For those craving a grab-and-go sandwich of a different ilk, James Gage, owner of Kita Café, creates authentic Japanese sandwiches that are a welcome surprise in a lineup of takeaway fare. These sandwiches are built around shokupan — Japanese milk bread. Shokupan isn’t your typical sandwich bread. Each loaf has a golden crust with a snow-white interior, yielding a pillowy yet sturdy texture and hint of sweetness.

It’s this special bread that forms the foundation of Kita Café’s wholesale business, where Gage has mastered the notoriously demanding dough through countless iterations.

“That’s one of our biggest selling points, the fact that we make our own bread,” Gage said, noting how he now mixes the dough by feel rather than using precise measurements.

The visual appeal of Kita Café’s fruit sandwiches is bold and immediate—the precisely cut sandwiches reveal cross-sections of fresh fruit, such as strawberries or mandarin oranges, nestled in a sweet cream and arranged as edible art between slices of the cloudlike shokupan. The bread’s tender composition and sweetness create the perfect canvas for both sweet and savory fillings.

Each sandwich requires complete attention, from hand-selecting and washing individual strawberries to cutting slices of bread by hand. This careful preparation shows in the final sandwiches, whether it’s different varieties of fruit sandwiches, egg salad or chicken katsu resting between two slices of shokupan. Beyond sandwiches, Kita Café’s pick up and go offerings include other Japanese classics such as onigiri (rice balls), chilled somen noodles and castella cake, all made fresh by Gage. These and other seasonal offerings are available at six specialty markets around Bend.

While Gage looks forward to introducing a brick-and-mortar cafe in the future, his current wholesale model has found success in bringing these Japanese tastes to customers on the go, offering a taste of Japan and creating meals that are as beautiful as they are delicious.

Learn more @kitacafeco.