My 15-year-old daughter is fascinated by all things Japanese. So this morning we went to the newly opened Mahoroba Japanese Bakery at 4900 Freeport Blvd. in South Land Park. We had a hard time choosing between all the luscious-looking pastries, which we could see being made in the open kitchen right behind the counter. We ended up with two an pan (sweet rolls, one filled with red bean paste, the other with whole red beans); an pan man choco (a sweet roll filled with chocolate cream); shumai pan (a roll topped with three little shumai dumplings); and shoku pan (a loaf of soft sandwich bread).
Everything was delicious. We particularly liked the fluffy, superfresh skoku pan, which was sliced thickly like Texas toast. (I think it would make fabulous French toast.) And my daughter got a kick out of the an pan man choco, which was decorated with chocolate to look like a little smiling face.
