The Mary's Chocolate Cafe: Deep History & Even Deeper Chocolate Flavor
2019.09.06 |
The company's aim has always been to make chocolate so beloved that it will leave you with the same feeling as music-lovers calling for an encore. With that goal in mind, in 1950 Kentaro Hara started Mary's Chocolate as a small factory in Tokyo's Meguro area.
Mary's Chocolate = Japan's Cupid?
Of course, in the world of sales nothing goes quite so smoothly, and things took a few years to catch on. When Mary's Chocolate held their first Valentine's Day Fairs at Tokyo department stores that February, 1958, they only sold three bars of chocolate and one card! They made a total of 170 yen.
Things have changed in Japan since 1958, and Mary's Chocolate has continued to contribute to the Japanese tradition of women giving men chocolate on Valentine's Day. One intriguing early innovation was large chocolates sold with metal styluses, letting the gift-giver write To and From names right onto the chocolate.
And Mary's Chocolate has never lost its inventive spirit or its connection to the international world of chocolate. In 2000 the company became the first non-European confectionery to enter the Salon du Chocolat, and they've been bringing a little taste of Japan to the competition ever since. The Mary's Chocolate chocolatiers, producing chocolates featuring fragrant yuzu and bitter matcha, have played a part in bringing these unique flavors to the international world of high-grade chocolate. More recently, in 2016, homegrown Mary's chocolatiers working under the label of Tokyo Chocolate even won the CCC Award, reserved for the world's top tier chocolatiers.
*Mary's Cafe is now closed, but you can find other Mary's Chocolate shops nearby.*
After learning about the history of Mary's Chocolate, of course we couldn't help ourselves, we needed to sample some of the sweets! The chocolate-maker's cafe is super conveniently located, in the Kitte shopping center next door to Tokyo Station. When you're running all around Tokyo and you need a little break, the central location of Mary's Cafe is a great stop in the middle of things.
Mary's Cafe
1F KITTE Marunouchi, 2-7-2, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
10:00 am ~ 10:00 pm
Official Website
(As we write this, there's just this one shop, a unique little cafe in a city of chains, but Mary's is planning to open one more location all the way over in Kyoto in fall 2019!)
We were greeted first thing by the chocolatier working near the front of the cafe, where things are set up for making custom chocolate bars. This custom chocolate is definitely one of the coolest and most unique parts of the cafe, and we thought it would make a great souvenir! (It was hard not buying a few of them as just-for-fun gifts for friends.) Talk to the pro chocolatier and they can help you make the best possible chocolate bar for you, or a special someone, with advice on what kind of chocolate and toppings to choose. They know what flavors will go great together!
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- We had good timing, and got to watch the chocolatier at work tempering chocolate for the day's sweets. Even if you miss that, though, you can watch them pipe the chocolate into the mold for your custom bar, and then carefully add on your selected toppings.
We went for a fairly standard-sized bar, but if you want more of a deluxe-sized option, the custom chocolate comes in a huge round shape as well. It's a little like a personal pan pizza of luxury chocolate.
- We had good timing, and got to watch the chocolatier at work tempering chocolate for the day's sweets. Even if you miss that, though, you can watch them pipe the chocolate into the mold for your custom bar, and then carefully add on your selected toppings.
While You Wait for Your Custom Chocolate Bar...
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- Well, the cooling process usually takes about an hour, so the staff mentioned that customers generally have two options: ① if you're just visiting Japan, you can go off on the rest of your trip, and arrange to pick the chocolate up the day before you leave Japan (handy if you're in Tokyo first thing!) Or ②, just grab a drink or a snack, hang out in the cafe, and relax for an hour. Option 2 sounded pretty ideal to us, so we set off to explore the rest of what the cafe has to offer.
And then, well, of course it was time to dig into dessert for real. The cafe isn't limited to chocolate in its bar form, and they had a few different cakes and things to choose from. (Some of these even change seasonally, so let us know if you find anything especially unique and delicious there in the future!)
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- Check out the chocolate terrine. Made with 75% cacao Venezuelan chocolate, this cake is just as rich and luxurious as you're hoping. (If you're tired of Japanese cakes that are 90% air, you're going to enjoy this.) Plus, it's served with a scoop of light vanilla ice cream and fresh berries (and a little high-milk chocolate flower).
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- We also tried their crème brûlée, which had a frankly beautiful swath of caramelized sugar resting an inch above the vanilla custard. It also came with a scoop of berry ice cream, and some nuts on top for added crunch.
This may be a charming little cafe, but they go big when it comes to sweet treats! We thoroughly enjoyed our hour of waiting time.
- We also tried their crème brûlée, which had a frankly beautiful swath of caramelized sugar resting an inch above the vanilla custard. It also came with a scoop of berry ice cream, and some nuts on top for added crunch.
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- The little boxes of gateau chocolat actually come in four varieties, all with a sweet hint of honey flavor. When you want to really focus in on the chocolatiness, we recommend the kinds made with special Ecuador or Madagascar cacao. If a little fruity kick sounds good to you, you can get the cakes with added raisins or candied orange as well. Each of these has a different kind of alcohol added as well, deepening the flavor with brandy, whisky, rum, or cointreau.
The terrine we tried inside the cafe is actually available in boxes like this too, with its own set of fruity options. If you liked it so much you wanted to share it with everyone back home, you can!
- The little boxes of gateau chocolat actually come in four varieties, all with a sweet hint of honey flavor. When you want to really focus in on the chocolatiness, we recommend the kinds made with special Ecuador or Madagascar cacao. If a little fruity kick sounds good to you, you can get the cakes with added raisins or candied orange as well. Each of these has a different kind of alcohol added as well, deepening the flavor with brandy, whisky, rum, or cointreau.
Don't Want to Risk Melted Chocolate?
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- Basic Info
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Name Mary’s Café Address 1F KITTE Marunouchi, 2-7-2, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Station Tokyo Station Website https://www.mary.co.jp/mary/marys_cafe/
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