Hisaya Kyoto Azabudai Hills (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

After successfully hitting all my spots in Nakameguro, I ventured over to the newly opened Azabudai Hills (麻布台之丘) as planned. Azabudai Hills is brought to us by the same developer of Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills. The fact that it's directly connected to Kamiyacho Station (神谷町駅) on the Hibiya Subway Line has given me a very easy time traveling from Meguro.



Since little nugget was still having a great time in Ikebukuro doing his thing, I figured I had all the time in the world to explore Azabudai Hills up close and personal. I was starting from the upper levels where I managed to find a clear view of Tokyo Tower.  



With at least two hours to go before dinner time, I thought I better put my precious spare time to good use. And an afternoon tea session at Hisaya Kyoto Honten sounds like the perfect plan.

Hisaya is a confectionery shop and dessert café famous for its chestnut desserts. On their winter menu, they were showcasing two chestnut desserts, a Mont-blanc like dessert with chestnut vermicelli sprinkled all over a matcha ice-cream; and a seasonal pancake with the same chestnut vermicelli, served with a homemade chestnut sauce.

I decided to come in for a much needed sweet treat.



The tea set came with a pot of hot Japanese roasted tea, or hojicha.

While I was enjoying a sip of hojicha tea, my server was bringing out fresh chestnuts from the kitchen onto the vermicelli machine.

It took a while but my "Mont Blanc" dessert was finally ready.

Under the chestnut vermicelli made with Tamba chestnuts (or Tamba Kuri 丹波栗) was a layer of chantilly cream and the ice-cream ball on the bottom. I had a choice between matcha or hojicha ice-cream but I thought I made a bad choice picking hojicha over matcha there. The extra bitterness from the matcha would've been a nice match for the sweetness of the chestnut purée. But with the hojicha ice-cream, the tea flavors hardly stood out (only the contrasting temperature did).

I couldn't believe I even had time to check out the Christmas Market in Azabudai Hills before the gang arrived from Ikebukuro. Not the biggest in Tokyo for sure but it was nice to soak up the holiday vibes.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 2/F Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B, 5-9-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Kamiyacho

Tel: +81 3-6435-7138

Website: www.instagram.com/hisaya_azabudaihills

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily