If you ever happen to pass by one of Kaldi Coffee Farm‘s many stores in Tokyo, you may want to check go in and see if they have their instant Melon Pan Spread (¥332) on stock – if they have ’em on stock, that is, because this instant melon pan spread is one of their popular items.
As you might already know, Melon Pans are a very popular street food in Japan. No they don’t contain melon inside the bulgy bread, but instead these Japanese sweet bread are coated with a thin-crust layer of sugary sweetness that makes the top crisp. The gridlines are then drawn on top of the bread, making the finished bread resemble that of a melon or a cantaloupe. And they don’t always have to come in melon flavor as they also come in other fruit flavors, it’s just that melon flavor is the most popular one which is just apt for its name (and seriously though, who wouldn’t want it to be melon flavor anyways).
I got one for me to try (for only ¥332), and I must say it actually did what it was advertised to do. And it did good.
Trying out Kaldi Coffee Farm’s instant Melon Pan Spread
Ok so first off, can we talk about the smell and texture of this spread? Upon opening the plastic jar it gave off that fresh bakeshop smell, just like buying bread in the morning. It’s a smell that’s very comforting and mouthwatering at the same time. It definitely smells like melon as well, and the texture is very creamy with bits of what looks like popping candy to me – I still don’t know what the bits are, but they did add a bit of crunch to the bread when I tried it later on which made sense because Melon Pans do have that thin layer of crispy sugar on top.
Now the spread already tastes good and fruity and very creamy on its own even without the bread and the toasting, but the magic happened when I spread them on bread then put ’em in the oven toasted: there were bubbles forming on top of the spread that kept on bubbling as they got toasted in the oven. Now there’s definitely some magic going on, I’m not sure though, but I suppose the bubbling is to form that crisp layer of sugar on top?
The final product is a fragrant crunchy crisp bread with a crisp layer of melon spread. It’s crunchy and it’s popping (it’s like there’s nuts or popping candy in it), making a bite into the bread an explosion of crisp texture and creamy melon flavor. One thing for sure, one tub won’t be enough so make sure to get more. 😛
PS. Also please do check out my review of Kaldi Coffee Farm’s Instant Microwaveable Omurice!
