The taste of autumn is chestnuts! So we asked Kuritaro -- Suzumoto Miyu of Keyakizaka46 -- what chestnut sweets she would like to have this fall. She got the nickname Kuritaro ("chestnut boy") because she loves chestnuts so much. What chestnut sweets is she looking at? Here is some heart-warming talk about chestnuts.
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Chestnut time with Kuritaro -- Suzumoto Miyu of Keyakizaka46
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| We asked what chestnut sweets Kuritaro wanted to eat this fall! |
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| An autumn appetite. Does she want all the best chestnut sweets? |
To the Rihga Royal Hotel's "Taro-Chestnut-Pumpkin Fair"
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| In order to taste the Rihga Royal Hotel Tokyo's "Taro-Chestnut-Pumpkin Fair" limited menu, Suzumoto Miyu of Keyakizaka46 enters the hotel's lobby lounge, the "Garden Lounge" |
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| Keyakizaka46, to which Suzumoto-san belongs. Their new single, Kaze ni Fukarete mo is scheduled to come out on 25 October 2017. |
Suzumoto Miyu - Keyakizaka46 (Kanji Keyakizaka46)
Born 5 December 1997, from Aichi. Blood type AB. She has a warm aura and lots of both male and female fans. Because she loves chestnuts so much, she was once given the nickname "Kuri-taro". She is prominent in songs from Keyakizaka46's debut single, Silent Majority, and in their latest single Fukyouwaon.
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| The "Taro-Chestnut-Pumpkin Fair" is on at the Garden Lounge and the take-out shop Melissa. Taro-chestnut-pumpkin...you can enjoy all the tastes of autumn at once. Wonderful! |
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| The Garden Lounge, with its big windows and sunlight, is a place that makes you feel good. With a good distance between tables, it's a comfortable place to spend some time. |
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| Arriving at he Garden Lounge. Keyakizaka46 are famous as "unsmiling idols." In the end, with such outstanding sweets before her, will she maintain her cool expression? |
Relaxing with Japanese and Western chestnut sweets
Special to the Fair! She takes two kinds of Mont Blanc |
| First a breath of black tea (photographed in another room) |
While waiting, I asked her some questions I had wondered about.
-- A short time ago, there was talk about your declaration that you had sealed up the name Kuritaro. Has it come back to life?
Suzumoto: The impression made by the name "Kuritaro" was so strong that it seemed people didn't remember my real name. So I was just saying that I wanted people to call me by my real name. But I was happy when I was first given the name "Kuritaro."
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| Wanting to get her to smile, the photo staff said: "Such a beautiful woman, and we just talk about chestnuts...." But she kept her cool little smile, waiting for the highly-praised sweets |
\The sweets are here!/
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| The sweets were served by chef/patissier Sekiwa Satoru (石和悟), who developed the menu. This is a chance to hear more detail about chestnuts at the Rihga Royal Hotel! There's a new gleam in Suzumoto-san's eye. |
Along with the "Crispy Mont Blanc Tart with Chestnut Ice Cream," starring a cute mini-Mont Blanc, there was the "Chestnut Harvest Moon Set," which was the size of Suzumoto-san's fist. They looked different, and it turned out that the chestnuts used in each had their special characteristics!
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| According to chef/patissier Sekiwa-san, "You can choose coffee or black tea with the set, but I recommend black tea with chestnut sweets. The tea brings out the chestnut aroma and flavour." |
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| "Crispy Mont Blanc tart with chestnut ice cream" (front, ¥2613) and "Chestnut Harvest Moon set" (back, ¥2495), including coffee or black tea |
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| In front of the cute sweets, Suzumoto was grinning. The staff's joke didn't work, but the thought of chestnuts made her happy, it seems. "Looks delicious! Thanks, and here I go!" (Suzumoto-san) |
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| Which to start with...? |
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| First, the Chestnut Harvest Moon. "Hmm...! It's as thick as kurikinton [sweetened chestnuts with mashed potatoes]." "The depth of the Tamba chestnuts is a little too austere, so we blend it with the sweetness of Kumamoto chestnuts." (Sekiwa-san) |
Suzumoto Miyu: "The taste of the chestnut spreads gradually over the tongue. Such pleasure... It's as Sekiwa-san said, the Tamba chestnuts are quite the colour of black tea; and the Kumamoto chestnut are yellow. So when they are mixed together they seem to make a fresh, earth-coloured cream."
She likes the Mont Blanc as well. In fact, she really does love chestnuts
Kuritaro's roots go deep! Did she grow up with a chestnut tree? | |
| A snapshot with the chestnuts given her by the editorial department. What she's holding are from the Tenshin Amaguri store near the Hachi statue in Shibuya (300g bag, ¥300). As soon as she saw the bag, Suzumoto-san said: "Ah! From the Amaguriya in Shibuya." As expected, she knows chestnuts. |
-- Where did you first encounter chestnuts?
Suzumoto: "My grandma loved chestnuts, and often gave them to me to eat when I was little. I also went with her to pick chestnuts."
-- Autumn is crowded with sweets. What chestnut sweets do you like best?
Suzumoto: "I like them all. In the beginning, I didn't actually like Mont Blanc that much."
-- !? (This unexpected bombshell made us all impatient for more.)
Suzumoto: "When I was little and we went to a cafe, my mother woud always order Mont Blancs. What's so great about these, I always thought. Then suddenly i realized that I loved them!!
-- Ah. Soon we'll see that loving chestnuts is in your DNA.
Suzumoto: Actually, my father planted a chestnut tree at our house some years ago. It's much bigger this year than it was last. I always enjoy seeing how it has grown, when I go home.
-- So you lived with a chestnut tree.... (Though we don't know why he planted it)!!But her in the city, you never see them.
Suzumoto: Yes. that's so. There's Tenshin Amaguri in Shibuya, and chestnuts being roasted on the street always make me react (laughs). The aroma of chestnuts roasting floats up and makes them seem so tasty. It's another good point about chestnuts that you can easily carry them around.
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| Suzumoto-san said these were her "first chestnuts" of the season. But she makes chestnut sweets herself. "At home, we make kurikinton [sweet chestnuts with mashed potatoes]. It's easy to make, using a pressure cooker." |
#2, Paris chic mini Mont Blanc
Spellbound by the high aroma of the chestnut cream. |
| Next was the crispy Mont Blanc tart with chestnut ice cream (¥2613). "What a cute little thing! Just the right size for when you want a cup of tea." And she set to with a huge smile! |
The Mont Blanc is surrounded by Italian candied chestnut [marrons glacés], sweet-stewed pumpkin [kabocha], and sweet potato [satsuma imo]. As an accent, sweet/sour blackcurrant cream is added.
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| The foundation is a three-layer crispy tart made from cornstarch. Inside is added almond cream. They use imported French cream for this. And the melts-in-your-mouth ice cream is made in-house. |
Suzumoto Miyu: The look and the flavour are entirely different. A gorgeous aroma rises from it to the nose. The crispy texture is so enjoyable. And the after-taste of the blackcurrant cream is so refreshing.
After the shooting, she carefully put the chestnuts in a bag to take home. In that one gesture, she showed her overflowing love for chestnuts. We will later show you two places Suzumoto-san also had her eye on. And we will talk about what happened during the shooting. Fans should not miss it!
Rihga Royal Hotel Tokyo
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I will just summarize what they say about the two shops Mon had her eye on:
Waguriya - Yanaka
Specializes in chestnut sweets, which it serves all year round. During chestnut season however, there is a line-up even on weekdays. It is plunked down in the middle of the not particularly high-class shopping street called Yanaka Ginza 谷中銀座, north of Ueno. I've been there, and it's well worth visiting both the area and this shop. In the hidden-camera episode of KeyaKake last September (#48), Hirate brought sweets from here to the dressing after a photo shoot, and Mon was totally thrilled.
Chocolatier Palet d'Or ショコラティエ パレ ド オール
Now we have a chocolatier located in the the new Marunouchi Building, just outside Tokyo Station. Shown is their special autumn "Parfait Palet d'Or Japanese Chestnut Premium" (¥2160)
Looks good. Let's go.
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