St. Marc Café: Can’t say no to Chococro!
MANILA, Philippines - You’re the most fashionable baker there is,” someone tells Ben Chan.
“Well, I am just dressing up the chocolate,” he quips.
We are at St. Marc Café in Shinjuku and the Bench man is behind the counter of the coffee shop cum patisserie, learning how to prepare Chococro.
St. Marc Café president Taisuke Fujii explains how the company concept is all about the “Fresh and Fresh Experience.” You line up, someone takes your order in advance and, by the time you get to the counter, your Italian cappuccino or Vietnam coffee is “fresh and ready.”
He says there were hardly any coffee chains that baked goodies right at the shop itself. Established in 1987, St. Marc Café set up its Tokyo Ginza Marronnier Shop in 1993. St. Marc now operates more than 330 outlets in Japan, with shops in Singapore (four) and Manila (two and counting). It hits Orange County in California this year. “We brought this kind of know-how to the café business (at that time), and then we developed the Chococro in 2000.”
That’s what Ben and the rest of the volunteers are learning to create in this special baking session: a treat featuring a blend of cocoa beans from Ghana and Ecuador wrapped inside layers of buttery croissant dough. Aside from the classic and white chocolate variants, it also comes in Ohina matcha strawberry.
“Now we are trying to develop our line of pasta,” Fujii says.
As we wonder about the “Can’t Say No To Chococro” shirts the staff-members are wearing, Ben whispers, “Those shirts are made by Bench.” The Japanese executives saw the staffers in Megamall wearing them.
So, I go to the counter and order the Inception of burgers: a gratin croquette in a croissant burger. Marc, my words: the mixture of textures is strong in this one. “You need to have it in Manila,” so goes the chorus of journalists, addressing Suyen Corp. VP for business development Bryan Lim.
By the way, the café was named after a French saint who was a storyteller, says Fujii. You can just imagine the potful of fresh stories simply a-brewing inside this Japanese café as the day gracefully zens its way into existence.
