salon du chocolat, valentine's and other stuff

In the past, Salon du Chocolat was staggered from Tokyo, moving on to Kyoto and then to other regions of Japan.

This year it was held all at one time and Salon du Chocolat in Osaka was held in the Lucua Hall area...super teeny!

By the time I went to check it out, a couple of days after it had started, most of the French chocolatiers had sold out...

I did manage to pick up a 70% dark chocolate bar by Marou. They grow their cacao in Vietnam. The cacao for this bar was grown in Tien Giang. It was quite fruity.

Fijiana Cacao, I found at Sony Plaza. They use cacao grown in Fiji. This particular bar had Christmas Island Sea Salt and nibs. This was a dark milk chocolate and also very fruity.

Chocolaterie de Marlieu was another bar I found at Salon du Chocolat, they have been in business since 1906. This tablette was filled with orange peel, raisins and freeze dried raspberries. It wasn't noted, but I think this was a dark chocolate.

Overall though, I think the place that had the best assortment of chocolates was Hankyu Department store.

They not only had a whole area for chocolate bars, but they also had areas for soft serve.

We tried Le Chocolat de H's ecuador soft serve...delicious with the nibs sprinkled on top.

Pierre Marcolini's Blanc Matcha was a bit too soft almost soupy.

The matcha was intense though.

For Valentine's I gave Satoshi these Pocky. They came out with 10 different sayings.

This particular Pocky was super thin and I gave him one that said "thanky"

Hope you had a nice Valentine's.

day(s) of chocolates

It's Valentine's Day today, I still don't know what I'm giving to Satoshi...

But, I have been doing "research"...

Belgium's Baru had a marshmallow covered with dark chocolate and toasted coconut sprinkles...more coconut please!

A local mall had a contest to guess how many pieces of chocolate they used to make this...the Mona Lisa!

Spain's Bombon Cudie, caramelized marcona almonds covered with dark chocolate & cocoa powder.

Cellar de Chocolat, a chocolatier, Naomi Mizuno, in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto.

This chocolatier has won awards and was recently at Salon du Chocolat.

This chocolate was what he won awards with an apricot ganache covered with milk chocolate & sprinkled with a little Dead Sea salt.

Sweet-salty combination...perfect!

Dari K, a chocolatier from Kyoto, who uses Indonesia cacao.

Top: Raja-roasted cacao bean covered with chocolate and topped with nibs
Kismis-homemade rum raisin
Bottom: Jeruk-lots of orange peel in the ganache
Ratu-plain chocolate truffle

My favorites were Raja & Jeruk

How can you go wrong when something is called "chocolate covered cloud"?!...Baru's Fleur de sel caramel & Ginger Lime marshmallows.

Fleur de sel caramel marshmallow.

Ginger Lime marshmallow.

Love the list of ingredients on the back of the package too, "May contain soya, milk, nuts, tree nuts, wheat, gluten and traces of peanuts and lots of fluffy happiness"

Hope you enjoy this day with your special someone!

so...

So what did I do on my birthday? Well, I had an appointment early in the morning in Umeda.

Afterwards, I went to check out Salon du Chocolat at the Osaka Isetan.

They had a chocolate "bar" so I had champagne (Janisson Baradon Vendeville Brut) and chocolates...1155 yen.

It was almost 11:00 but I figured it was happy hour somewhere in the world...

Here are the chocolates I tried...Arnaud Larher's Magie (with the magic wand: red berry tea ganache), Jean-Charles Rouchoux's Praliné sésame (with the french flag: sesame ganache, olive oil & basil essence), Franck Kestener's Privilège (textured top: cinnamon flavored almond praline, ginger confit & caramelized rice puffs)

In my defense, can I just say there were tons of other housewives doing this, and the one sitting next to me was already on her 3rd drink when I sat at the counter?! (ahem!)

Anyway, after having some bubbles and sweets, I went to look for lunch.

I ordered the City Bakery's burger...980 yen. Since I wanted avocado and bacon it was 200 yen extra for each item! And my iced coffee another 360 yen.

This was a monster of a burger...they don't add fillers, just beef, so it was kinda on the dry side.

At least they give you half an avocado and about 3 slices of bacon...

The waitress laughingly said I could use the paper wrapper to pick up the burger or use my knife and fork.

I ended up eating it with my knife and fork...I was so full afterwards!

There was also some really salty veggie pickles (in back of the burger) and some delicious potatoes, so I didn't eat the bun.

That night, Satoshi was coming back from a business trip, traffic was bad (because all of Japan was supposed to get snowed on), so by the time he came back it was 8:30-ish. Dinner was late by my standards (I usually eat earlier), luckily I had had that huge lunch to tide me over.

We had some wine and nibbles for dinner and for dessert, Angelina's Mont Blanc. Chocolat for me and the Standard (chestnut) for Satoshi.

Satoshi gave me these cute "Kat" towels. The towels are so soft. Love the black cats on them too.

I also got my wish of some snow and received lots of messages and cards from family and friends. I also enjoyed all the messages on the giveaway post.

All in all it was a nice birthday...thank you everyone!

jacques genin, phillipe bel, pascal le gac & quai montebello

As I said in yesterday's post, I checked out the Salon du Chocolat at JR Kyoto Isetan with Tamakikat.

There were 3 French chocolatiers new to the event which I was interested in checking out.

Phillipe Bel had almost nothing left in his showcase. I'm not sure if he sold out that morning or if it was from before, but I was happy that I was at least able to purchase some of his chocolate covered peanuts to try....1995 yen (about US$19.95)

The peanuts are covered with a thin layer of caramel then coated with milk chocolate.

When you bite into them, they have a little crunch from the caramel...delicious!

I also purchased some orangette from Pascal le Gac....1785 yen (about US$17.85)

Most of his bon-bons were quite pricey, which is why I got the orangette.

The orange peel is cut thin and is on the hard side. These are enrobed in dark chocolate and match perfectly.

At the Salon du Chocolat, many chocolatiers display sculptures/objet that they make from chocolate too.
I also bought some macaron from Quai Montebello. This is a Japanese patisserie, their shop is located in a kind-of-out-of-the-way area for me, so I was happy they were at this event.

Actually, they are located next to this bakery, which I checked out in the past....540 yen (about US$5.40) for 3.

I bought the Chocolat-Orange (dark brown) milk chocolate ganache and a orange confit (like a gel) filling).

Pomme au the (white with speckles) buttercream with bits of apple jam & tea in the shell.

Caramel beurre sal (white) salted caramel cream.

My favorites were the caramel & chocolat-orange. Somehow the tea macaron didn't have much flavor.

Lastly, I bought some bon-bons from Jacques Genin....1575 yen (about US$15.75)

I first heard about this chocolatier on David Lebovitz's blog and was interested in trying some of his chocolates when I found out he would be appearing at this event.

The bon-bons were filled with a hazelnut ganache, each one had a picture which his friend drew depicting Genin's favorite pictures from his favorite opera, "Don Giovanni". (By the way, the theme for the Salon du Chocolat was "opera".)

I'm glad I got to try all of these items. It was a great event and I can't wait to see what they will bring in next year. Since it was the first time for Tamakikat, I hope she had a nice time too.

Quai Montebello
5-20-3 Kishibe-kita
Suita, Osaka
Phone: 06.6339.8880
Closed Thursdays

Jacques Genin
133 rue de Turenne
Paris, 3eme

Pascal le Gac
61 rue de Pologue
78100 St Germain en Laye
Phone: 01.34.51.82.32

Phillipe Bel
33 rue Tupinerie
42601 Mont Brison
Phone: +33.(0)4.77.586.690

foodie friday in kyoto

Last Friday, I met up with Tamakikat (who by the way, moved her blog due to photo overload).

Anyway, we went to check out the annual Salon du Chocolat held at JR Kyoto Isetan.

This year, there were 3 new French chocolatiers that I wanted to check out.

I was able to buy some items to try and I'll post about them soon.

After walking around, we had some Babbi gelato before lunch. Usually whenever I try things, I choose chocolatey flavors to be "safe", but I decided to be brave and tried the Fichi (fig) and Pistacchio (pistachio)...both were delicious though I would have wanted the fig to have been more "figgy"....682 yen (about US$6.82)

And then for lunch we checked out Salvatore Cuomo's buffet lunch near Sanjo...1280 yen (about US$12.80). This restaurant is related to the one we had our anniversary dinner at, so you know the food was good.

The wind was icy and the weather quite overcast, but we had lots to eat and great conversation. (Thanks for a great day, TK!)

Pizza Salvatore Cuomo & Grill
90 Nakajima-cho B1F
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.212.4965

bonnat & mazet

Mazet's prasilines are almonds that are roasted then coated with caramel to give them a brittle like crunch.

This tiny tin only had 6 of them in there, but that was just enough to get a taste. 

 I really liked the combination of the sweet crunch with the deep roasted flavor.

Bonnat's bon-bons were an assortment.

Reve (green wrapper)--was a cubed hazelnut center with dark chocolate on the top and bottom.

Noix Apparente--was an almond praline topped with a walnut halve.

Chardon lait--was a coffee flavored almond praline coated with milk chocolate.

This year, I noticed that a lot of chocolatiers were doing the milk and hazelnut combination for their bon-bons and many had heart shaped white chocolate with cherry or raspberry flavored centers.

My French teacher, who has the ins with the French chocolate world because she translates for many chocolatiers, explained that the prices of this year's imported chocolates were high because they need to "book seats" for the chocolates to be shipped over one year in advance. 

So even if the yen is good for us against other currencies now, we wouldn't see the benefits. 

Now, does that mean that next year's chocolates will be cheap? I doubt it.

As I said before, I went and bought more chocolates at a Valentine's event..stay tuned (if you aren't sick of chocolates and/or my reviews).

patisserie kubler & christian camprini

Sorry, I didn't publish all your comments right away, we spent the weekend in Hokkaido, there was lots of snow and lots to tell about, but I will probably get to it sometime later this week.

Here are the next chocolates: Patisserie Kubler is a shop in Strasborg, France. Their chocolatier, Yoshinori Asami is from Japan. Apparently this was the same selection that was sold at last year's Salon du Chocolat Japan, but I couldn't find out much more information on what types of filling they were and it didn't come with a chocolate map, so I will just tell you what I thought they were.

The one with the orange dot was a passion fruit ganache covered with milk chocolate.

The one to the right of it was a hazelnut ganache covered with milk chocolate.

The bottom left was a lavender or rosemary or basil ganache covered with dark chocolate.

The one with the yellow dot was a lemon or citrus ganache covered with dark chocolate.

The ganaches all had a slight crunch but matched their covering chocolates, my favorite was the lavenderish one.

Christian Camprini is an MOF (an award given to the best craftsmen in France), whose shop is in Opio, France.

This bon-bon set also didn't come with a chocolate map, so again I will just tell you what I thought they were.

The one on the top left was a dark ganache covered with dark chocolate.

The one to the right of that was a hazelnut ganache covered with dark chocolate.

The one on the bottom left was a chai flavored ganache covered with dark chocolate.

The one to the right of that was a dark chocolate ganache covered with dark chocolate.

When I went to Hankyu on the 4th, his chocolates were selling there too (post about what I bought there, way later). I thought maybe I could read up on what the chocolates were. They had the top left one listed as raspberry-rose ganache, and the bottom right one as a cassis-violet, but I don't think that was it, if they were flavored they were REALLY delicate, to the point of non-existence. I was hoping he had a website or something but there was no information. So, I'll stick to my first impressions. His chocolates were delicious, my favorite was the one with the chai ganache.

Hope you aren't getting tired of these chocolate posts.

pierre ledent & van dender

Van Dender is a Belgian chocolatier.

The one on the left was called Palet or noir--dark chocolate ganache covered with dark chocolate. A little acidic but smooth.

Coeur Framboise (Heart Raspberry) was filled with a raspberry ganache and covered with white chocolate. Kind of sweet because of the white chocolate.

Pave de Tours--a hazelnut almond ganache that was quite crunchy, kind of like they mixed the ganache with brittle bits and covered with milk chocolate.

Pierre Ledent is another Belgian chocolatier.

Praline Noisette (shell shaped)--was a coffee flavored hazelnut ganache with milk chocolate coating.

Kir Royal Blanc--had a cherry center with white chocolate. Again, this one, like Van Dender's was too sweet.

Ganache Amere--was a dark chocolate ganache with a dark chocolate coating. This like Van Dender's was a bit acidic but delicious.

Even though I am not a fan of white or milk, I like how each assortment had bon-bons covered in different chocolates.

quatrieme chocolat shin & gateau des bois

Well, in my opinion, the game was pretty boring up until the last couple of minutes. At least they showed the half-time show here. Several people sent me links to view the commercials (thank you!), but I'm "out of the area" so I could not view them, sigh...oh well...here are the next two: Gateau des Bois is a chocolate/dessert shop in Nara.

I found out about this place by seeing someone carrying the shop's paper bag on the train, then googling.

Since Nara is quite far from Osaka, I was happy to see them at Salon du Chocolat.

The bon-bon on the left is called Orange Amer--dark chocolate covers a dark chocolate ganache infused with an orange liquer.

The middle one was called Cointreau--milk chocolate covers a dark infused ganache infused with Cointreau.

The one on the right (which got cut off) is Tahiti--dark chocolate covers a dark chocolate ganache infused with Tahitian vanilla.

All were delicious, no overpowering alcohol flavor and delicately balanced.

Quatrieme Chocolate Shin is made by the same patissier that owns eS.Koyama, which I wrote about here.

His shop is also quite far away from where we live, in Sanda, the northern part of Hyogo, so I was also pleased to see him at the event.

His bon-bons were sold in individual lacquer boxes, very Japanese-y.

Top left is Single malt--A dark chocolate ganache infused with Spring Bank's 10 year aged malt whiskey...way too much alcohol flavor for me.

Top right is Paprika Sanguine--A dark chocolate ganache showcasing the sweetness and semi-acidity of the red bell pepper...it was different, almost fruity.

The bottom left is Mojito--A bon-bon modelled after the cocktail, it combined white rum, lime, mint and cassonade (brown sugar). The dark chocolate ganache had a crunch from the brown sugar and there was a light citrusy flavor but no overpowering alcohol taste.

The bottom right is called Daniel--A 66% Sao Tome dark ganache with a lychee liquer center, again no overpowering alcohol taste.

Except for the whiskey infused one, these bon-bons were good!

p.s. today is Setsubun, I've written about it here. And the direction you need to face to eat your sushi this year is "tohokuto" or "east north east".

bernachon & yves thuries

Here are the first two of the chocolates that I tried.

Yves Thuries' macarons are not the "cookies" that I have come to love, but actually chocolate molded to look like macarons. Inside each were different fillings.

Dark chocolate had a dark caramel ganache praline. Milk chocolate had a nougatine (hazelnut) cream and White had a Montelimar nougat cream. They were all delicious but the dark's filling was surprisingly too sweet for me.

It is the first time for his chocolates to be featured at the Salon du Chocolat in Japan, so I was glad to be able to try them.

Bernachon's palet d'or were simple and delicious. Dark chocolate, cream and gold leaf. Each had hints of fruits, nuts and caramel.

He has been in Salon du Chocolat Japan for sometime now and his chocolates are really pricey, so I was glad to find something within my budget.

For the first two..so far so good...

salon du chocolat kyoto

Man, I must be losing it, I thought yesterday was Friday...

Since my yearly trip home (Hawaii) will be a little later in the year, I went to check out the Salon du Chocolat at the JR Kyoto Isetan yesterday. The good thing about going to the one in Kyoto was that there were way less people.

The space for the event was about the same size as the one in Tokyo--which I went to last year before I went to Hawaii.

With my hesokuri, I got to pick up 10 different chocolates from different chocolatiers, mostly from France.

Here is what I got: Bernachon (France) 3 palet d'or, Yves Thuries (France) 3 macaron, Camprini (France) 4 piece bon-bons, Patisserie Kubler (France) 4 piece bon-bons, Mazet praslines, Pierre Ledent (Belgium) 3 piece bon-bons, Bonnat (France) 3 piece bon-bons, Van Dender (Belgium) 3 piece bon-bons, Quatrieme Chocolat Shin (Japan) 4 piece bon-bons, Gateau des Bois (Japan) 3 piece bon-bons.

It is a good thing that most of these have expiry dates that are several weeks away, I'll post more on them as I eat them...stay tuned.

Okay...now, have a good weekend!

henri le roux

Remember I went to the Salon du Chocolat, last month? Well, while I was there, I found Henri Le Roux's counter in the basement of the Shinjuku Isetan Department store (the same store that the event was held at) .

His C.B.S. (Caramel au Beurre Sale) is his most famous item. I had heard of them from my host-brother's wife, she is also a foodie and had given me a package of these which didn't last a day!

In the showcase, he also had other caramels, so I bought an assortment. There was Tartin (apple), Chocolat (chocolate), Framboise (raspberry), Orange & Gingembre (Orange & Ginger), as well as C.B.S. I like the original (C.B.S.) the best.

Today is Valentine's Day in Japan, the day when women give men chocolates, which I think is totally wrong, the giving should be both ways. Women shouldn't have to wait for their gift to be reciprocated (or not) a month later on White Day (March 14).

salon du chocolat tokyo

I had been wanting to see this event for myself, since last year and also after seeing Paris Breakfasts' many posts. While the Paris and U.S. events are held at convention center like places, the events in Tokyo and Kyoto are held on one floor of a department store.

There were news stories leading up to the first day, with gobs of housewives lining up here and there for chocolates. I knew I would not be able to "leisurely" look around. I had to go in with a "game plan".

The air carrier that I normally fly with no longer flies to Kansai airport, so for me to use that air carrier, I had to fly out of Narita. Since I would be near Tokyo, I scheduled my trip home to coincide with this event.

The place was quite packed when I got there but I was able to buy the Salon du Chocolat selection box and the Chloe selection box.

The Salon selection box featured 12 of the top chocolatiers. Henri Le Roux, Frederic Cassel, Franck Fresson, Hirsinger, Arnaud Larher, Sebastian Bouillet, Franck Kestener, Lac, Thierry Mulhaupt, Jean Charles Rochoux, Daniel Rebert & Maison Ferber. Most of the individual selections were quite pricey, so I figured that this was the best way to get a taste of most of the participants creations in the show.

The Chloe selection box featured 12 chocolates picked by Chloe Doutre-Roussel and were made by 4 top chocolatiers (Fabrice Gillotte, Patrick Roger, Jean-Paul Hevin & Gerard Coleman).

Each box came with its own "chocolate map" and description of each chocolate.

There was also a "chocolat bar" this was an area set aside for you to taste 3 chocolates while having a beverage like coffee or tea. They bring out a menu for you to choose 3 chocolates.

I tried to choose 3 chocolates that were not featured in any of the two boxes that I purchased. Some of my initial choices were sold out, so I ended up trying Maison Ferber's Mirage--a lavender and black pepper bon bon, the lavender infused chocolate is really addicting! Oberweis' signature called Oberweis--an Alsace wine soaked raisins enveloped in a bitter chocolate truffle and then coated with granule sugar and cocoa powder--also addicting! And Gobino's Maximo and Al Cafe--the maximo is a dark gianduja and the al cafe a milk chocolate with coffee.

While waiting for my order this couple came and sat next to me. They both ordered different items and then the lady took out her pocket knife to cut their chocolates in half to share. They are truly chocolate lovers!

There were also opportunities for you to get autographs from the chocolatiers, this is someone getting the autograph of Henri Le Roux.

There were chocolate art and fashion.

Although the space was quite confined, it was still a great event.

Lunch was at a little cafe run by Alain Ducasse called Be (BoulangEpicerie).

This was a duck confit tartine with salad, creme brulee & petit financiers.

I also found some macarons by Sebastian Bouillet. These were quite interesting flavors, barbe a papa rose (rose flavored, though I didn't care too much for the granule sugar on the outsides) & popcorn. My favorite was the popcorn, salty and sweet together.

The other two were called macalyons and were chocolate coated macarons. The silver flecked one was caramel with fleur de sel and the other was a 70% cacao ganache with nibs on top.

I also found a little florist outside of the department store selling these cute flower "sweets". You can't eat them but these look good enough to.

There was so much to see, but I am convinced that Tokyo is the foodie capital of Japan. I hope to be able to check this event out again next year. It was really worth it. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did....now it is off to Hawaii!