In Japan, you’ll find many gourmet chocolate shops. Many people who have trained overseas and starting their own shops is quite common.
Located in Shirokanedai, Minato is a Japanese chocolate shop known as kiki Japanese Chocolate and one of the major highlights of this shop is that they produce chocolate with seasonal ingredients.
The shop is part of Happo-en, the long established wedding hall with a gorgeous Japanese garden. And the chocolates they make fits the four seasons of the area and creating the best “harmony”.
While the Shirokanedai primary shop, pop up stores often open for a month’s time, such as Haneda Airport, Shinjuku Isetan, Shizuoka Isetan, etc.
The idea of the company was to create original chocolate gifts for those attending a wedding at Happo-en.
At kiki’s, you can find seasonal chocolate such as cherry blossoms (these ingredients come from Odawara in Kanagawa and use real cherry blossoms), matcha (from Kyoto) featuring real ingredients from tea leaves, bamboo charcoal (Take-Sumi, from Tokushima prefecture), Shiso (a mint plant), Sudachi (from Yamaguchi-cho in Tokushima, this is a small round green citrus food used as flavoring in place of lemon or lime), Sesame (uses rare white sesame from the remote island of Ogi in Yamaguchi Prefecture), Yuzu (also known as Citrus Junos or Pomelo, from Kochi prefecture), Sake (from Yamada Nishiki in Hagi city), Strawberry, Brown Sugar, to name a few.
These ingredients used for the chocolate are fresh ingredients and are delivered directly from affiliated farmers. While the Cacao chocolate is from Belgium, the Cacao white chocolate is from Colombia.
For three pieces of the seasonal chocolate, it goes for Y1,296 (including tax) and for eight pieces, it costs Y3,240 (including tax).
Also sold at kiki is their Gateau chocolate. Gateau is the French word for cake, so these are small cakes.
You can find Shiso, Matcha, Sakura, Sudachi, Sakekasu, Take-sumi (Bamboo Charcoal), Yuzu and Sesame.
The Gateau Chocolate is 8 pieces for Y2,160 (tax included).
When you see the packaging, you wonder if part of the cost is due to the gorgeous boxing of the chocolates.
Photos were not allowed, so I am going to only show the exterior of the shops in this blog post. To see the interior of the shop, you can visit the following interview online.
As one can expect, you are paying for quality so, literally you are paying for Y400+ for an inch of chocolate.
For those who respect the quality of the ingredients, it’s worth a try, although some may feel it’s high class and not within their budgets. But for those who have never been to Shirokanedai in Minato, it’s no doubt an affluent location. So, the shop fits perfectly in the area.
One thing that you will notice is how much of those ingredients can truly be tasted in each chocolate and gateau chocolate.
It’s also different compared to standard chocolates that people may be accustomed to. People can buy chocolates and expect them to last long, but these chocolates are different. There is an expiration date, so these are not the type of chocolates you want to have lying round for weeks or months.
But if you are wanting to try one of the fanciest chocolate locations in Tokyo, definitely visit kiki!
