Treats from Mikado Cafe

Most people think of the standards when it comes to Japanese food, including nori, rice, sashimi, miso, California rolls and soy sauce. A visit to the new Mikado Cafe in Abu Dhabi’s Khalidiya neighbourhood provides a major education for the uninitiated into the intriguing world of Japanese baking. Here is some of what you’ll find:
Shokupan bread Huge slices from a puffy white Japanese loaf, perfect for homemade French toast or bread pudding.
Rice powder bread This soft variety, which looks just like shokupan, uses flour made from finely milled rice. It’s also a good option for homemade French toast.
Green-tea croissants These are everything you’d expect in a soft, flaky croissant, but they’re infused with green tea, which is reflected in both their colour and flavour.
Green-tea biscuits These giant biscuits are light and airy inside, infused with green tea and have a crunchy, sugar-coated exterior. The cafe also makes plain biscuits with the same sugary coating.
Dorayaki These Japanese pancakes are traditionally pressed around a filling made from adzuki beans. Because adzuki beans are not wildly popular among non-Japanese, Mikado Cafe makes its dorayaki with banana and Nutella. Needless to say, guests love them.
Turkey epi This savoury, hard bread, which is filled with turkey ham and sweet mustard, is a small meal in itself.
Custard-cream bread Custard-cream breads are popular in Japan and this one is already a favourite at the cafe. Soft rich dough envelops sweet custard cream, making this a hard-to- resist treat.
Green tea and date bread Green tea is, of course, a traditional Japanese ingredient, but this isn’t a traditional Japanese bread. Bakers at Mikado Cafe developed this bread to incorporate popular local flavours into their baked goods. It’s sold in whole loaves, not slices.