Midway between the steaming spa town of Beppu and Kunisaki Peninsula likes Nakatsu, a largely nondescript port town that I, honestly, know very little about. But it is home to Haru Chocolates which is the reason we made the detour. The café, nestled on a quiet street corner with little else happening around it, feels like a breath of fresh air.
Entering through the traditional noren curtains, we duck slightly as we pass beneath them, a small gesture that feels like paying respect to the craftsmanship within. Inside, we are instantly relaxed. The space is simple, classic, and minimalist: concrete walls and floors softened by warm wooden tables. Along one wall sits a display of glass jars filled with dried cacao pods, beans, and husks. The atmosphere is bright and welcoming, a calm refuge from the heat and humidity outside.
The menu is a chocolate dream. There’s a wide range of options, including a cacao curry made with rice, chicken spice curry finished with a chocolate sauce, but it’s limited to only ten servings a day and had already sold out by the time we arrived. They work with a few different origins but use their Colombian origin chocolate for their drinks and desserts. The hot chocolate is excellent, light and delicate, made with water. I’d usually prefer something richer, but this felt perfectly suited to the moment. The kids ordered the refreshing cacao pulp juice.
We also ordered both desserts, a melt in your mouth chocolate cake served with chocolate icecream and café mocha sauce that was outstanding. The platter of three chocolate desserts featuring ganache, chocolate cake and sorbet was a fit celebration of chocolate transformed in different ways.
At the front entrance, a table displays their chocolate bars, including a seasonal strawberry bar, made with “momonoka” strawberries grown at Yoshioka Farm in Kunisaki City combined with homemade dried fruit and white chocolate. The bars are moulded beautifully, resembling water flowing over rocks, and packaged in understated light coloured cardboard boxes.
Everything is written, as one would expect, in Japanese. By now we had become masters of the Japanese translator app and loved how it made many of the descriptions sound like poems in English, whether that was intended or not. One description on Haru’s packaging translated as “Haru chocolate is, dealing with each and every ingredient, cherish the encounters that arise from this. It penetrates into the mind and body. I’ll bring you chocolate.” Yes, please do!
The couple serving us are the founders and makers. Incredibly warm and friendly, it was lovely to speak with them about their craft. While little else from that drive to Kunisaki stood out, Haru Chocolates was a perfect moment, one that made our journey unforgettable.
Haru Chocolate, 1452-1 Kyomachi, Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture Open weekends from 11:30am to 17:00pm @haruchocolate, https://www.haru-chocolate.com/
