Cafe Japon Closes Downtown

Miyoko Honma heads for the Food Hub

by Sally Mitani

posted 7/25/2012

Miyoko Honma will close her restaurant, Cafe Japon, at the end of June. She will keep the space open until July 21 as a bakery, but pending approval from Ann Arbor Township, hopes to move that operation to the Washtenaw County Food Hub on Whitmore Lake Rd. Already known for her mastery of formidably classic French techniques, she wants to add gluten-free baked goods to her repertoire, as well as use more local and organic ingredients.

Honma quit a twenty-three-year career traveling the globe for automotive parts producer Denso to learn baking at the French Culinary Institute in New York (now the International Culinary Center). She opened Cafe Japon in 2007 and eventually served breakfast, lunch, and dinner--half the menu Japanese, half French-influenced--while also functioning as a wholesale and retail bakery. Somehow, in her spare time, Honma also found time to play jazz piano; she is about to release a CD.

Until her Washtenaw Hub bakery opens, she'll continue to sell her baguettes and croissants at the Farmers Market.   

[Originally published in July, 2012.]