New York- and Montreal-style bagels are typically dense and chewy, while shokupan – the golden Japanese milk bread – is known for being soft, light and airy. Combining bagels and shokupan might sound counterintuitive, but Fuumi Fuumi’s Japanese-style bagels are something of a hybrid.

Joanne Zhang, who began her culinary journey as a home cook 10 years ago, opened the first Fuumi Fuumi in West Melbourne in 2020. Zhang’s baking initially focused on breads like shio pan (a salted butter roll) and shokupan, but she has spent the last six months perfecting her Japanese bagel recipe.

“We use butter and milk – just like Japanese soft breads,” she tells Broadsheet. “Then we proof the dough overnight and boil it in hot water for less time than traditional [bagel-making] methods, which typically boil for 90 seconds – this keeps the bagel soft. Finally, we bake them.”

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The bagels are made fresh daily and come in a variety of flavours, including spicy, matcha, plain and chocolate. For an easy grab-and-go meal, opt for fresh bagels or, if you have time, get them steamed to order. Both options come with an array of generous fillings that make for impressive cross-sections.

For something savoury, there’s pastrami with sauerkraut, fried egg, sriracha mayo and cheese; smoked salmon with spring onion cream cheese; Japanese egg salad filled with ajitsuke tamago (ramen eggs), cream cheese and rocket; and a brekkie bagel filled with tamagoyaki (rolled omelette).

On the sweeter side, there are verdant matcha bagels filled with matcha cream cheese, red bean paste and butter, and a chocolate bagel filled with a slab of Basque cheesecake. You can also enjoy matcha, hojicha and genmaicha lattes, and grab a shokupan loaf to go.

While Fuumi Fuumi has full-service cafes in West Melbourne, Port Melbourne and South Yarra, the bagels are only available at its new Brunswick location, which operates as a takeaway bagel window rather than a cafe. It’s located in the window at the front of ramen spot Shujinko on Sydney Road and has limited streetside seating.

Zhang plans to open a new location in Camberwell later this year, where she says the Japanese bagels will also be available.

Fuumi Fuumi Brunswick
62 Sydney Road, Brunswick
(03) 9387 2608

Hours:
Daily 9am–2pm
@fuumifuumi