Check in to Hotel Chocolat: Soho London

I didn't even want to go in here. I know that sounds like a lie, but I was truly looking for other things at the time and did not want to get absorbed in endless shelves of chocolate.  But I'm a team player.
And when the fiance asked if we could go in I resisted and then gave in; mostly because he was already in the store eating a sample.  And I can't turn down a sample.  Something about the words "free" and "chocolate" together ringing in my brain render me pretty much unable to focus on anything until said chocolate has been acquired. Before fiance finished chewing he grabbed a package of the chocolate and started reaching for his wallet.  

The swag.

 So I asked the lady who gave us the sample what she would recommend that contained my favorite pairing with chocolate: toffee.  What she recommended coincidentally contained another favorite ingredient of mine:

Toffee Vodka: Toffee vodka ganache in a milk chocolate shell decorated with caramel chocolate.

We dig it.  Its not as sweet as I normally expect toffee and chocolate to be, but I that's the appeal for some people. You definitely taste the vodka.  My fiance enjoyed it a lot more than I; but he still held firmly onto the original package he purchased, the one with which he sampled in the store and devoured (we'll call it 2 pieces for modesty):

Christmas Mess:
Cranberry and cinnamon mousse in a white chocolate shell, decorated with meringue and cranberry pieces. 

Apparently this is a holiday version of Hotel Chocolat's Eton Mess which is high-cocoa white chocolate with strawberry mousse and crisp meringue.  Wikipedia describes Eton Mess as a cream dessert including a summer fruit like banana or strawberry served at Eton College's annual cricket game. Very english. For me the meringue is what makes it.  The light and airy crispness of it is just perfect with soft white chocolate.  I plan to make a fudge inspired by these flavors for Christmas and I'll post about it when I do.

Until then:

Boom.

Minamoto Kitchoan London

Minamoto Kitchoan

Minamoto Kitchoan is not your average sweets shop. They specialize in Japanese desserts called "wagashi."  They are traditionally served during tea ceremonies.

Front counter

Seating area to enjoy your "wagashi."

Baumkuchen: Sugar glazed ring shaped sponge cake layers with almond powder and rum.

Green Tea Baumkuchen

Langue de chat

Tsuya: Red bean paste wrapped between two pancakes.

Chocolate and green tea mochi

Hakuto Jelly: Made from white peaches and spring water.

Usagi "Rabbit" cakes stuffed with bean paste and yuzu.

Maccha flavored mochi and senbei

Sakura Goromo: A sweet red bean and mochi wrapped in a cherry blossom colored crepe.

Ayashirabe: A crepe dessert with sweet white bean paste and condensed milk.

Kaki or "Persimmon" Sweets

Senbei: Rice crackers

Beika: Savory Japanese Rice Crackers

Oribenishiki: Sweet red bean paste and chestnut cake.

Oribenishiki

Maccha Mochi (Green tea) and Hakuto Mochi (Peach)

Mille-Feuille: Pastry layers with almond and milk chocolate.

We chose the hakuto jelly, mille-feuille, a dark chocolate langues de chat, hakuto mochi, and maccha senbei (green tea rice cracker)

Our goodies!

I have been waiting anxiously to try these desserts.  I've been waiting for an complimentary meal to serve them. 

Maccha senbei

Wasn't particularly sweet and had a lot of green tea flavor.  The texture was hard and crisp with just a bit of softness in the center due to a maccha flavored cream filling.

Langues de chat

Chocolatey, but not overwhelmingly so.  The outside was stiff and crisp and the inside was actual dark chocolate and not a cream filling which gave it a great "smore-like" texture.

Mille-feuille

Extremely flakey, as soon as I bit into it it nearly fell apart.  The chocolate melted and crumbled in my hand with every bite. Wonderful.  The pastry inside was moist and you could definitely distinguish the almond from the other flavors.  Appears to be a napoleon inspired treat so maybe not the best example of Japanese wagashi. But if this is what they are serving at tea time, I'm in.

Hakuto jelly

Served in plastic cup it remained chilled slightly even when left at room temperature. I turned it out onto a plate and cut it into fours as the little paper it came with indicated. Very bright and clean tasting. The peach flavor is really light and only slightly sweet. 

The mochi was too mushy to eat. I left it out too long and I didn't realized it needed to be in the fridge but now ya know.

Caffe Concerto Shaftesbury Avenue

I was on my way back from my second to last wedding dress fitting and feeling very motivated to go home and eat healthy and work out.  I only have 30 days before the wedding and I am determined to look my best.  

And then I saw this:

Caffe Concerto

Can you hear the angels?

I could. So I went inside with yet again, good intentions.  One treat, something small to take home and split with my fiance. 

Dining Room

                                                   

But someone terrible had posted a sign claiming you could get 4 slices of cake for 10 pounds. What was I supposed to do?

Lemon Tart

Mille Feuille

Strawberry Gateau

Vanilla & Chocolate Mousse

That's what. 

If I had to rank them the mille feuille was the best, followed by the strawberry gateau, the vanilla chocolate mousse and the lemon tart respectively.  But they were all the best versions of themselves.  I just have a personal preferencec toward pastry layers at the moment.

And I ate all of these treats for breakfast this week :)