New York Bakery Dedicates Life to One Salt Bread, Declares Croissants Overrated

KEY POINTS

•Justin’s Salt Bread opened in New York City in late December 2025, serving only one item: a salt bread with a distinctive butter hole.
•The bread trend originated in Japan around 2014 at Pain Maison as shio pan, then exploded in Korea in the early 2020s with viral TikTok fame.
•Korean-inspired bakeries in the U.S., like Out of Ordi in L.A. and Sweet Rabbit in Chicago, are adopting salt bread variations to chase the craze.

In late December 2025, New York City got its first temple of salty worship: Justin's Salt Bread, a bakery so focused it offers only one pastry, a buttery, golden horn designed to fry itself from the inside out with a mesmerizing 'butter hole' that mocks croissants. Founder Justin Lim admits his ambition is simple: 'I want to be the best at one thing, and salt bread is my favorite bread.' This salty saga traces back to Japan's 2014 Pain Maison, which birthed shio pan, later weaponized by Koreans in early 2020s viral TikTok taste tests. Korean bakeries now push funky variants like pollock roe mayo and corn cream, turning salt bread into the Asian croissant cooler kids queue for. Korean bakery exports like Paris Baguette now rule U.S. taste buds, proving if France made croissants bossy, Korea made salt bread mood-incarnate. Even Chicago’s Sweet Rabbit got conned into making salt-bread bagels in 2023 because who can resist shiny carbs with a butter hole good enough to start dinner fights?

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Justin Lim chose one bread, one mission: dominate NYC with a buttery salt bread so crisp it makes croissants weep in their flaky, sad, laminated layers.

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