Tokyo, as you know, is a huge metropolis where millions of people work in countless offices. But did you know that there are also some winged critters keeping busy every day in the middle of Tokyo to provide us with sweet nourishment? Yes, there are honey bees actually being cultured here in Tokyo for honey production, and at the shopping/dining/entertainment complex Hikarie in Shibuya, some special honey products were recently offered in connection with the date of March 28, which they designated honey bee day (because the numbers three, two and eight can be called mi for three, tsu for two in English and hachi for eight, which when combined sound like the word mitsubachi for honey bee in Japanese).
One of the items was a very special cake called the Miel Baum, created by renowned Japanese patissier Toshi Yoroizuka. And what made this cake so special? For one thing, it was made using honey collected right there in Shibuya, and secondly, it was sold on one day only — March 28. A cake made by a famous patissier using Shibuya-grown honey and available for just one day? Now that, we just had to try!
When we arrived at chef Yoroizuka’s shop in the Hikarie complex, we were delighted to find that the master patissier was there preparing each Miel Baum himself.
▼Here’s chef Yoroizuka’s shop in the Hikarie complex, called Yoroizuka Farm Tokyo.
▼The sign announcing the sale of the Miel Baum cakes, to be prepared by chef Yoroizuka himself
▼Beautiful cakes on display, including the Miel Baum at 601 yen (US$6) with a sign saying “For one day only”
▼The Miel Baums, which require delicate pieces of cake, fruits, cream and honey to be assembled into a complex shape, were personally prepared by chef Yoroizuka in an area right next to the counter.
▼Here’s the box containing the Miel Baums which we brought home with great anticipation.
▼We opened the box and the Miel Baums were breathtakingly beautiful!
▼Just look at that ruby-red strawberry, and the whipped cream dripping with honey!
▼Here’s a look at the cake in a partly “dissected” state. The cake also contained an orange type citrus fruit underneath the whipped cream.
And how did the cake taste? In one word: heavenly! The whipped cream was smooth and not too sweet, the pieces of “baum” cake were daintily soft and the honey poured on top added a natural sweetness and scent that all melted together pleasantly in the mouth. What a pity they were only selling this for one day!
The honey, as already mentioned, was gathered in Shibuya and is a product that came into being through the Shibuya Honey Bee Project. Started in 2011, the project has set up a bee culturing facility on the rooftop of one of the buildings near Shibuya station with the aim of promoting nature awareness and creating an environment that is friendly to humans, bees and plants alike. Besides the harvesting of honey, the project is also involved in various cultural activities such as talks at school festivals or events for children to experience gathering honey or making beeswax candles. There are also similar projects going on in the cities of Ginza and Ōme in Tokyo as well.
The Shibuya Honey produced through the project is sold exclusively at the shop petite L’abeille also located in the Hikarie complex.
▼Bottles of beautiful golden Shibuya Honey sold at the Hikarie
The Miel Baums may be gone, but the Shibuya Honey should still be able to provide us with plenty of quality sweetness. And while we certainly hope there’ll be another honey laden creation by chef Yoroizuka come next March 28, until then, we’re quite sure his other cakes will keep our sweet tooth more than satisfied!
Inset photo of Shibuya Honey: Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs Twitter account
All other photos: RocketNews24