The owner, Chinami Date, spent over a decade fine-tuning her craft at bakeries in Osaka and Singapore before realizing her dream of running her own bakery in Malaysia. The result is a charming little bakery café filled with delicious specialty breads and buns that are authentically Japanese, wholesome and preservative-free.

It is obvious that a lot of passion and artistry goes into the making of these freshly baked breads and buns, and the chef at Bakery Cafe HACHI only uses the finest quality ingredients such as French butter and imported flour from Japan. Customers can buy breads and buns to take away, and also choose to dine in from 8am to 9pm, every day of the week.

There is a distinctly Japanese touch to the design of the bakery cafe. Japanese Interior Designer Mr. Sasaki pays homage to all hard-working mothers in his design concept of the bakery, as desired by the Chef. Bakery Cafe HACHI has an interior that resembles an old traditional Japanese house with thick pillars and the design on the wall expresses the traditional 和(wa). The central hanging lights made of bamboo baskets give off a gentle light, adding to the homely and nostalgic feel of the bakery.

More than 40 types of breads and buns are freshly baked daily at the bakery, starting from the wee hours of the morning. Take a peek around at the variety of buns and breads in the woven baskets; if you are like us, you'd be tempted to buy one of each to try!

The unique selection of breads and buns here cannot easily be found at other bakeries in PJ or KL. To name a few: the Curry Bun (RM5), a tasty bun filled with Japanese curry (keema) inside; the Yuzu Cream Cheese bun (RM4.80); Croquette Roll (RM5.90); Melon Pan (RM3.40), a cookie bun topped with melted butter; Cranberry, Raisin, Walnut (RM5.30); Yakisoba (RM6.20), a Japanese noodle bun; and the Salty Butter bun (RM3.20).

We bought the Yakisoba and Salty Butter bun. "Yakisoba" basically means Japanese fried noodles in a bun. Apparently, it's a rather popular Japanese savoury bun amongst students in Japan and there's a mad rush during lunch break to get this bun in the school canteen. It makes sense as the bun is both a snack and a full meal, rolled into one. The noodles have minced beef inside instead of pork like the ones in Japan. Trust the Japanese to think of these novel ideas. Warm up the bun, and you're good to go!

The Salty Butter bun looks like any other mini baguette, but it's another bun that became a huge hit in Japan. The bread is soft and chewy, rolled in unsalted butter and topped with rock salt. It's tasty enough to eat it on its own.

Look out also, for the Hachi Toast Bread (RM7.40 per loaf). This is definitely the bakery's signature must-try item. The loaves come in slices of 4, 6 or 8. We bought the loaf cut into 4 thick slices. It tastes absolutely divine when you toast the bread for a couple of minutes in the oven with some butter spread on top. After being toasted, the bread crust becomes crispy (not crunchy), while the center remains soft and delightfully chewy almost similar to mochi in texture. The bread has a naturally sweet flavour. We love eating it with some jam and butter, but you could also add a slice of ham and cheese, tuna flakes or whatever savoury toppings you prefer.

Early birds might like to try the bakery’s Breakfast Set Menu offerings: Breakfast Toast (Butter & Jam), Sweet Red Bean Paste Toast, Cheese Toast (Natural cheese, Red cheddar cheese and Mozzarella cheese), French Toast (Cream & Jam), Egg Muffin, and Egg Benedict with Cream Cheese Muffin. All the toasts here are made with their in-house freshly baked bread and come with a salad and yogurt. However, the breakfast set is served with coffee or tea instead of yogurt.

Bakery Cafe HACHI also offers a variety of Honey Toasts (only from 2pm to 7pm) as a sweet treat. We tried their Matcha Red Bean Honey Toast (RM20); it's made from their in-house baked Matcha bread loaf, topped with matcha ice-cream, whipped cream, red beans and matcha powder. These honey toasts are a tantalizing indulgence if you have a sweet tooth, and are definitely made for sharing!

Aside from the Honey Toast, we also ordered a Focaccia Sandwich with Avocado & Salmon (RM16), an Avocado Wasabi Burger (RM18), a Matcha Latte (RM12) and a Latte Mocha (RM12) from their dine-in menu. We thoroughly enjoyed the Focaccia Sandwich; the salmon tasted very fresh, wrapped in a crispy bread with lovely avocados, walnuts, grapes and salad on the side. We were craving for more!

The Avocado Wasabi Burger also tasted amazing; juicy beef patty and avocados placed between freshly baked crispy buns, complimented by a special homemade wasabi sauce which gave the burger a tinge of spiciness beneath the tender beefy goodness.

Both the drinks we ordered were perfect to cleanse our palates after our satisfying meal. The matcha latte had a very pure natural flavour; it was not sweetened too much unlike some other matcha lattes we've tasted. The latte mocha was very chocolaty and creamy; it's a delicious beverage young kids and adults alike would enjoy!

All in all, we were delighted by the dine-in menu offerings of Bakery Cafe HACHI and would definitely return for more. All their focaccias and burgers are made with quality ingredients (avocados do not come cheap!), yet are quite reasonably priced. This new bakery cafe will be appreciated by residents in Sri Hartamas who seek authentic, healthy and wholesome food.