Chocolatier, a word that is becoming popular in Japan along with pastry chef, is the French word for chocolate craftsman. A highly sensitive Japanese chocolatier who is now recognized around the world. Introducing the chocolatiers who nurture and evolve Japan's chocolate culture.

A young talent takes on the challenge of creating pitch-black matcha chocolate that no one has ever seen before.

"What is the definition of a chocolatier?" I was asked. Kazuaki Eguchi, who is only 35 years old and currently operates eight Delimo stores in Japan, may be unique among chocolatiers. After working at Shibuya Français, he became a chef at the Belgian chocolate brand Delray. He worked on the management side at Decadence du Chocolat and promoted the brand, and in 2013, he became the chef pastry chef/chocolatier at Delimo. This is the beginning of a challenge to change the definition of a chocolatier.

The store's name, Del'immo, is a portmanteau of the French words "immobilier" and "délicieux". Of course, the store has tablets and chocolate bonbons, but Eguchi also focuses on everyone's favorites, parfaits and pancakes. ``When I was in Belgium, I was impressed by the sight of people eating chocolate on street corners, and I thought that if I were to become a chocolatier, I would want to lower the barrier to chocolate as much as possible.'' Eguchi's style is to make chocolate made from cacao beans into fine granules and enjoy them on toast or pancakes.

Eguchi was one of the first to incorporate caramel-flavored blonde chocolate, known as the "fourth chocolate," and ruby ​​chocolate, which became a hot topic last year, and won first place in the cake category and second place in the chocolate category at the ruby ​​chocolate contest. They also select and purchase beans and make their own original chocolates. One of them is the surprising chocolate that was developed in conjunction with the opening of the Kyoto store.

That is the tablet "Black Matcha". ``Chocolate is made by grinding cacao beans, separating them into cacao butter and cacao solids, and kneading them with sugar and skim milk, but I decided to add matcha to this process.'' When you put a piece of jet black chocolate in your mouth, you get a strong taste of matcha. "Your brain is fooled by the information you see, so you may not be able to tell it's matcha for a moment. Please try eating it with your eyes closed."

New-age chocolatiers who want to share the fun and deliciousness with diners are also working on new projects. “Next time, I would like to make traditional sweets using bean-to-bar, and spread awareness about environmental issues while contributing in some small way to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).” A chocolate culture that is delicious, fun, and can contribute to society is likely to emerge in 2020.

Patisserie & Cafe Delimo Tokyo Midtown Hibiya store

1-1-2 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

03-6206-1196
11:00-23:00 (LO. Food 22:00 / Drinks 22:30)
Regular holidays/according to the facility
http://www.de-limmo.jp/