Dessert A la Carte - Toshi Yoroizuka

Working for William Curley I helped to set up the first Dessert bar that opened here in London. William and Suzue got the inspiration to bring this to London from Tokyo based Patissier Toshi Yoroizuka.

His shop in Tokyo midtown features a beautiful long Black marble bar with the chefs in front of you creating the desserts, very much like William's own in the belgravia branch. I arrived at 12.30, this shop had no queue... I went inside and admired the patisserie and then enquired about the dessert bar. I had to book a seat and come back at 2.00 not to bad. I spent the time taking a short walk to Roponggi nearby to the chocolaterie Chocolat de H.

Here I indulged in a delicious tea and chocolate entremet and treated my self to some of the beautiful chocolates.

Back at the dessert bar it was a hard choice to decide what dessert to have, I couldn't possibly have two as I had just eaten a patisserie and chocolate in the previous shop I decided on a lovely french classic Apple Tatin. They gave a beautiful savory pre dessert of wild mushroom soup, It was a delicious silky smooth and creamy chilled soup.

 

Then came the main course!

Unlike a traditional Tatin where the apples and puff pastry are cooked together here it was cooked separately. The puff was lovely and tall and crispy, on top of the puff was a small layer of creme patissier and then on top was the caramelised apples. They added extra sugar onto the top of the cooked apples and then blow torched like a creme brulle, I loved this part as there was a lovely crunch through the caramel to the lovely apples below. The Tatin was accompanied with cinnamon ice cream and apple wafers! It was truly delicious!

Even though I was truly stuffed full of chocolate and sweets, I couldn't resist buying a pastry on the way out!

This was a lovely fig and chocolate tart....

Sarah

Another queue for cake!

After a lovely walk through Uneo park I arrived at Inamura Shozo I noticed a small queue outside the shop... not unusual for a Saturday at patisserie shops. what I didn't notice was the other queue 5m away to join the queue just in front of the shop! I joined the first queue and waited patiently until it was my turn after an hour or so I was ushered unto the shop by a lovely door man!

 

The chefs in the background making more cakes for all the waiting customers!

I gazed at the cakes taking far to long considering the queue to choose. I always find choosing the hard part, if  I could I would have just a bite if them all to taste the flavour combinations! Carefully I selected two, strangely I didn't take a chocolate one I had two light creamy ones, unfortunately I didn't have a spoon so after my wait I now had to make it back to the hotel to get a bite of my cakes.  

 

 This was a delicious Passionfruit roll cake, it worked really well because the passionfruit cut through the creamy chantilly

Secondly my favourite one of the two was a Fromage Blanc dome with redfruit compote

So many different ideas are running through my head, seeing all these wonderful cakes, working in the Le Pommier kitchen and tasting all the delcious combinations!

Sarah

Next stop... Hidemi Sugino

Even before stepping foot in Tokyo I had been told by numerous people that this place was a must do! I visited Hidemi Sugino twice, once I visited about 5pm and there was only 4 varieties left, then the second time I arrived at 10.30, half an hour before the shop opened and waited in the growing queue to get my hands on some more of these yummy cakes. ( see the queue photo!!!)

There is a policy of no photographs here, so the photos of the cakes I tried are from the book that I decided to buy to remember what I had. I have included the photos of the cakes I ate, these are taken from the book, also there is a sneaky picture of the showcase I got off the web that someone must have taken! LOL

Mango, Framboise - This had a delicious coconut sponge around the outside with a mango mousse raspberry compote and raspberry mousse running through the center. 

Pomme d'Eve - Jaconde sponge at the bottom topped with a caramel and cinnamon mousse, then topped with chocolate sponge, green apple mousse and caramelised apple. 

Merveille - Biscuit jaconde, biscuit a la cuillere with a peach mousse, and a blackberry mousse and redcurrant jam. 

Larme - Biscuit aux noix, mousse aux marrons and crème mousseline aux marrons.

This one was my favorite, I think its because I am having a chestnut addiction here in Tokyo which is great as it is a heavily used flavour in baked cakes and pastries... Including the wonderful Mont Blancs!

Sarah

Cake Culture - Tokyo the modern Capital of Patisserie

Before heading out to Tokyo to visit all the delicious patisserie shops, my kind friend MJ Kim gave me this book. Sweet sweets selection, it is a Japanese guide book for the best patisseries in Tokyo. MJ used it when she visited a couple of years back and gave it to me this summer just before she headed back to Korea for good. This little book has been amazing... Just looking at the photos gets me excited.. The strange thing I found before heading out here was that this book at 3 times as many shops featured than that of my Paris guide, could this be true that there is a new capital of Pastry!? After 2 weeks I definately think so!

While working at Le Pommier one of the chefs suggested that I visit Isetan department store's food hall on my way home as it was also in Shinjuku where I am staying. When I navigated my way through the streets and down to the basement area a maze of divine goodies in glass display cabinets awaited me!

The area for cakes, breads, pastries and chocolates took up nearly as mich space as for the savory foods. (This is the case with all the department stores I have visited here now) In Isetan alone there is Pierre Herme, Jean Paul Hevin, Sadaharu Aoki etc and these are the brands I know from Paris on top of over 20 Tokyo based companies, one in particular that was is my cake guide book was Henri Carpentier, and how could I resist this tempting hall of goodness, so I indulged in a Chestnut tart.

It had crisp puff pastry topped with a chocolate frangipane and then a baked chestnut cream, studded with cooked and confir chestnuts, it was delicious if not a bit heavier than I was hoping... Later on in the week we headed over to the ginza store where we could sit in the salon du tea and eat the pastries. This time we had a sesame tart and a red fruit entremet. 

The red fruit entremet had a base of jaconde sponge, topped with raspberry confiture, with a red fruit mousse and a vanilla mousse. The plate was really lovely presented with the sauce when you eat in!

This was my favorite, tart noire it was called and as i do not speak japanese I assumed a chocolate tart noire. Indeed not.. it was a beautiful black sesame tart. Chocolate sweet pastry with frangipane and caramelise banana topped with a black sesame cremeux.

Thats it for now but this is just the beginning....

Sarah

Le Pommier - Patisserie stage

Tokyo...

Here I am doing my stage with French chef Frederic Madeleine, Frederic has been working in Tokyo for 12 years and his wife is Japanese. His team are all Japanese so after I met him at the cake show he wished me good luck with my first morning in the kitchen as he was not coming in until later.

 I was slightly apprehensive when I arrived at his kitchen the next morning! I needn't have been worried it was fine I worked with Hiromi who worked in France for one year so we spoke French. All the other lovely chefs spoke a little English, The ingredients for the recipes are all written in French so it was not as big a problem as I thought it might be.

 

I have spent two initial days here at Le Pommier patisserie and I will return for 1 full week at the end of my stay here in Tokyo. After work on the Friday I went with Frederic to visit his second shop which in in Azabu-juban. Here I had tea and tried the new pumpkin crème brulle... delicious.

Also I experienced my first earthquake... I thought Frederic had kicked the table!

I have visited over 8 pastry shops not including the huge department stores... lots to write about!

Sarah

Tokyo - Japan Cake show

After finalising my trip to Tokyo and with only 1 week to go until take off, I managed to arrange my stage with Frederic Madelaine at Le Pommier in Tokyo. Two days before I left, Frederic e-mailed me to let me know about the Japan Cake show that was happening on the day I landed!
So with a plan and the motivation to get through my jetlag, I ventured to the metro and off to the cake show!

The show consisted of two floors of entries of chocolate centrepieces, petit fours, patisserie, sugar pieces, cake decoration, themed display pieces and much more. The third floor was equipment for patisserie making, wrapping, ingredients etc. Also there was a live competition of sugar going on called Top Patissier! In front of an audience the chefs have 5 hours to make a sugar centre piece.

First I spent my time looking at the patisserie entries as this was my main reason for coming to Japan.

This is one of the Sugar centre piece displays

Luckily enough it was not all just looking at the delicious cakes and offerings!! Down in the restaurant area they were serving a selection of 30 cakes from members of the Tokyo confectionery association! I made my way down there for one or two!

The cake on the left was a delicious black forest gateaux, and the cake on the right was a hazelnut and orange entremet.

After feasting on cakes I went back to watch the live sugar centre piece competition. Here are the finished pieces... Impressive for 5 hours work!

Sarah

Return of the Patissier!

I would firstly like to apologise for not updating my blog after I returned home! I got a little bit lost back into work and more recently the Association of Pastry Chefs - Dessert of the Year Competition, I kept putting the blog on the backburner. Then 2 months flashes extremely fast before my eyes and here I am again... away on my travels, this time I am in Tokyo!

Before I begin my Tokyo blogs I have a few more delicious treats to finish up from Paris!

Here is my dessert from the competition where I finished 3rd!

Sarah