Melonpan

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Homemade Melon Buns

Melonpan (メロンパン, meronpan^?), also known as Melon pan or Melon buns, are sweet bakery products popular in Japan, made from brioche covered in a thin layer of crispy cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon, such as a rock melon (cantaloupe). They are not melon flavored.^[1] Variations exist, including some with a few chocolate chips between the cookie layer and the brioche layer, and non-melon versions flavored with caramel, maple syrup, chololate, or other flavors, sometimes with syrup, whipped or flavored cream, or custard as a filling. In the case of such variations, the name may drop the word "melon" ("maple pan") or may keep it despite the lack of melon flavor ("chocolate melon pan").

The name has a bilingual etymology, since melon is a loan word from English, while pan is from the Portuguese word for bread, spelled as "Pão" in the original language, but usually spelled as "pan" when romanized on food packaging in Japan.

Melonpan and pineapple bun from Hong Kong are very similar.

[edit] Popular culture

In the popular Japanese children's anime Anpanman, Anpanman has a sidekick named Meronpanna who is an anthropomorphic version of the bakery item. Melonpan is also mentioned in many other manga and anime series as a preferred food of one or more characters.
The Japanese game show Hey! Spring of Trivia hands out an award labeled The Golden Brain to the most interesting piece of trivia presented. The award is a small brain figurine on a pedestal; doors on the trophy open out to reveal melon bread that accompanies the prize.
In the Japanese anime Yakitate, episode 13, newcomers to the bread chain Pantasia participate in a melonpan competition. It is explained that melonpan has a flaw: the cookie dough and the bread bake at different rates, and because of this the cookie dough covering is almost always underbaked so that the bread inside will not burn.