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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Friday 9 May 2008

Sweets @ Daimaru in Tokyo Station

Always wanting to end a meal with something sweet, we headed into the confectionery floor of the Daimaru department store at the Tokyo Station after our pizza lunch on Saturday. In addition to devoting the 1st floor to chocolater, cakes and all sorts of sweets, the basement floor of Daimaru is the food section where you can buy freshly baked bread from several bakeries, sushi and sashimi from the fresh produce area and order many kinds of take away food from the various stalls ranging from Chinese-style dumplings (i.e. gyoza) to freshly squeezed fruit juice. My favourite area of any Japanese department stores has to be the food area.

The confectionery floor is almost always crowded during weekends and holidays. Only after a short while after stepping in, the selection of chocolate delectables offered by Wittamer caught Rob's eye and he made a beeline towards the counter. Behind the display glass laid various kinds of Belgian truffles, and although the price per piece was pretty high, we decided that we ought to try at least one (our will is weak when it comes to good chocolates).

The display showcasing delicious exquisite Belgian bite-sized chocolates at the Wittamer counter:


We bought one piece each of the Orange Truffle and the Fondant Truffle for ~300yen (~AU$3) each, which the salesgirl then proceeded to carefully place in a tiny box. She was about to place the box a lovely bag when we told her it wasn't necessary - hey, we gotta do our bit for the environment, right? The Orange Truffle had an orange-flavoured coconut filling with a thin crisp chocolate coating. The Fondant Truffle appeared simpler but tasted richer and more luscious than the Orange one due to its chocolate cream filling.

What's inside the box is what matters:


We also liked the look of what was being offered at Keith's Manhattan, which included tarts, pastries, cakes and jellies. The Fruits Choux Roll (420yen) jumped out at us and we could not resist how delicious it looked. It was deliciously rich due to the creamy filling yet refreshing at the same time due to the fruits. It was good.

One of the display cases at Keith's Manhattan:


The meticulous packaging, and its contents:


Since Tokyo Station is a mere 20minute walk from our apartment, no doubt we'll be back here again to make our way around to try all the other counters in the sweets department of Daimaru.

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