Twelve Bakeries to Try in Kyoto, a City That Eats Bread

Kyoto is associated with kaiseki and obanzai, but what people here eat day to day is bread.

Household spending on bread in Kyoto ranks third in Japan.

The city has close to 300 bakeries, and some streets hold so many they are known for it.

This article covers twelve bakeries in Kyoto chosen by people who like bread. Comparing the taste, the texture and the scent from shop to shop is part of the pleasure.

Why bread took hold in Kyoto

Kyoto has a great many traditional crafts: Nishijin weaving, Kiyomizu ware, Kyo-yuzen dyeing and Kyo-kumihimo braiding, among others.
The craftsmen and merchants behind them wanted something they could eat with one hand between tasks, and bread served.

Kyoto also has many long-standing wagashi shops working with bean paste, such as Demachi Futaba and Tsuruya Yoshinobu. The anpan made with that bean paste caught on, and is said to have started the city’s taste for bread.

Kyoto is also a university city, with Kyoto University and Doshisha University among others, and students met in kissaten as a matter of course, which brought bread along with them.

Several things together, then, made Kyoto a city of bread.

Shinshindo: Where the Kyoto Taste for Bread Began

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Shinshindo, founded in 1913, was the first in Japan to sell pre-sliced bread, under the name Daily Bread. It meant people no longer had to slice a loaf at home.

True to that name, Shinshindo makes bread you can eat every day without tiring of it, using wholemeal flour and mixed grains.

The sandwiches are worth a look too: the sawayaka saba sando with mackerel, and the chicken sandwich with peanut sauce.

For something sweet, the Kyo-donuts pair chewy dough with a crisp glaze.

Recommended: the sawayaka saba sando

Maruki Seipan-sho: Koppepan That Locals Have Eaten Since Childhood

Maruki Seipan-sho is known locally for its koppepan sandwiches.

Filling the bread means a meal in one hand, which is why dyers working nearby used to come. It opens early, and people stop in on the way to work or school.

For savory, the ham roll packed with ham and cabbage, or the yakisoba pan made in limited numbers. For sweet, the anpan with plenty of chunky bean paste, or the milk cream one made with milk and butter.

The staff are cheerful and the bread comes out of the oven as you wait, which is part of why people keep coming.

Recommended: the ham roll

Flip up!: A Bagel Shop Popular Enough for Two Branches

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A popular shop built around bagels, along with ciabatta, the Italian table bread, and croissants and panini. Bagels come plain and in flavors such as kinako with black beans, cheese and chocolate.

It has grown popular enough to open a second shop near the Samurai Ninja Museum.

The staff T-shirts carry the shop’s character, a girl with bread in her mouth.

Recommended: the chocolate bagel

Lion Bakery: Additive-Free Bread for Any Age

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Lion Bakery makes bread from additive-free dough and has an eat-in space serving organic coffee.

The curry pan, mild with large pieces of meat, is popular with children. The matcha chocolate bread, pairing fragrant matcha with sweet white chocolate, is back by request.

The shop also sells naturally grown rice raised by the staff and azuki tea made entirely from naturally grown Kyoto dainagon beans.

It is near Nijo Castle, which makes it easy to fit into a day out.

Recommended: the grilled chicken curry pan

THE CITY BAKERY Kyoto Nishikikoji: A New York Bakery in the Kitchen of Kyoto

THE CITY BAKERY began at Union Square in Manhattan, where it combined a croissant with a pretzel to make the pretzel croissant.

True to the name, which means the bakery of the town, the Kyoto branch sits in a corner of Nishiki Market, with a cafe space in a converted kura and a courtyard.

The pretzel croissant smells of butter, crisp outside and chewy within. The rock salt on top works against the faintly sweet dough.

The Kyoto Nishikikoji branch also has its own pizza and sandwiches, along with craft beer from Kyoto Brewing, which suits an evening.

Recommended: the pretzel croissant

2/7 kitchen BAKERY: Croissants Worth More Than Twice a Week

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2/7 kitchen BAKERY takes its name from the idea of bread you want twice a week. It suits anyone who likes hard-crusted or flaky bread.

The TMC sandwich fills ciabatta with fresh tomato, mozzarella and chicken; the smoked bacon epi goes with a drink; and there is one made with azuki.

Reviews call the croissant the best they have eaten, and some people travel from other prefectures for the croissants and the pain au chocolat.

Espresso and iced coffee are sold alongside, which would make it hard to visit only twice a week if you lived nearby.

Recommended: the croissant

Nitta Bakery: Flaky and Chewy Bread Worth the Trip

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Nitta Bakery is a small family-run bakery near Kiyomizu-dera and Yasaka Shrine.

It opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and has regulars who plan around it, locals and returning visitors alike.

The croissants, the sausage baguette, the garlic bread and the croque monsieur are all worth ordering, whether you want flaky, hard-crusted or savory.

In spring there are seasonal breads such as the sakura-an shokupan, with cherry leaves worked into the bean paste.

The hard breads are crisp outside and chewy within, and bring out the wheat as you chew.

Panraku: Good Bread at a Price Worth Having Nearby

Panraku is marked by an illustration of a giraffe bending its neck.

A lava oven bakes at high heat for a short time, which gives a crisp surface and a soft, chewy inside.

The curry pan pairs a spicy European-style curry with a crunchy coating; the cream pan is rich with egg yolk; and the morning roll needs nothing on it. Prices are reasonable throughout.

Le Petit Mec Imadegawa: The Most French Boulangerie in Japan

Le Petit Mec stands out even in Imadegawa, where bakeries compete, and French customers call it the most French of them.

It opened its first shop in Imadegawa in 1998 and now has shops in Kyoto and beyond.

The front is stylish, and the eat-in space, done in red check, serves hot sandwiches made only here, with plenty of cheese.

The danishes made with seasonal fruit are not too sweet, which suits anyone who finds most pastries sugary. The croissant, rich with butter, is the one to start with.

Recommended: the croissant

Pain de Bleu Horikawa Imadegawa: The One for Value

Pain de Bleu sets out to be the bakery of its neighborhood, and wants choosing bread to feel like something to look forward to.

Along with the standards, such as cream pan, curry pan and coarse sausage bread, there are seasonal ones such as the amanatsu white bean bun and lemonade fromage in summer.

Prices are lower than most, with many breads around 100 yen, so much of it sells out by the afternoon. Go in the morning if there is something you want.

Recommended: the French toast made with the soft shokupan

Marie France Imadegawa: For Anpan

Marie France has been baking in Imadegawa since 1984.

It is known for its range of anpan: ogura anpan, one made in the style of a yakimochi, and yomogi anpan.

The bean paste tastes best three days after it is made, so the shop adjusts how much it makes each day to serve it at that point.

There are also soft cream pan and melon pan, along with croissants, frankfurters and croque monsieur, so you can take home both sweet and savory.

Recommended: the ogura anpan

Boulangerie Yamazaki: A Neighborhood Find

Nishikyogoku has a number of neighborhood bakeries worth knowing, and Boulangerie Yamazaki is the stylish one among them.

It has the feel of a bakery that has been there a long time, where the bread works as a meal and as something sweet alike.

For sweet, there are danishes with fruit or chocolate, and several kinds of babka made from brioche dough worked with chocolate or caramel.

For savory, there are several kinds of casse-croute filling a baguette with sausage, egg, ham or potato, along with a seasonal vegetable dog and mentaiko french.

The shokupan is popular enough that people reserve it. Worth a visit if you want a bakery the locals vouch for.

Summary

This article has covered bakeries worth visiting in Kyoto.

Each one carries a wide range, from savory to sweet, which makes it hard to stop at one.

Buying the same kind of bread at several shops, cream pan or anpan say, and comparing them is its own pleasure.

The article below covers cafes and coffee shops in Kyoto.

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