Just a heads up, I wrote this article last summer and kept pushing it back which I apologize for. I can finally post about this awesome place but it is winter now so sorry for the time lapse.
Back in the summer of 2020, the wife and I were coming back from Joso city and were in Tsukuba to do some shopping. She had told me about a sweets shop in Tsukuba that she loves and dragged me to it during a hot day in August. She had been telling me for quite a while now that she wanted to go back to this sweets shop and bring me along. On that hot summer day while we were coming back from the great Brazilian supermarket TK Market, (which I did a blog about by the way) we decided to stop at this sweets shop. There was a line outside the door which surprised me. Especially, since it was a Tuesday. We finally got inside after waiting a bit and the wife's eyes lit up with all the small cakes and sweets that were on display.
La Riviere de Sable
The sweets place in Tsukuba is called La Riviere de Sable, a very French sounding name. The place was crowded with customers ordering cakes, cookies and chocolates to take back home. This French sounding sweets shop is not near Tsukuba station or any busy place in Tsukuba. This sweets shop was in the middle of nowhere in Tsukuba, yet there were quite a lot of people there. As we walked inside, we were asked by the staff if we were eating in or taking our sweets back home. You can eat in at this sweets shop. They have a small patio area outside with tables and chairs to enjoy your delicious small cakes, cookies or whatever you want to try. But on that sunny day, it was around 35 degrees so we decided to eat our sweets in our air conditioned apartment.
The Sweets
As you can see there are a lot of cakes, cookies, chocolates and sweets to choose from (even though a lot of them were sold out by the time we got there). The wife looked at all these sweets like she was ready to buy all of them. I gave her a limit of up to four sweets. She protested at first, but I reminded her of all the money we had just spent at TK Market and she told me that I had a fair point. She did proclaim however that we would buy way more items the next time we visited.
Ice Chocolate Deliciousness
As I stated above, it was a really hot day so when I saw a sign for a cold chocolate drink with marshmallow in it, I decided to get that. My wife also agreed that this would be a perfect drink for the hot weather. The drink was ice cold but it wasn't frozen. The chocolate tasted like a mix of dark and milk chocolate, not too sweet but not too bitter. It was nice and cooling. It also had chocolate shavings on top of the marshmallows which would get stuck in the straw from time to time and prompt me to use all the air in my lungs to suck out anything in the drink. Nevertheless, it was delicious and refreshing. The marshmallow was a nice addition to the drink and very chewy. We both happily sipped that ice chocolate drink all the way back home. When we got back to our apartment, it was time to try the cakes.
Monsieur Noir
We had ended up buying three cakes to take home. One of those cakes was the Monsieur Noir. This small cake was a real delight that the wife and I enjoyed. According to the description, this cake was a chocolate cake with caramel cream and the middle was more chocolate but super creamy. Meaning, when you first bit into this cake, you got a little crunch of caramel and chocolate on top, then a nice creamy chocolate surprise when you were done with the crunchy part. This cake was great, the wife and I really enjoyed it. But it does not come anywhere near the level of deliciousness that the other two cakes I am about to talk about brought with them.
Gateau Fermo
The next two small cakes I am going to talk about seem to be the most popular items in La Riviere de Sable. First up is the Gateau Fermo. This small cake takes the shape of a cacao bean because, you guessed it, it is entirely chocolate. According to the description, this cake has bitter dark chocolate and mousse chocolate mixed together. When the wife tried this cake, she was overwhelmed by how great it was and vowed to buy another one soon. I got to try it after her of course, and it was extremely soft and creamy. It was insane how creamy this cake was. I am surprised it was able to hold it's texture. There was really no bitterness in the cake but I did get a hint of dark chocolate. It was fantastic and I hope to get to order another one soon.
Quatre Rouge
The next popular item is the Quatre Rouge. This was my favorite item of everything we had tried. Just like the Gateau Fermo, it was very creamy and delicious, and again I was blown away by just how creamy it was. I really couldn't understand the description of this cake and what is in it but it was amazing. It had a kind of perfect balance between a sweet and sour berry taste that was fantastic. Cutting into that cake with my fork and feeling how soft it was was truly satisfying. The outside glaze of the cake was memorizing and extremely delicious. The wife also gave this cake a thumbs up but I think she liked the Gateau Fermo way more. I really did enjoy this cake and I vow to buy another as soon as possible.
Sadly, the wife and I have not had a chance to go back to this magical sweets shop since that sunny summer day in 2020. It is kind of far from us and the pandemic isn't helping things. But mark my words, we are going back and this time, we are getting way more than four items.
So if you have a sweet tooth and are in Tsukuba, we not give La Riviere de Sable a try. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Who knows, you might see me there, trying to stop the wife from buying the whole inventory.
Enjoy!
For more information on La Riviere de Sable, check out their website:
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