Watanabe Panya is located in Iizaka Onsen, a hot spring town in the Iizaka district of Fukushima City. Iizaka Onsen, where radium was first discovered in Japan, is famous for its radium eggs—a type of onsen tamago (eggs boiled using onsen steam and heat). These are among Japan’s renowned onsen eggs, alongside the kuro tamago from Hakone’s Owakudani onsen in Kanagawa Prefecture and the jigoku yude tamago from the Beppu onsens in Ōita Prefecture.
Despite the name, radium eggs contain no harmful substances. They are simply eggs boiled in the onsen steam and water of Iizaka. At Watanabe Bakery, we tried their popular Radium Tamago Pan.
Radium Tamago Pan (¥260).
This bread featured a soft milk bread base filled with a whole radium egg and a generous dollop of mayonnaise. The bread was tender with a noticeable sweetness, balanced by the savoury, slightly jammy yolk of the half-cooked onsen egg. The tanginess of the mayonnaise further complemented the sweetness of the bread, even for those not typically fond of mayonnaise. Overall, this was a delightful and unique offering worth trying when visiting the area.
Watanabe Panya (わたなべパン店) is located at Furutomachi-12 Iizaka, Fukushima City, Fukushima 960-0201, Japan.