This afternoon tea collaboration has already ended, but I’m still going to write about it because it was pretty good!! And also because I didn’t write about the regular Sofitel afternoon tea that I had, and I low-key regret that because I need it to remember what I ate.

Anyway, the Kamakura Mochi collaboration with Sofitel is a warabi-mochi themed afternoon tea. I really like Kamakura Mochi’s mochi lemonade drink, and my family has bought their warabi mochi a few times, so I was primed to like this. I was actually really surprised my friend managed to get a reservation, given that they only serve 10 sets a day.

The afternoon tea starts with a mocktail – it’s sweet (due to the black sugar) with lemon notes. It kind of reminds me of a cold-brew Lupicia tea blend.

The actual tea was… fine. It’s TWG and they do add hot water for free, but the flavours were the standard ones so there’s not much for me to talk about.

Now on to the more exciting bit, the food!

Of course, this came with warabi mochi. We were asked to eat this first and we thought it was exactly what you’d expect.

Savouries

Yakishabu Beef with Black Garlic and Mangetsu Egg – The beef was flavourful and melted in my mouth. It had a ponzu sauce that helped cut through the richness from the sauce and the egg. I really enjoyed this one and it reminded me of an excellent beef don that I had in Tokyo.

French Duck Rilette with Sakura Jelly in Monaka Shell – The monaka was a bit too soft, it felt like it had been left out for too long. But the duck was good and I enjoyed the contrast of flavours.

Goma Warabimochi Comté Cheese Kue Pie Tee – This was very cheese, though I didn’t taste the mochi – maybe it was more for texture? I didn’t really taste the sesame either, though my friend did say she could taste it. As a fan of cheese, I enjoyed it and as a fan of the library’s Book to Cook series, I recommend this video on the history of Kueh Pie Tee.

Mushroom Duxelle on Egg Tartlet – I really liked this one! You can taste the egg yolk from the top and there’s a nice cheesy taste. The crust is nice and crisp and the mushroom adds a nice umami and depth of flavour.

Warabimochi Tempura with Snow Crab and Black Tobiko – I thought this was very unique and really liked the contrast of soft warabi and crispy tempura coating. The warabi itself was kind of plain so the snow crab and tobiko gave it some needed flavour to make the dish interesting and delicious.

Sweets

Goma Crepe Roll Cake – I normally don’t like goma/sesame so I didn’t expect to like this, but I did! The goma crepe was soft and sweet with the right amount of black sesame notes and it’s on a crispy cookie base that provides a good contrast and turned it from nice to “wow”!

Sweet Potato Orange Flan Chestnut Tartlet – You can hear the crust when you cut this one. Generally, we thought that Sofitel did all the tart shells/biscuits very well; they were all crisp and well flavoured. Orange notes are quit distinct, I just wish the sweet potato was much sweeter like a roasted yakkiimo thing.

Houjicha Pandan Financier – This tasted more like an apple cake because there are Granny Smith apples pieces in it. I could make out the pandan but not the houjicha. This wasn’t what I expected and it feels a bit misnamed (it should just be a pandan apple cake?).

Salted Peanut Chocolate Warabimochi Tart – The tart shell is very good (as expected). The warabimochi is in the base and contrast between the crispy tart shell and soft warabimochi is obvious. In terms of taste, chocolate and peanut is a solid combination, so while this can feel like an elevated Mars bar, I really enjoyed it.

Warabimochi in Spring Berry Sakura Entremet Mousse – This is for those who like berries (which is me!). It tasted like a soft berry explosion with a cookie base.

In general, I thought the warabi mochi ended up blending into a lot of the foods – I think it really just serves as a contrast and it can be missed if the other ingredients are already soft. But overall, all the dishes tasted excellent and we appreciated that they tried to incorporate the mochi into the dish, not just serve it to us on the side (which they also did)!