It may look like a mini croissant, but this Japanese-born treat tastes and feels completely different. Shio pan translates to salt bread; it’s made by wrapping milk bread dough around a log of cold, salted butter that melts into the fluffy bread as it bakes. The result? A crisp golden-brown crust and soft buttery interior that’s salty-sweet and pulls apart, instead of flaking like pastry.
Originating in Japan just over 10 years ago, the football-shaped bread has since spawned variations such as Korea’s sogeum-ppang, and now it’s exploded in major cities across the globe. At Dua Bakehouse in Collingwood, shio pan has been part of the core offering since the cafe’s inception.
“I think our customers are really drawn to the texture: the crisp bottom, buttery exterior and soft chewy centre,” owner and baker Raymond Tan says. “We approach shio pan much like others would approach croissants, using it as a canvas for both classic and creative flavours.”
Dua’s shio pan might be baked twice and stuffed with garlic cream cheese, or filled with anything from fish roe to a Malaysian-leaning pandan kaya peanut butter. A sleeper hit, it’s replaced topped focaccia as one of the shop’s bestsellers.
Bakemono
The often lengthy queue snaking down Drewery Lane – a bluestone laneway just off Little Lonsdale Street – is worth joining. At the end lie pastries from a tiny Japanese-inspired bakery. Shoji-style timber frames are found throughout, including on the large window that allows eager customers to peep at the pastry kitchen before entering. Specialty treats include custardy caneles (pick from Earl Grey, rum-vanilla and matcha) while buttery shio pan and various Danishes and croissants make regular appearances.
Must order: Any of the croissants – crunchy on the outside, delicate and soft inside, and last year ranked in the top five in Good Food’s croissant taste test.
273 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, bakemonobakers.com.au
Dua Bakehouse
This sibling to CBD bakehouse Raya casts the net wide for inspiration and its cabinet looks like no other around town. Staff in the open kitchen shape pillowy shokupan rolls and plate thick-cut bacon over fluffy hotcakes. Cabinet cakes are no-rules mashups that work, whether matcha-banoffee pie or Swedish princess cake with pandan snuck into its marzipan. Drinks might be TikTok-ready but their quality isn’t an afterthought, especially the malted strawberry matcha.
Must order: Pork and prawn sui mai sausage rolls are country-bakery-meets-yum-cha magic.
Collingwood Yards, Shop 1/35 Johnston Street, Collingwood, instagram.com/duabakehouse
Heebi
Named for the Japanese word hibi, meaning “daily life”, this cosy sibling to Japanese kissaten-inspired cafe Omo in the CBD acts as a third space for work-from-homers; a casual hang for uni students; and a destination for specialty coffee, matcha and baked goods. Warm, buttery shio pan is baked fresh daily and best dunked in salty-sweet shio cold cream coffee. The fitout feels akin to a warm living room, with dark timber furnishings, stained glass, vintage light shades and mid-century modern pieces sourced across Melbourne.
Must-order: Heebi Deep coffee with shio pan.
127 Pelham Street, Carlton, instagram.com/heebicafe
May Bakes
The typically soft and fluffy shio pan rolls – perfect for one – get a Vietnamese twist at May Bakes, mimicking the texture of a crusty banh mi baguette. It’s a hybrid developed by co-owner Cassidy Tran, who operated a shio pan bakery in Hanoi in 2022. One shio pan features com, Vietnam’s young green rice, and pistachio paste, while bigger dishes include a deconstructed banh mi breakfast plate. Iced egg coffee, brewed from robusta beans grown on Tran’s family’s coffee farm in Da Lat, comes with a crunchy bruleed top. It’s non-negotiable.
Must order: Pho-wich. Red wine-braised beef sandwiched in shio pan, served with a pho broth dipper that’s simmered for six-plus hours.
Unit 24/2-6 New Street, Richmond, instagram.com/maybakes.melb
Pinned Coffee
Walk along Bourke Street and you might start to notice passersby clutching trendy iced coffee cups like they’re a uniform. Follow the mont blanc trail and you’ll find yourself down plant-lined Rankins Lane, where Melburnians queue for creamy espresso drinks at Pinned. The bestselling Lion Tamer gets its moniker from the coffee beans used, roasted by Reverence in Campbellfield. Get there before midday or risk missing out on pastries from new Richmond bakery May Bakes (see above) such as shio pan, Basque cheesecake and chewy choc-chip cookies.
Must order: The Lion Tamer - double ristretto, “secret” milk blend, cream and fresh orange.
Rankins Lane, Melbourne, instagram.com/pinned.coffee
Regulars
Led by husband-and-wife duo Prem (Tori’s) and Eddie Pan (ex-St Ali), Regulars is known for its finger-numbing, minus 85-degree “dirty coffee”. Beyond that, the menu is stacked with other specialty beverages like Kenyan cold brew with grape, berry and dark chocolate syrups and topped with berry cream. To eat, plain shio pan – soft, buttery Japanese salt bread – is the main drawcard, but there are also caneles, peanut butter cookies and fluffy pull-apart garlic shio pan, a riff on the Korean garlic cream cheese rolls at Tori’s.
Must-order: The dirty minus 85-degree coffee.
Ground floor, 38-40 Little La Trobe Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/regularsmelb
Sabi Sounds
Plenty of cafes are turning into wine bars by night, but not many offer a sober space for evening coffees and chill hangs. Hawthorn listening cafe Sabi Sounds is the day-to-night counterpart to nearby Bar Selecta, serving Ona coffee, Japanese matcha and hojicha, alongside a selection of Japanese and Korean-inspired snacks. By dark, lights are dimmed, mocktails are shaken and four listening booths open up. Book one free of charge and explore Sabi’s record library (also available to purchase), courtesy of Northcote’s Rathdowne Records – or bring your own vinyl. Chat, listen, play a game of chess and take in the calm.
Good to know: Community events are frequent – check the Sabi Sounds Instagram for live acoustic sessions, run clubs and more.
717 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, sabisounds.co
Can’t see your favourite cafe? Chances are it’s in another category. Explore the full list of the 100 Essential Cafes and Bakeries of 2026 in the Good Food app. It’s available as a standalone subscription and is included in premium digital Sydney Morning Herald subscriptions. Download it from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
Good Food reviews are visited anonymously and paid independently. A venue can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the 100 Essential Cafes and Bakeries guide.
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