This definitely is no ordinary Easter egg!  

Those of you who have spent more than a few years in Japan may recall that Halloween, now a rather popular celebration here, only became the huge event it currently is relatively recently, maybe within the past five years or so. Well, it now looks like Easter may be the next celebration that the media and advertising industry is trying to promote into mainstream Japanese culture, and high-end fashion brands are apparently no exception to the trend.

Just a few days ago, we went shopping for an Easter egg, but not to a place you would expect — we went to the Bulgari Ginza Tower in Tokyo’s fashionable Ginza shopping district!

The Bulgari Ginza Tower houses the luxury brand’s chocolate specialty store, the BULGARI Il Cioccolato, on the 10th floor, and that’s where we got our hands on a very special 6,000-yen (US$55) chocolate Easter egg.

The chocolate egg, called the Uovo di Pasqua (literally “Easter Egg”), was a limited edition item of which just 50 in total were sold at the Il Cioccolato shops in the Ginza Tower and the Matsuya Ginza Department Store.

▼ As expected, the chocolate egg came carefully packaged in a beautiful bag…

▼ …and a gorgeous box designed to hold the delicate piece of chocolate

And we definitely weren’t disappointed when we opened the box.

The egg, with intricate flowing lines etched onto the surface, was absolutely stunning! And just look at the pieces of gold leaf!

The egg came with a brief note explaining the symbolism behind the Uovo di pasqua and inviting the purchaser to enjoy the seasonal item made of bitter chocolate.

▼ Up close, the chocolate egg still looked gorgeous!

▼ Here’s the egg taken out of the case.

▼ It was a thrill to hold the chocolate in our hands.

And of course, we had to eat the chocolate egg, so although we hated to break the lovely piece of work, we cracked it open.

▼ You can see that the chocolate is hollow inside. One of the 50 eggs sold contained a voucher for an Afternoon Tea Box at the BULGARI Il Bar inside it as a surprise gift, but unfortunately, ours wasn’t the lucky one.

Still, the chocolate we had piece by piece, while breaking up the egg, was smooth and delicious, although it seemed a bit sweet for bitter chocolate.

And if you’re in need of a bit of alcoholic fortification after a day of sight-seeing, the BULGARI Il Bar is located on the same floor of the Ginza Tower as the Il Cioccolato. We highly recommend the Sakura Bulgari Bulgari cocktail (2,400 yen), a delightful gin-based concoction topped with a smooth, sakura-flavored gelée. The cherry blossom-themed drink is seasonal and should be available until around the end of the month.

Okay, so the Uovo di pasqua was a very pricey Easter egg, but it was such a piece of beauty that we can’t honestly say we regretted paying that price. We hope we can look forward to seeing something just as gorgeous next year as well!

Shop information
Bulgari Il Cioccolato
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 2-7-12 Bulgari Ginza Tower 10F
東京都中央区銀座2-7-12 ブルガリ銀座タワー10F
Tel: 03-6362-0510
Open: 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. (Monday-Saturday), 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m (Sundays, holidays)
Website

Bulgari Il Bar
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 2-7-12 Bulgari Ginza Tower 10F
東京都中央区銀座2-7-12 ブルガリ銀座タワー10F
Tel: 03-6362-0555
Open: 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. (Monday-Saturday), 11:30-6 p.m. (Sundays, holidays)
Website

Photos: ©RocketNews24