Frédéric Madelaine, the star pastry chef in Japan

The pastry chef-chocolatier Frédéric Madelaine settled in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, twenty-three years ago. His shop offers an avalanche of delicacies from France: millefeuille, salted caramels, Mont-Blanc, etc. But what has made Le Normand’s reputation is the daring marriage of real unpasteurised milk camembert, with dark chocolate, white chocolate and other secret ingredients.

“It’s delicious, the taste of camembert and chocolate go together wonderfully and, at the same time, you can clearly distinguish the two tastes.”, assures a client. “When I started this product, people were like, ‘This guy is a little crazy‘”, says Frédéric Madelaine. From now on, the apple tree specialty has its fans, like a couple who come to stock up every week. “What I like about here is that it’s traditional and, at the same time, he’s always trying new things.”, describes the man.