Mont Blanc The Hakuzan is a sweets shop so nice it’s named twice.

Tokyo Station isn’t just one of the most important places in the city for travelers and commuters, but for sweets fans too. Both within the station itself and inside the attached Daimaru department store are an array of dessert specialty stores, and we’ve been wanting to try one of them for months now.

Make no mistake, the reason we haven’t yet tried the desserts from Mont Blanc The Hakuzan, which opened in October, has nothing to do with willpower to resist the temptations of desserts, as such psychological fortitude is in very limited supply at SoraNews24. No, the reason it took us half a year to do this taste test is because of how incredibly popular the place is, and thus how hard it is to actually buy their desserts.

See that “sold out” sign in above photo? Notice how nicely made it is, as opposed to being a handwritten notice that the staff needed to suddenly make? That’s because they know that their entire batch of Mont Blanc, the candied chestnut dessert that’s the store’s specialty, is going to sell out on a daily basis.

We’ve walked by The Hakuzan (as we’ll call the store for short, seeing as how both “Hakuzan” and “Mont Blanc” mean “white mountain”) plenty of times since it opened, but never at a time when we could get our hands on one of the coveted desserts. When we rolled up on a recent Sunday afternoon, just as we’d expected, all of the Mont Blanc that had been stocked that morning at 10 a.m. were gone. But that was OK, because we’d gotten to the shop at around 4:30, and there’s a second batch that comes out at 5 p.m.

This was what we were aiming for, but even then, it turned out we’d cut things very close. The Hakuzan sells its Mont Blancs in boxes that contain two servings for 1,980 yen (US$13), and they limit each customer to a maximum of two boxes. However, they only make 30 boxes per batch, so it’s possible that as few as only 15 customers will be able to buy any, and there were already about 20 people waiting ahead of us in line.

Thankfully, to help with crowd control at around 4:50, the staff asks how many boxes each person in line plans to buy, so they could guarantee us the single box we wanted, and gave us a purchase placard, shown in the photo above (note, though, that you still have to wait in line – leave the line, and your voucher will be voided).

Mont Blanc gets its name because it’s supposed to look like a mountain covered in snow, but a lot of stores and cafes shape theirs like a mound, closer to a hill. The Hakuzan’s version, though, really does look a steep-sided mountain, and we couldn’t wait to dig in…except actually, we had to wait. The Hakuzan’s Mont Blanc comes frozen, and they recommend a total thawing time of six hours (combined getting it home and then putting it in your refrigerator) for the optimal texture.

That’s a longer deferment of gratification than we usually like, but after waiting a little more than six months to try this, another six hours wasn’t going to kill us. And when the Mont Blanc finally was ready to eat, our patience was handsomely, and deliciously, rewarded.

Starting at the top, our fork passed through creamy candied chestnut paste, whipped cream, and a base of crunchy merengue, and there’s a nicely sized chestnut in the middle too. This is, without question, a sweet dessert, but not in an overly sugary or oily way, and the touch of rum The Hakuzan uses gives its Mont Blanc a mature, elegantly quality as well.

So yes, we’re happy to report that the 30 minutes we spent standing in line for The Hakuzan’s Mont Blanc was well worth it. At the same time, we realize that not everyone has space for that in their schedule, and we ourselves might have lucked out by happening to visit on a less-crowded-than-usual Sunday, and on busier days getting there even 30 minutes before the batch comes out might not be early enough. Currently The Hakuzan only has this single shop inside the Tokyo Station Daimaru, so it’s not like you can cut down the waiting time by going to a more remote branch, either.

If you want to get a taste of this dessert without lining up, though, there is a way to do it, as on the 20th of every month, online Mont Blanc pre-orders start for the following month. Granted, that means you’ll actually be waiting weeks, not minutes or hours, for your Mont Blanc, but as least you won’t have to be standing in line the whole time.

Shop information
Mont Blanc The Hazizan / 店名　モンブランTHE珀山
Located inside Daimaru Tokyo / 大丸東京
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi 1-8-9
東京都千代田区丸の内1丁目8-9
Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Website

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Why go to Starbucks when you can find hidden gems like this at a locally born chain?

Are you a Chokomintou supporter? If you are, then you will be gearing up for a very busy, and refreshing, summer in Japan, because Chokomintou means “Choco Mint Tou”, where “tou” (“political party”) humorously refers to the chocolate mint party, a faction despised by some and strongly supported by others.

Choc mint is certainly a divisive flavour combination, but here in Japan, where summers can be excruciatingly hot and brutal, it’s become immensely popular, so much so that “Chokomintou” quickly became a common term, with people proudly declaring their support for it.

This summer, those supporters are being treated to a whole slew of new treats, and one that’s currently causing a stir is the Chocolate Mint Shake from Japanese coffeehouse chain Tully’s.

This beverage is so thick it’s more like a drinkable ice cream than a shake, but what makes it even more special is the fact that you can request extra mint, making it one of the strongest mint-to-chocolate drinks on the market.

▼ The Chocolate Mint Shake retails for 790 yen (US$4.98).

The blue-green hues will immediately refresh your mind when you lay your eyes on the shake, and the pop of contrasting colour with the bright orange straw is another nice visual touch. The topping of chocolate shavings adds another accent in colour and, as it turns out, texture.

We ordered our shake with extra mint, and the resulting flavour was super minty, hitting the taste buds with an invigorating freshness. Thankfully, there was no “toothpaste-like” taste that’s sometimes evident in chocolate mint products – it was purely a fresh mint zing that paired beautifully with the chocolate, all wrapped up in a rich and creamy, ice cream-like texture. It was a delightful sensation, and the occasional crunch of the chocolate shavings added a nice surprise in between mouthfuls.

It was such an exquisite balance between mint and chocolate that we’d describe it as the golden ratio of choc mint. It’s by far the best chocolate mint product we’ve ever tasted, and so good it has the power to move a chocomintou fan to tears.

As a home-grown coffeehouse that tends to sit in the shadow of Starbucks, Tully’s is often coming out with unusual releases to stay in the competition. The Chocolate Mint Shake is a great example of that, and a good reminder that sometimes the best finds can be found in the shadows.

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Lotte’s canned water makes its convenience store debut.

The first time you take a look at the drink section in a Japanese convenance store, you might be surprised by some of the packaging, specifically the things that you can buy in cans. Canned coffee and cocktails can be found in pretty much every convenience store in the country, and while not as common, canned teas aren’t all that shocking to see here either.

But even we were surprised to find out that 7-Eleven Japan now sells canned water.

The Day is a brand of canned water from Lotte, who’s best known as a candy and snack food maker. They’re now in the water game too, though, and while the black-can The Day is carbonated, the red version isn’t.

▼ The Day went on sale through online shops and discount retailers in September, but just made its convenience store debut at 7-Eleven on May 5.

The visual design looks more like something you’d see for an energy drink or beer, and the contrast feels even more pronounced when you see The Day next to other brands of water, which tend to go with nature imagery and transparencies as their main visual motifs.

Lotte says they chose The Day’s name to symbolize its concept as “a water that lifts your spirts” and will give you a great day. There are no additional energy boosting chemicals or supplements added, though. The Day is simply canned natural mineral water, sourced from the town of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture, according to the can’s text.

▼ And yes, we did accidentally drop this can on our way back from 7-Eleven, leading to the first time in our lives that we can say that we dented our water.

Once back in our taste-testing center, we cracked open the non-sparkling The Day for a comparison with Suntory’s Tennensui, one of Japan’s most popular bottled water brands.

Oddly enough, while the red-can The Day is supposed to be the non-sparkling variety, after we poured some into a glass we did still see some air bubbles. Not so many that we’d call it a full-on carbonated beverage, and this might just be a side-effect of the canning process, as opposed to an intentional design choice, but still, the water wasn’t completely still.

Taste-testing duties fell to our ace reporter Mr. Sato, and he says The Day’s mouthfeel is smooth, imparting a refreshing sensation as it glides down your throat. He reports no unpleasant metallic taste or aroma either, so while it feels unusual to be drinking water from a can, the flavor isn’t funny, and is perfectly satisfying.

But why has Lotte chosen to put The Day in cans, and not the plastic bottles that are the industry norm? In its press release, the company says it sees the day as “One answer to the needs of a new age of wellness,” and the choice of more easily recyclable aluminum seems to be an extension of that philosophy. The uniqueness factor probably doesn’t hurt either, as the packaging and design really do stand out against other brands of water. Lotte might also be hoping that the more substantial feel of a can helps position The Day as a premium product, and at a price of 158 yen (US$1) for a 480-mililiter (16.2-ounce) can, it is a little on the pricy side, as most other water brands are 140 yen or less for a 500-miiliter bottle.

There is one clear drawback to The Day being in a can, though, which is that once you pop the top, there’s no way to close it back up again. This isn’t an issue for coffee or alcoholic beverages, since they tend to be things where people drink the entire can shortly after opening it. Regardless of whether it started out hot or iced, coffee tends to taste significantly worse once it gets to room temperature, and beer and cocktails aren’t the kind of drinks most people go walking around with. A lot of people, though, buy a bottle of water while commuting to work or out on a walk, take a few sips, then put the cap back on so they can toss the bottle in their bag and have some more when they feel thirsty again a little later on.

By nature of being in a can, The Day doesn’t lend itself to that “I’ll have a little now, and then the rest later on” style of consumption, making it a much less convenient choice than its competitors. On the other hand, being locked into drinking the whole can once you’ve opened it does promote taking the time to mindfully hydrate, and with Japan’s cruelly hot kokushobi-level summer weather on the way, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

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