Ken's Cafe Tokyo's Gateau Chocolat / ケンズカフェ東京の「ガトーショコラ」

A Super Rich Chocolate Cake Made Without Ordinary Ingredients

一般的なガトーショコラの材料を使わない、とても濃厚なガトーショコラ

**When we had this gateau chocolat was back in spring, 2013, and I procrastinated about writing...

The motivation for this entry is that we're having a private party there, I decided to write about the delicious chocolate cake.

I was searching some sweets in Shinjuku and happened to find a really famous (but I didn't know...) gateau chocolat, chocolate cake at a walk-distance cafe near Shinjuku Gyoenmae station.

Actually, I found the cafe in February or March, but didn't get a chance to go there but one day in April, I and my husband went there to see if they have enough stocks for the day.

Usually, the cafe is only open for weekdays, but back in April, some of the weekends, they're open and selling gateau chocolat.

We're luckily able to buy one even though I didn't make a reservation.

The cafe has red cloth over the windows so I thought it'd be easy to find, however, it's located on a residential street, we're not sure if we're going the right direction.

When we got there safely, they're having a private party and couldn't find a worker there to ask.

So I called the shop from where we're standing, where was in front of the shop, one of the workers came out and took our order.

And a little bit later, the chef came with a bag of gateau chocolat and handed us.

He even said, "Sorry for the inconvenience, please enjoy the cake and some teas we put in the bag."

Technically, those who makes confectioneries are called "patissier" but on the homepage, it says "chef," so I follow the noun appears on the webpage.

The paper bag was simple but looked elegant with chocolate color.

The tea bags they gave us.

And a gold ribbon on a box of gateau chocolat.

This is a leaflet they put in the bag.

The color was the same as the textile decorating the cafe.

特選ガトーショコラ

Tokusen Gateau Chocolat

* "Tokusen" means fine, best-of, or best.

Back side of the leaflet with the chef and the cafe information on the right.

In white letters, it says;

世界で１人しか作れない

ガトーショコラ。

はじまりはコース料理の

デザートでした。

その美味しさは

瞬くまに評判となり

やがて世界のセレブを

魅了するまでに。。。

Only one can make this gateau chocolat.

It began as dessert for a course menu.

The delicious flavor achieved popularity in no time.

Before long, it enchanted world celebrities...

Not sure like who they mean celebrities, but I thought this chocolate cake must be really popular and well-known.

Inside of the leaflet, there're more information about the cake.

According to this, the chocolate cake are all handmade with fine and carefully selected ingredients.

The 100% of the chocolate they use is a finest Couverture chocolate from Valhona, France.

The butter is "Calpis' special butter," a greatest domestic butter.

This gateau chocolat is provided to over 50 counties’ ambassadors in Japan.

And there're some tips how to enjoy the chocolate cake with 3 different ways.

1. Room temperature

    You can enjoy the moist and rich texture.

2. Cooled

    Let it sit in fridge for 2-3 hours, the cake becomes like chocolate ganache.  We recommend you cut the cake thinly.

3. Heated

    Microwave for 10-15 seconds, it gets similar to lava cake. For this, we recommend you cut it thick.

This is the box.

Inside of the box, there's another mini leaflet.

Underneath the leaflet and thin cooking paper, here's the gateau chocolat.

It's looked like just a regular chocolate cake but as I saw the big sign outside of the cafe with a photo of sliced gateau chocolat, so I knew it wouldn't be any regular and ordinary chocolate cake I've had.

This is how it looked from the side.

It had a very sweet scent, but on the other hand it also had some baked scent.

The surface looked dried as it had cracks yet somehow it also seemed moist.

Actually it didn't look like any normal chocolate cake made with flour at all.

This is room temperature gateau chocolat slice.

As you can see, the outside is half cooked but the center was still raw and creamy.

Reading the leaflet of how to eat, I agreed that it's got rich flavor and texture.

Not fully cooked like other gateau chocolat, and it was like I was eating baked chocolate with heavy chocolate with it.

The huge difference between flour-used gateau chocolat, the texture was totally new to me indeed, besides the aftertaste.

Only a forkful piece could leave rich chocolate flavor in my mouth unlikely other gateau chocolat didn't leave much rich texture but only floury and dry objects.

The other day, I tried a piece kept in fridge. (No photo)

It had some solidified oil on the surface, which was a little bit disturbing since it reminded me that this confectionery is full of oil and fat.

And the thinly sliced piece had more firm and dense texture to it.

I didn't get a chance to try the microwaved one which has lava cake texture, unfortunately.

In the little leaflet, it said again that they don't use flour or cocoa powder which are used for making gateau chocolat usually.

And the ingredient list indicates what's used in this cake.

Chocolate, salt-free butter, egg, and granulated sugar.

First I thought to buy a little box of gateau chocolat for 3,000 JPY (tax included) was pretty pricey, but once I had a bite and read all the information about how carefully they picked the ingredients and all handmade, I think the price is decent.

I was lucky to get this without reservation, but I highly recommend you book it in advance as the numbers they can create a day is limited.

全てお店の厨房で手作りのため、売切れ次第販売終了。予約をお勧めします。

Ken's Cafe Tokyo / ケンズカフェ東京

1F, 1-23-3, Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

東京都新宿区新宿1-23-3 御苑コーポビアネーズ1F

Open: Monday - Friday 10:00 AM ~ 9:00 PM 

Closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays

平日のみ営業　（10:00 AM ~ 21:00）

Tokusen Gateau Chocolat: 3,000 JPY

特選ガトーショコラ: 3,000円