When Yasushi Sasaki moved from Japan to Belgium at the age of 19, he spoke not a word of French and had no clue what he would do with his life.
Last month, at the age of 52, he was named Brussels’ chocolatier of the year by the prestigious Gault&Millau food guide — no small triumph in a country that considers itself the homeland of chocolate.
“Whenever I go home to Japan and mention Belgium, people say to me ‘Ahhh.... chocolate!” Sasaki said.
Photo: AFP
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
Dubbed a “flavor wizard” by the food guide, Sasaki conducts his experiments in a little workshop behind his store, in the Brussels commune of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.
“Chocolate? From the moment I chose the profession it became my whole life,” he said. “It’s a hobby, a job, a pleasure.”
Photo: AFP
“I knew nothing, I started from scratch. But I think I made the right choice.”
Originally from Nara, near the city of Osaka, Sasaki draws inspiration from his homeland — but with a light touch. Not all Japanese flavors sit well with a chocolate ganache or praline.
“Green tea is very strong and marries very well. So does yuzu,” the citrus fruit, he explained as he doled out tips to his team of young Japanese staff. “Kaki and mandarin — nope.”
Sasaki selects his suppliers with care. The green tea for instance comes from Kyoto, where he orders directly from a cousin who works in the sector.
With cocoa prices soaring, he is also careful to control costs.
“We are artisans but we are also businesspeople,” he said. “To keep working as artisans, we have to sell what we make.”
‘MY OWN WAY’
Sasaki may have learned the trade in Brussels but he does not consider himself heir to a Belgian tradition.
“I have my own way, my own taste,” he said. “I know my strength is my own way, not copying other people.”
Today, Sasaki exports his creations back to his home country, where sales peak around Valentine’s Day, the chocolate moment of the year in Japan.
As Easter draws near, he is readying for another big highlight of the chocolate calendar.
Much as he is delighted to be honored by Gault&Millau, Sasaki would have one word of advice for the guidebook — to tip off its laureates before going public, so they have time to prepare.
“It’s a huge impact all of a sudden,” said Sasaki, whose turnover suddenly jumped by 20 to 30 percent.
For now, though, Sasaki has no plans to expand.
“I’ve been making chocolate for years. I’m just going to keep making good things, doing my thing,” he said.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist