Hotcake-man steamed pancake buns make their heroic return to Japanese convenience stores

We missed you, Hotcake-man!

Look, in the steamer case! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s…HOTCAKE-MAN!

Pardon our excitement, but we come bearing the great news that Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart has brought back its steamed Hotcake Buns, or Hotcake-man, as they’re called in Japanese, (man being the Japanese term for steamed buns.

Steamed buns are a staple of Japanese convenience stores, especially in winter, where every major chain offers nikuman (steamed buns with pork), and anman (sweet bean paste), and many also serve pizza-man (cheese and tomato sauce) and curry-man too. Family Mart, though, is the only one that offers steamed pancake buns, as part of their partnership with Morinaga, makers of Japan’s most popular pancake mix.

On sale now, these are officially called the Butter Aroma Hotcake Buns, since their filling is a mixture of maple syrup and a creamy butter sauce. That sounds plenty good already, and since Family Mart cooks the buns right there in the store, you can be munching away on one just seconds after you pay the cashier. However, if you’re in the mod to get even more decadent and can wait until you get home, Family Mart actually recommends adding a pat of butter and an additional pour of maple syrup on top so that the Hotcake Bun is flavored both inside and out.

On the other hand, if you want to get fancy along the lines of a trendy Tokyo cafe with a menu full of fruity desserts, you could adorn your Hotcake Bun with berries and whipped cream…

…or, if you like some protein with your pancakes, Family Mart won’t look askance at you if you also order a piece of their beloved store-brand Famichiki and make a Hotcake Bun and fried chicken sandwich.

Really, though, at a price of just 170 yen (US$1.15), scrounging up the financial resources to enjoy the Hotcake Bun in all of those ways shouldn’t be too difficult, so the bigger factor is going to saving room for them by not filling up on non-Hotcake Bun foods, and also to quickly get over any unnecessary self-conscious temerity about chowing down on them in any and all styles, as the Hotcake-man is only being offered for a limited time.

Source: PR Times, Family Mart via Entabe
Images: PR Times
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