Thursday, April 12, 2012

Cacao Magic and Raw rumination

Cacao Magic is a newly opened 'raw food' restaurant and chocolate shop here in Kyoto. My daughter Kai and I were reminded of the delicate flavors of raw cuisine. A few years earlier we had enjoyed a wheatgrass holiday at the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico. Feeling clean psychologically, one trusts dedicated foodies, compliments the subtle palate of vegetables and herbs. 
We were lucky to catch Chocolatier Sumire Matsuda open on a weekday expressly for the cherry blossom season, as her new shop is in the blossom viewing heart of Eastern Kyoto, near the Silver Pavilion. 

Sumire is a charming host, fluent in English, having spent years as a fashion buyer in London. There are shakes made of a concoction of healthy goodies too numerous to name. The menu changes every week and I feel I will be tempted to return often. This is not the nurturing stuff of American meat and potato, though it does fit comfortably in my Paleo camp of low carbohydrate and all natural. The Pièce de résistance is her desserts, chocolate of course. Dessert is not voluminous, but it needn't be, as our raw food lunch of dehydrated onion chips, salad with goji berry dressing, and avocado soup filled me to the brim. 
And filling me is never easy.

http://www.cacaomagic.com/