The confectionary and bakery market in Kobe is highly competitive. The beginning of the history of Kobe’s bakeries coincides with that of the cake, which started with the opening of Kobe harbor in 1868. Today, I’m going to introduce one of the most beloved bakeries in Kobe which opened in 1977, a secret that a true Kobe citizen shared with me: Tommy’s. For those of you that may want to try out it’s delicious breads, don’t fret, you can order online and they ship it steaming fresh the very next day.

Freshly Baked Bread in the Post!

It comes well wrapped, cash-on-delivery. The online store tells you the expected shipping date, and when yours truly put in an order, it said my order would arrive the very next day. (You can order online, by phone or by fax.) Opening the box let’s a delicious aroma.

Anshoku is the most famous…

Sliced bread? No, no, no, this is anshoku – bread with anko (sweet bean paste) mixed in the dough. Just as the name implies, it’s quite heavy due to the amount of bean paste. The one on the left is matcha green tea with black soybeans. I ordered one of each!

The bread looks really quite nice after cutting. It seems a lot of heart has been put into making it, and the bean paste goes all the way out to the crust.

Today’s breakfast was a total Setouchi experience. In addition to the bread, I had figs from Onomichi, Pione grapes from Miyoshi, and lemon cordial from Tobishima Kankitsu Kobo.

Anshoku bread is different from anpan (round soft bread with bean jam in the center) in that it has a simpler tastiness to it. Toasting and spreading butter on it gives it an extra punch of sweetness, which goes perfectly with the crunchy crust and the hot bean paste. Please try it for yourself!

This is the matcha anshoku. It is not as sweet as the regular anshoku and it has black soybeans from Tamba. The bitterness from the matcha is not too strong, so both my husband and my child liked it. In fact they loved it. The matcha anshoku weighs about 600 grams, and the regular anshoku 1.5 times that – about 900. The best-before date is 4 days after baking. If you can keep yourself from eating it all in one go, it is possible to freeze it as well. Also, try giving it as a souvenir or taking it to a friend’s home and see how much they love it! It’s autumn now, so how does ordering a little bit of freshly baked bread sound?

Tommys Uozaki Main Store

Address: 4-2-46, Ouzaki Minami City, Higashinada Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture
Open: 6:30～18:30
Closed: No scheduled holidays
Tel: 078-451-7633
FAX: 078-451-7634
Pricing: Anshoku, matcha anshoku 650 yen

http://www.tommys-kobe.com

Besides the Ouzaki Main Store, there are also stores in Rokkomichi, Ninomiya and San-nomiya.

Setouchi Finder Photo-writer: Sakiko Mizuguchi