tokyo food file

valentine's day — the food of love redux

Mondays I work late — every week regardless, rain or shine, holiday or weekday. So that meant no romantic dinner for me this past Valentine's Day. To console myself, I picked up one of these cute little confections from the Robuchon bakery at Garden Place...

They look quite plain, and indeed the basic cake was quite straightforward, a brioche consistency with a hint of chocolate in the mix. However the cache of molten chocolate in the core was anything but ordinary: rich and gooey, and with a strong hit of raspberry. A cutie with a real heart!

At least on the train home I managed to sneak a quick quiche [yes it's bad joke — in Japanese it does sound a bit like "kiss"] ...

This one courtesy of Dean & Deluca. 

Mast Brothers — putting the art in artisan chocolate

Forget the booze... In fact I did get a very fine Valentine's Day present this year. All the way from Brooklyn, New York City... ladies and gentlemen, would you give a warm hand to... (crescendo)... Mast Brothers chocolate.

[And I take back that bit about the warm hand; The last thing I want is for any of this valuable merchandise to melt. But a rousing round of applause is definitely called for!]

Check out this hoard of assorted chocolate bars and drool. Then check out the brothers' web site here and be prepared to drool a whole lot more.

Food doesn't get much more artisan than this. The brothers hand-sort the beans. They make everything in small batches, using equipment that they had to custom-design and/or adapt, as it didn't exist in the chocolate industry. The bars get wrapped individually in packaging that they, or one of their associates, designed. And then they sell it out of a tasting room/store front which they only open just a couple of times a week. [They do also sell to some high-end restaurants, plus quite a few distributors around the U.S.]

  image copyright Mindy Best http://www.mindybestphotography.com/

As well as coming across like a couple of dudes (some say the look is ZZ Top, but for me, I'm thinking The Band circa Big Pink), they also have a righteous ethic towards what they're doing. For their latest, most out-there project, they're planning to sail — yes, on a vintage schooner; apparently they're avid sailers — down to the cocoa coasts of Africa to pick up their own beans.

This is a great video about them (from The Scout)...

Not that you'll lay your hand on any like this very easily here in Tokyo. We had to make a special online order from Printemps well ahead of time [and yes, I was in on the secret].

But what's it taste like, I hear you asking. Well, here are a few adjectives to get started with: rich; Intense; profound; moody; subtle; addictive — and that's just the first one I tried, the pure dark Madagascar (71% chocolate).

More of their colourful packaging here...

Happy – hic! – Valentine...

Last year I was a bit (OK a lot) negative about the beers/booze released to exploit the enthusiasm (OK mania) for Valentine Day gift-giving in Japan. So here's one that I'm happy to give a hearty (pun intended) thumbs-up to...

 

As the sign says, it's a chocolate porter, produced by Shonan Beer down in Chigasaki (that's along the coast in Kanagawa pref.).

And it's rather tasty. Hint hint hint (it's not too late, it's only midday)...

!

 

I sampled this one in my Tokyo Real Ale Festival glass to console myself for not having been able to make it to the 8th version of the event, which was held in Asakusa yesterday. For anyone who's into craft beer, it's always a great day out.

liqueur chocolates, a favourite guilty indulgence

Liqueur chocolates, a favourite guilty indulgence — and now, one with a distinctively Japanese flavour....

These ones are filled with umeshu...

and these with shochu...

Perfect for a Japanese style Valentines day...

Cross-cultural Valentine's gifts

Even the traditional heart of Kyoto's food culture, the vibrant humming Nishiki-Koji market, has been penetrated by the arrow of Valentine's Day marketing cupidity.

We spotted chocolate-covered kuro-mame (black soybeans)...

 

 

...heart-shaped tofu...

 

 

... and even chocolate nama-fu. Who'd have thought that one of the city's most venerable fu makers, the wonderful Fu-ka, would stoop to such commercialism after more than 150 years in business?

 

Even merchants that would never touch chocolate with a 10-foot monk's stave are cashing in on the occasion. Such as the fresh fish store with its homemade saba oshi-zushi (mackerel pressed sushi), which it was promoting as a Valentine's Day gift. "For people who can't eat chocolate" was the explanation from the matron running the shop.

 [apologies for the poor photo]

 

We felt we needed to try at least one of the above. The people at Fu-ka were so nice and their little shop so attractive that we bought some of the nama-fu home with us.

The appearance was highly promising, somewhere between fudge and a rich ganache chocolate. But it turned out to be a lot less exciting, not sweet at all, with a dense heavy texture and not nearly enough cocoa flavour to satisfy this particular chocoholic.

 

We clearly need to experiment with it. Maybe if we steam it up... Or pan-fry it with some butter... Or drizzle on some maple syrup and sprinkle a dusting of Ghirardelli sweet cocoa power [which is what we ended up doing].

Anyone got any other ideas?