable side dish, or the prawn cutlet baguette ($6.50) – both make for a satisfying but convenient lunch.

  • Restaurants
  • Bakeries
  • Jurong West

Gokoku Japanese Bakery is one of our favourite Japanese bakeries around, and we're glad to see it sprouting up around Millenia Walk, Jurong West, and Great World City, among other locations. Hailing from Kobe, Japan, this chain has been around since 1961. It's known for its light and fluffy loaves made from healthy, traditional grains such as brown rice and sakadane (fermented dough). Case in point – the gokoku shichifuke pan ($2.40) that's chockful of minerals and dietary fibre thanks to Japanese brown rice flour, sunflower seeds, malt, oatmeal, linseed and soybeans.

TRY Besides the signature gokoku shichifuki pan ($2.40), also try the malt kurumi pan ($2.40), signature red bean anpan ($2.60), koucha scones ($2.30) and cream-filled jumbo coronets ($2.10). 

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Provence Bakery
  • Restaurants
  • Bakeries
  • Kent Ridge

If you're ever in Holland Village, do yourself a favour and swing by Provence Bakery. This little Japanese bakery has some of the best bakes in town, all handmade from scratch – no ready-made, frozen dough from the factory here. You can taste the quality in every fluffy bite of bread, whether it's the koshi an pan (red bean bread) or Provence white bread (made again with sakadane). 

TRY We love the pack of chewy chocolate wassants (looks like a croissant but is actually bread) and milk pan ($2). 

Johan Paris
  • Restaurants
  • French
  • Orchard
  • price 2 of 4

The name Johan Paris is distinctly French – and the bakery does have French origins. It was first opened by French baker Roland John in Montparnasse, Paris before finding its way to Ginza Mitsukoshi, Japan in 1983. Today, it's know for turning out French-Japanese classics: distinctly French bakes like croissants, baguettes, brioches, and more – but made with only the best Japanese ingredients and inspired toppings (like mentaiko, for example). 

TRY Bite-sized canelles ($3.50/100g), mini cheesecakes ($3.50/100g) and shio roll ($2.20). 

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Asanoya Boulangerie
Photograph: Asanoya Boulangerie

Asanoya Boulangerie

It’s one of the more quintessential Japanese bakeries at Asanoya Boulangerie. While they do have freshly baked loaves and classic pastries, they’re most known for a lineup of animal-shaped buns. True to whimsical Japanese style, these buns come in all sorts of animal figures, from a turtle matcha pan ($3) with a textured matcha biscuit crust to a white seal-like bread ($3.50) that’s filled with a rich chocolate ganache. 

TRY They have a solid selection of matcha breads, from a matcha doughnut ($3.20) to a matcha azuki croissant ($3.50) that’s also piped with a sweet red bean filling. 

  • Restaurants
  • Bakeries
  • City Hall

Pullman Bakery started in a home kitchen in Hokkaido as far back as 1978, and has since blossomed into a chain Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. As with most excellent bakeries, the focus here is on natural and high quality ingredients, resulting in light and clean-tasting bakes. Japanese, Western, Chinese – the bakery is not shy about where it takes inspiration – resulting in a wide variety of interesting buns and pastries.

TRY The famous curry bread ($2.70), which is generously stuffed with spicy gravy. We also love the crisp red bean danish ($1.80), which offers a familiar but interesting twist on the usual red bean bread. 

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Oishi Pan Bakery
Photograph: Oishi Pan Bakery

Oishi Pan Bakery

While it’s a heartland bakery in Toa Payoh, Oishi Pan Bakery still has a bundle of loyal customers lining up for the fresh bakes. Like many Japanese bakeries, their specialty is soft breads – except full-fledged loaves like an earl grey white chocolate bread ($5) which comes infused with bergamot or a round QQ Mochi Bread ($1.50) that has a uniquely chewy texture. Even the classic butter rolls ($2.50 for three) have a Japanese flair, with a soft and airy dough.

TRY The sun-dried tomato bun ($2.50) which comes with a touch of sea salt – the wafting scent of this when straight out the oven is irresistable.

More Japanese places to explore in Singapore

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