Mandarin Oriental Tokyo: It's a Full Moon

 It's a bright full moon.

Today is a special day. I walked back to buy this cake from Mandarin Oriental Tokyo as it has been lingering on my mind since 2 weeks ago. Not sure if it's fate or my luck as this cake will end sales tomorrow on the 23rd Sept, which marks the Autumn Equinox or the start of Autumn in Japan. A great relief to catch this before it goes into extinction.

Named La Lune ラ　リュンヌ, this beautiful creation has a bright yellow moon within the chocolate sphere. The shell is coated with a sticky chocolate ganache that you have to lick clean before plucking the hemisphere aside to reveal the moon.

In fact, this cake plays a little with illusion because the moon is not a perfect sphere though it looks like one. There is a sweet custard within the tart passionfruit mousse. The "Southern Hemisphere" is a chocolate mousse studded with chocolate chips within a chocolate almond mantle (like the chocolate shell of magum ice cream).

Not the most sophisticated cake but the concept of a full moon is original and deserves recognition. The man behind this masterpiece is Pastry Chef Shuji Muto, who has won many awards before. At 750yen ($7.55), this price of this gateaux is very reasonable and the level of satisfaction is way higher than what I have forked out.


Besides this, there are many other attractive ones such as the Mooncake (far right)--a chocolate tart made with 70% Guanaja Chocolate 600 yen. While this gourmet shop carries a fine, elegant atmosphere, service is excellent as the staff is patient and gives you honest recommendations when you can't make a quick decision (this is not always the case for all shops in Japan even though it's reputed for good service)

Having finally gotten a taste of what Mandarin Oriental Tokyo offers, I am excited to see what will be out this Halloween and Christmas.  
Mandarin Oriental Gourmet Shop
2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo 103-8328, Japan
Nearest Station: Mitsukoshimae Station (Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Hanzomon Line)
11am-8pm
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/Tokyo

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