Special ingredients and four flavors promise it’ll taste as good as it looks.

The name Neko Neko Shokupan probably feels like a major mouthful if you don’t speak Japanese, but trust us, those are handy words to know. Neko, repeated here for emphasis, means “cat,” while shokupan means “bread,” specifically the standard type of loaves used for making toast or sandwiches.

So as you might have guessed, Japanese bakery Neko Neko Shokupan specializes in cat bread. That doesn’t mean that they bake treats for kitties, though, but ones for human feline fans which are shaped like adorable cats!

Honestly, these baked goods are cute enough to get by on their looks alone, but they taste special too. For starters, there’s not a single drop of water used in making the bread. Instead, all necessary moisture for the recipe comes from using milk. Combined with flour harvested on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, which Neko Neko Shokupan says has a natural sweetness, and the remaining ingredients of honey, butter, and milk cream, the bakery promises its bread is rich, soft, and fluffy.

As the above example shows, Neko Neko Shokupan is a great canvas for those who like to play with their food, as spreads, fruit slices, and berries can transform the silhouette into a more fully realized kitty companion. On the other hand, if you want extra flavor without doing any additional work, Neko Neko Shokupan is available in chocolate, azuki sweet red bean, and cheese versions in addition to the standard plain.

Neko Neko Shokupan’s Tokyo location opened in late fall, but now it’s Osaka’s turn, as the prefecture is welcoming its first branch of the bakery, which will start serving customers at Osaka Prefecture’s Aeon Mall Shijonawate on February 7. While the shop’s listed hours say it’s open until 10 p.m., the management notes that the bakery will close early on days when they sell out of bread, so arriving early is probably a good idea, especially since that’ll give you a better chance of going back to buy a second batch if/when you scarf down the first.

Bakery information

Neko Neko Shokupan / ねこねこ食パン

Address: Osaka-fu, Shijonawate-shi, Suna Yonchome 3-2

大阪府四條畷市砂四丁目3番2

Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Website

Source, images: @Press

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