We have been on a bit of a shio pan binge recently. This has led to seek out places to buy shio pan in Singapore and try them all.
For those who may not be familiar, shio pan is a Japanese salted butter roll. With a soft and chewy texture, it is a simple type of bread but yet it is its simplicity that makes it absolutely delicious. The bread is baked with a sprinkling of salt, giving it a delicate yet salty flavour. And our favourite way to have it is when it is slightly toasted with a nice crust and yet a deliciously fluffy interior.
While there are some innovative flavours of shio pan being made, personally, we prefer it simple and plain.
If you are looking to buy shio pan in Singapore, there are different bakeries offering them. Last year, there was even a pop up at Takashimaya by Shio and Sato that resulted in long queues of people lining up to get the Japanese bread.
Bakeries Selling Shio Pan in Singapore
Thankfully, it is now getting easier to get shio pan in Singapore. And after trying shio pan from a famous bakery in Japan, we think that some of the shio pans sold in Singapore are just as comparable to the ones in Japan.
Here are some locations where you can get shio pans in Singapore. We also highlight our favourites.
Kamome Bakery at Goldhill Shopping Centre
There are several Kamome Bakery but our favourite is the one at Goldhill Shopping Centre, next to United Square Shopping Mall. The bakery-cafe makes shio pan fresh each day and we love the buttery flavour of the shio pans here. They come sprinkled with some granules of salt on top, providing the wonderfully salty flavour that complements the chew of the bun.
If you want, you can actually call ahead a day in advance to the Kamome Bakery at Goldhill Shopping Centre to place an order for the shio pans. That way, you can be assured of getting your hands on the shio pans there because they will set it aside for you.
The shio pans at Kamome Bakery top our list of shio pans in Singapore.
Where: 169 Thomson Rd, Singapore 307621
Gokoku Japanese Bakery
One of the most convenient bakeries to get your shio pan fix is from the Gokoku Japanese Bakery. The bakery has multiple locations all around Singapore including Jurong Point, Millenia Walk, Northpoint City and NEX.
Gokoku Japanese Bakery is known for its giant cream filled coronet pastry but we normally head there for the shio pans. The shio pans sold here are nice, soft and fluffy. The plain butter shio pans here are also amongst the most economically priced. Unlike the ones at Kamome Bakery Goldhill Shopping Centre, the buns here do not have a dusting of salt crystals on top. Nonetheless, you can taste the salty butteriness in the dough.
One thing that distinguishes that shio pans here from other places is that some are a variety of flavours available. In addition to the regular shio pan, there is also red bean filled shio pans, peanut butter filled shio pans and condensed milk filled shio pans. These give an extra oomph to the bun.
Where: Locations at Great World, Guoco Tower, Jurong Point, Millenia Walk, NEX, Northpoint City, Tampines Mall, VivoCity and Wisma Atria.
Dough
You can find shio pan at some unusual places and one of them is the Bukit Timah Interim Food Centre. Dough is a bread shop that sells French pastries and Japanese bakes including shio pan from a hawker stall.
We like the shio pans here. It has a nice fluffy consistency, made even better if you toast it a bit to crisp up the exterior. For a touch of magic, the shio pans are sprinkled with a dusting of salt on top.
Where: #01-027 Bukit Timah Interim Market & Food Centre, 2A Jln Seh Chuan, Singapore 599213
Butter Town
Also with a hawker centre location (in addition to two others) is Butter Town. This brand sells plain shio pans along with interesting flavours such as mushroom and mentaiko.
Unfortunately, when we tried it, the plain ones were no longer available and we found the shio pans that we tried to be a bit doughy and not as light as we would have preferred.
Where:
44 Holland Drive, #02-35, Singapore 270044
114 Lavender Str, CT HUB 2, #01-38, Singapore 338729
Raffles Specialist Centre (Hvala), 585 North Bridge Road #01-01 Singapore 188770
Johan Paris Bakery
You will often find a queue of people buying baked goods at Johan Paris Bakery in the basement of Shaw House. The bakery offers a combination of Japanese and French influences. The shio pans here are comparable to the ones at Gokoku Japanese Bakery but without the variety (at least not when we visited). Visually, we also prefer the ones at Gokoku Japanese Bakery.
Where: 350 Orchard Rd, B1 Shaw House (Isetan), Singapore 238868
Shio & Sato
Shio & Sato is the earlier mentioned bakery that ran a pop up at Takashimaya. They currently do not have a physical store but (usually) take preorders from their website. They also run pop-ups in collaboration with other brands. For example, in January, they will be having a pop up with Tom’s Palette at Bugis. Follow them on social media for the latest.
Website: Shio & Sato
Sugar Thieves
Sugar Thieves is a bakery and dessert shop at Kreta Ayer that offers interesting versions of shio pans. We have yet to try their shio pans yet but will update this story once we have.
Where: Blk 333 Kreta Ayer Road #01-23, Singapore 080333
Website: Sugar Thieves
Baker & Cook
Recently, we came across an onion shio pan at Baker & Cook at Dairy Farm Mall. It was just one of the many breads that they had on offer. We didn’t have a chance to try it but the price tag on it looked expensive. Ouch!
If you enjoyed this story, we think you may also enjoy this other story about a Japanese discount store in Singapore that sells Japanese pasta.
