One of the things that I look out for when I browse through hotel websites , is the existence of a pastry shop. This is important- for I know I can takeaway some decent cakes for late night sweet supper when the department stores close early.
At Hyatt Regency, it not only has a pastry shop and bakery, but the patisserie is led by a highly acclaimed pastry Chef Hirokazu Sato (man in the picture), who had studied under renowned patissier Sadaharu Aoki and won twice in pastry competitions in France. He specialises in macarons and chocolate cakes.
One thing that I notice about his creations is that they are long and slim, very much similar to Sadaharu Aoki, with whom but less colourful. Also, the design is much less fanciful than Patisserie Ravi'e or Yu Sasage but the taste is not any inferior. The Jivara Au Lait (¥550) is my ideal chocolate cake-mild milk chocolate mousse, sponge and a lightly salted nut crunch at the base. Special care is taken to grind the nuts to a fine yet visible state.
The Millefeuille Poire (¥550) here takes on a different arrangement of puff pastry which makes consumption a less messy chore. Unfortunately, they could not escape the moisture from the wet fruits in the centre and no longer holds its crispness. But the filling of caramelized pear, caramel mousse and whipped cream was not overly sweet.
And this Petit Buche Noel (¥500) will be one that I will remember because the unique point is neither the white chocolate mousse nor the framboise jelly in the centre. It was a very fragrant salted pistachio pie at the bottom.
Pistachio, Chocolate, Cassis, Vanilla & Framboise
I was curious to see if his macarons (5 for ¥1300) would be similar to his sempai, Sadaharu Aoki. Regrettably to say, the macaron shells were slightly dry and the ganache filling lacked individuality. Hence, I prefer his cakes to his macarons.
On the side note, there were two creations by M.O.F Chef Camprini, who ran a seasonal chocolate set course during October at this hotel (Read more here). The Perle Rare ¥600 had an extremely smooth caramel mousse that disintegrates on the tongue plus a very fine grainy salted crunch base that brings a contrasting tone to the cake. It might appear similar to caramel crunch cake but its taste is in the league of its own.
The other creation, Diamant Noir¥600, was a hot seller made from Madagascar Chocolate and had 5 different chocolate textures. The top ganache layer was the sweetest but could not conceal the intense bitterness as one gradually submerge into the deeper layers.
The cakes here might not win on presentation but the freshness and taste is pretty outstanding. Next to the cake display is the bakery where you can grab delicious buns to go. The place is open to public and when you come at night, chances are you will bump into Chef Sato at the shop. No need to be shy and just say Hi.
Hyatt Regency Tokyo Pastry Shop 2F
ハイアット リージェンシー 東京 ペストリーショップ
10am-9pm Daily
http://www.tokyo.regency.hyatt.jp/en/hotel/dining/PastryShop.html
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