Pao Guitars, Imabari: A Hundred Kinds of Bread, a Long Thin Milk Baguette, and the TV-Famous Kintoki Cream Bun

The long one at the top of the photo is the reason the author of this site keeps going back to Pao Guitars.

It is a French-style loaf, but much thinner and longer than an ordinary one, and he buys it every single time he is in the shop.

Pao Guitars is one of the big bakeries of Imabari: a large shop on a busy corner in the Bekku area, with around a hundred kinds of bread on the counter, a wide eat-in room, and doors that open early in the morning.

It is also the home of a cream bun that once sold a thousand pieces in an hour at a department-store event after being featured on national television.

This article covers both, the long loaf and the famous bun, and then the practical side: what else is on the shelves, the eat-in, and how to find the place.

The long thin one: milk soft baguette

Its name on the shelf is milk soft baguette, and the shop advertises it on a large sign on the roof as a Paris-style sweet bread.

The surface is crisp and the inside is soft, and running through the middle is a line of milk cream.

The author’s own description is simple: it is far thinner and longer than a normal French loaf, he likes it, and it goes into the bag on every visit.

That turns out to be the shop’s own view as well, because a local food site describes this loaf as the shop’s current best seller, ahead of the television cream bun.

Reviews say the same thing from a different angle: one visitor measured it at close to half a metre, another wrote that it looks flimsy but is proper baguette dough with real bite, and the recurring comment is that the mild milk cream and the bread are well balanced.

When a regular customer’s favourite and the reviews land in the same place, it is fair to call it the shop’s signature rather than one person’s taste.

It travels well in a bicycle bag, too, which is not true of most cream-filled bread.

The famous kintoki cream bun

The billboard on the roof is for the kintoki cream bun, and the sign is not modest: it says one thousand sold in one hour.

The story behind it is that the bun was featured on a national daytime television programme, after which the bakery took it to food events around the country, where those numbers happened.

The bun itself is a small, soft one with poppy seeds on top, filled with sweet red bean paste and fresh cream, and it is sold chilled from an open refrigerator just inside the entrance on the left.

Kintoki here is a product name, not the sweet potato of the same name; the bakery does make a sweet-potato-paste version, and a double cream one with custard and fresh cream, and the three are sold as a set.

The author has not actually eaten it, which is worth saying plainly, so what follows is what the reviews say rather than what he thinks.

The most common comments are that the filling is packed right to the edges and that the sweetness is held back, and several people describe it as closer to a cream-filled bean bun than a cream bun.

Opinions divide from there.

A number of reviewers, especially those who bought it at events, felt it was expensive for what it is, and some found the dough dry, which is more likely with a frozen bun bought away from the bakery than with one from the shop’s own fridge.

A few simply wrote that it was fine but not special.

So it is a bun with a reputation and a following, but if you are buying one thing here on a first visit, the long loaf above is the safer choice.

Around a hundred kinds on the counter

The bakery says it makes about a hundred kinds of bread, and the figure holds up: the same number appears in the original article, in a local food site’s report, and in a reviewer’s count.

The roll above is the salt bread with black sesame on top, a plain roll made with plenty of butter, and it is the other thing that tends to end up in the author’s bag.

On the visit in the original article he came home with nine different kinds, and the photos below are some of them.

Beyond these, the reviews mention a sausage roll, a fried-egg bun, an okonomiyaki-style bun with cabbage and pickled ginger, and an almond-butter bun that has won a prize in a prefectural melon pan contest.

There are several kinds of sandwich loaf, and a separate range of baked sweets, rusks and cakes.

One thing to know about a shop this size: the shelves are fullest early, particularly on weekend mornings, and thin out by the middle of the afternoon.

Reviewers who arrived at two or four in the afternoon found the choice much reduced, so this is a morning shop.

The eat-in room and the morning set

Walk in and the left side of the building is the bakery itself, the middle is the counter, and the whole right side is an eat-in room, with a terrace outside.

The author has never sat down here himself, but he does notice people using it whenever he is in.

His observation, which applies to bakeries generally, is that the eat-in room at a bread shop is usually emptier than a cafe.

When he is travelling for work and needs a seat and a coffee, he will often walk into a bakery with an empty eat-in room rather than go looking for a cafe, and that is a habit worth borrowing on a trip.

In the morning there is a set: you pick your bread, and for a small extra charge it comes with coffee, salad and a boiled egg, or there is a hot sandwich version.

A toaster is provided for warming what you have bought, and at least one Shimanami Kaido cyclist has written up a second-day breakfast here.

Cards are accepted, but not e-money or QR payment, according to the shop’s listing.

Finding the shop, and where to park

The shop stands on the corner where Prefectural Route 155 meets National Route 317, in the Bekku area on the south side of Imabari.

The big rooftop signs make it hard to miss, and there is a large car park in front for about ten cars, with entrances from both roads.

It is a busy junction, so take care pulling in and out.

From Imabari Station it is roughly 3 kilometres by road, which is about ten minutes by car or fifteen by bicycle.

Aeon Mall Imabari Shintoshi is about a kilometre away, so the bakery is an easy stop if you are heading to or from the mall.

For cyclists, note that this is the opposite side of town from Sunrise Itoyama and the bridge, roughly 7.5 kilometres away, so it is a stop for a day in town rather than a detour from the route.

There is also a small branch inside the Fuji Imabari supermarket, which some locals find more convenient.

When to go

Every source agrees that this bakery opens early, but they do not agree on how early: some say six in the morning, others eight.

Closing time is given as five in the afternoon by some and eight in the evening by others.

There is a regular closing day, because a recent visitor mentioned finding the shop open on its usual day off during a holiday week, but the day itself is not consistently published.

The shop has no website of its own and announces things on Instagram, so we have not printed hours here that we cannot stand behind.

The safe plan is a weekday or weekend morning, and a telephone call first if you are making a special trip or hoping for the eat-in.

Other bakeries in Imabari

Imabari has more bakeries than a town this size usually does, and several of them are covered on this site.

Bakery Shop Epi opens at six in the morning and is the cheapest in town, and Boulangerie Soga opens at half past six for egg sandwiches.

Seikado is the old neighbourhood bakery near the prefectural hospital, and Rilio no Pan opposite the hospital is the one directly on the cycling route.

For hard-crust European-style bread, Bread Works in Koizumi and Pain Culture in Tamagawa are the two to know.

Mugi no Ho, on the eastern side of town, is a small bakery run as a supported-employment workshop.

Frequently asked questions

What should I buy first? The milk soft baguette, the long thin loaf with milk cream inside; it is the shop’s current best seller and the author’s regular.

What is the kintoki cream bun? A small chilled bun filled with sweet red bean paste and fresh cream, made famous by television; reviews are divided on whether it lives up to the name.

How many kinds of bread are there? About a hundred, plus baked sweets and cakes.

What time should I go? Morning; the shelves thin out by mid-afternoon.

Can I eat there? Yes, there is a large eat-in room and a terrace, and a morning set in the early hours.

Is there parking? Yes, about ten spaces in front, entered from either road.

Can I pay by card? Yes, cards are accepted; e-money and QR payment are not.

Is English spoken? Assume not; you pick up bread with tongs and a tray here, so no conversation is needed.

Shop information

Pao Guitars（焼きたてパン工房paoギターズ）

232-1 Bekku Nakagawara, Imabari, Ehime（愛媛県今治市別名中河原232-1）, on the corner of Prefectural Route 155 and National Route 317

Telephone: 0898-34-7370

Opens early in the morning; published opening and closing times differ between sources, and there is a regular closing day, so please telephone before making a special trip.

Instagram: @pao_guitars

Our Imabari guide for Shimanami Kaido cyclists covers the rest of what the town offers before you set out.

Original article in Japanese: ヒルナンデスでも紹介！焼きたてパン工房パオギターズ｜今治ランチ隊が行く！

 - English