The hotels’ pâtissiers quest for sweet inspiration

The Sapporo Park Hotel and the Sapporo Grand Hotel, operated by GRANVISTA Hotels & Resorts, are pleased to announce a recent collaboration with the French international gastronomic guidebook Gault & Millau, which was issued in Japan for the first time in 2017 in Tokyo and the tourist areas of Hokuriku and Setouchi.

The highly acclaimed dessert maestro Chef Kazutoshi Narita developed a special line of winter sweet cakes for this collaboration. Chef Narita, the pastry chef at two Michelin star French restaurant Esquisse in Ginza, has been named the best pâtissier in Asia and also received the Gault & Millau Best Pâtissier Award.

The chef traveled to Sapporo to teach and train his team, bringing his philosophy and technical guidance to this project.

"Hokkaido's terroir has an equivalent potential to Europe's," said Chef Narita. When the collaboration was brought to his attention, he was happy to join and make new creations sourcing produce from this beautiful terroir.

To develop the winter sweet cakes for the Hokkaido project, Chef Narita drew on his experience working for the internationally famous French restaurants Pierre Herme Paris and L'Atelier Joel Robuchon.

Therefore, the chef saw that the potential to create something astounding was evident in this project, especially when combined with his deep knowledge of both European and Hokkaido terroirs.

“With this collaboration between these two luxury hotels, guardians of a long history here in Sapporo, and Gault & Millau, I felt that we had to take this project to a world-class level,” he said.

Four types of sweets were developed for this project. Both hotels will provide sweet cakes that can be enjoyed onsite or taken out. The eye-catching dessert, served on a beautiful plate, is covered with a golden amber glaze. Inside, you will find a delicate mousse made with locally sourced Hokkaido milk.

Chef Narita said with a smile, "You will experience the variation of tastes while mixing the mousses, truffles and berries, the different sauces and powders to color your plate, not to mention the crispy texture of candies."

This new tasting experience provided at both hotels allows guests to discover new aspects of the hotels, and experience the culture of Hokkaido in a fun, delightful way. Chef Narita shared his philosophy with these simple words, "Our customers’ lifestyles evolve with time. I want to offer them something that goes beyond those changes."

In early fall, two months before launching the sweets collaboration, Chef Narita met with the staff of both hotels and finalized hands-on training for members assigned to the project.

In the kitchen, everyone conscientously followed each of the chef's gestures as he provided demonstrations and one-on-one instruction. He showed them how to tend to the woodfire used to bake the sweets, a highly technical skill necessary to keep the cakes uniformly hot.

The hotels’ staff members raved about the personal training they received from Chef Narita. His explanations were clear, and rooted in years of theoretical knowledge and technical skill.
"It is a great opportunity to work with a super pâtissier,” noted one staff member. “I want to share what I have learned with our customers.”

The new sweets will be unveiled on October 18. You can find further information in our next review.