Tuesday, February 03, 2009

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".

8 comments:

Lindsay-Jean said...

You can watch all of the commercials on youtube.com - there were a few really good ones.

K and S said...

Thanks LJ, will check them out :)

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

I had no interest in watching the game (in fact I didn't even know it was that time already). Still, doesn't it just irk you when you get that message on youtube saying that you can't view because of your area? (I get this once in a great while.) It drives me nuts, but even more nuts when I can't purchase mp3s on Amazon 'cause I'm not in the US. Blahhhhhh! Quick, I need a bite of chocolate.

K and S said...

Definitely Rowena, sometimes I forget I'm in a foreign country :0 Not being able to buy stuff must get frustrating too! Chocolate for you anytime!!

Take care.
Kat

genkitummy said...

I actually got home from the lab at 9pm and watched only the last 4 minutes of the game and saw the last two touchdowns. Quite exciting!
The chocolates sound delicious! The lychee one sounds yummy.

K and S said...

Thanks Genki, the lychee one was quite good :)

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

Oh yes, the mojito and the lychee ones sound great and the paprika one sounds interesting. What a great variety of chocolates you have been sampling!

K and S said...

It has been deliciously fun, Deb :)

Take care.
Kat