Kit Kat’s are one of those foods that is just on another level when you’re in Japan. There’s so many flavors that you can’t find anywhere else, and some of which can only be found in certain areas of Japan. It’s so much of a thing that there are shops called chocolatory.
I’ve been wanting to go to one for awhile, after I realized they were a thing. But usually it’s not as high as other things on my list so I haven’t made it until this trip. It just sounds like a lot of fun to wander through a shop looking at all the different flavors. I specifically wanted to go to the one in Ginza which is two floors. The first floor is the chocolatory and the second is their cafe. (It’s also the only one that currently offers the cafe.)
What I was really hoping for was a one stop shop where I could see all the local current flavors and maybe some that were no longer in grocery stores. However what they had for sale was a bit…different. The chocolatorys don’t seem to sell your regular old fun flavored Kit Kats. Instead they sell something called “Sublime”, which are these extra long single stick Kit Kats. (So no breaking off a piece) Prices for these range from 324 to 540 yen each. (Yeah that’s right between $3-$5 for a single Kit Kat) While looking around I was overwhelmed and a bit thrown off. I’d had a ton of friends earlier in the year go to Japan and rave about these lemon salt Kit Kats but those are just something you can find in the grocery stores and they didn’t have them, because they’re not that elegant high quality sublime Kit Kats. (I did get the lemon salt elsewhere and quite like them) You can also buy some fancy Kit Kat gift boxes here with their sets, like their sublime volcanic set, which is their three volcanic chocolates for 1,404 yen. It was overwhelming and not what I expected so I headed upstairs to the cafe instead.
I ordered two things. A ginger ale, because they don’t have them in South Korea so any time I find one I try to have one. And it came with a matcha sublime for me to have with it. I think all of their drinks come with a sublime Kit Kat. Some elderly ladies next to me having their tea time also got sublimes and were utterly surprised and delighted by it.
The other thing I ordered was a seasonal special called Nata de coco green tea with sublime which was 1,300 yen. When the woman brought it out to me, she asked if I wanted to film it. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but I was delighted she mentioned it.
Essentially when I was ready she created a cool cloud over me and the table which froze the green tea in the glass into something akin to ice cream. It was really fun. It also came with two more sublimes. A ruby one and a dark chocolate one.
So if you also get overwhelmed by all the sublime Kit Kats, head upstairs and order some desserts or snacks or even just a drink and you’ll get to try one and decide whether you want to buy more. Plus if you want a rest and some fancy feeling Kit Kats it’s quite the fun experience. Though I personally couldn’t tell a huge difference between the sublime Kit Kats and a regular one. Though I didn’t have any regular ones on hand to compare them too.
The cafe is open from 11 to 8pm with the last food order at 7pm and last drink order at 7:30pm. The first floor store is open from 11am until 9pm.