Melonpan

(Melon Pan, Meronpan, Melon Bun, メロンパン, Sanraizu, Sunrise, Melon Bread)

Melonpan (also known as melon bun and melon bread) is a Japanese sweet bread prepared with sweetened dough that is topped with a layer of cookie dough. It is named melonpan because the crunchy top crust with a criss-cross pattern resembles the melon rind.

Apart from Japan, this sweet bread is also popular in China and Taiwan. Despite its name, melonpan traditionally doesn't contain melon, although the fruit has sometimes been added to the bread in recent years. It is believed that melonpan was shaped to resemble musk melons, which held the status of luxury fruit in 20th-century Japan.

In Kinki, Chūgoku, and Shikoku, melonpan is called sanraizu, meaning sunrise.

Japan

WHERE TO EAT The best Melonpan in the world (according to food experts)

Grigoris Miliaresis and 2 other food critics.

"The perfect balance between what is called “sakusaku” (one of the many words to describe “crispy” in Japanese) and “funwari” (ditto for “fluffy”), the explosion of butter and milk aroma and the way the crystallized sugar on the surface disappears after you bite into it, leaving the exact amount of sweetness is not to be found in any konbini melon pan. Add its size (they don’t call it “jumbo” for nothing) and the environment—if you decide to have it on the spot—you can have a perfect moment."