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https://www.rococochocolates.com/ is quite wonderful.
On this topic, what are people’s favourite chocolates? Not best or mostexpensive, favourite. I am overly familiar with Brussels Airport and have tried many. My favourite is the Corné Port-Royal ballotin from the fridge. Less pricey than Neuhaus and utterly sumptuous.
Patrick Roger in Paris full stop. It is expensive though, but my favourites are expensive. Followed closely by Pierre Marcolini.
Wittamer used to be my favourite, but after serious issues in their Brussels shop couple of years back, it’s no longer.
I also don’t usually buy chocolate from airport shops (unless cheap stuff) because I don’t know how long it’s been siting there. I also never eat chocolate straight from the fridge, but leave it out until it’s at room temperature. Tastes better to me.
Depends on the type of chocolate. My sister was a confectioner before she became a perfumier and she used to make me a type of truffle with white chocolate and double cream. They were glorious but started to melt at room temperature (white chocolate will do that). By trial and error I discovered that the most rewarding way to eat them was straight out of the freezer; it gave them a delightful chewy texture and they didn’t just go to mush as soon as you tasted them.
Thorntons Classic – yeah, pretty much on a par with Dairy Box.
@Hbommie, chunky Kit Kat, I dare not go there! Do they still make the peanut butter ones? Though on your side of the Pennines, surely chocolate on a biscuit is an extravagance worthy only of Christmas and similar celebrations?Anyway, all this has reminded me, that on my first F flight, about 12 months before Covid appeared, a box of very nice artisan-type chocolates was brought round after the meal. Since then, Lindt balls! Just about sums up the state of BA’s current premium service, you might say …
I would recommend Läderach on Regents Street.
A little expensive, but defindately fancy and, in my mind, worth it@NorthernLass – chocolates like Thorntons and HC probably contain about twice as much sugar as some of the much more expensive brands above, not only to pander to British tastes but also for longer shelf life and maybe also the needing more factor. For me they also have a rather chemical taste. It’s quite odd how many people rave about French/Belgian patisserie and chocolates which again are much less sweet than most of what is sold in the UK, but then revert to over sugary things here. If I’m following an English pudding recipe, I would fairly systematically halve the quantity of sugar.
Re BA, they used a have a roster of excellent chocolates in F from a variety of very small makers but I think they led these makers up the garden path, getting free or extremely cheap chocolates for a ‘trial’ with a view to some big contract which in reality was never going to be forthcoming as they would just be too expensive and have shelf life issues. QR has moved to Läderach in F and J which my wife was rather pleased about. I was sent to buy some in London and got a bit scared as the assistant put my selection on the scales which flashed £115 but fortunately that was the price per kilo.
Finally, I’m sorry to report that what you experienced with your sister’s white chocolate truffles was a manufacturing defect! The chocolate (even white) won’t melt at room temperature if it’s properly tempered. Eating them from the freezer would kill the flavour.
Au contraire, they were delicious. I rue the day she became a (very successful) supplier of fragrances instead.
I imagine your experience in London was somewhat akin to buying pick ‘n’ mix when visiting the moving pictures (though £115 per kilo sounds slightly on the low side for our local branch of Vue).
Enjoy the shucking tomorrow, you old romantic. I am going to see the new Bridget Jones film with some girlfriends, so jaded have we become with Valentine’s Day! (Won’t be buying pick ‘n’ mix, either).
I would recommend Läderach on Regents Street.
A little expensive, but defindately fancy and, in my mind, worth itThat is totally industrial and leaves too much sweetness on the back of my throat.
@JDB I admit I am a chocolate snob. BA used to serve some really great chocolates in F as you say. And they would load just one or two per flight. Once nobody wanted the chocolate so they gave the whole box to take away as the shelf life was just three days. However ME3 don’t serve good chocolate. If the shelf life is more than two weeks it’s usually industrial. Less than a week is what I’d call fresh.
Speaking of quality and shelf life. Beyond France/Belgium, my top favourite is Claudio Corallo from São Tomé. Their 100% dark chocolate is not bitter at all because they use the process which is totally different from chocolatiers in Europe. They manually take out the germ from the middle of the bean which reducess the bitterness. For the same reason shelf life is also longer.
His website explains the process in detail
There is also online shop. You can order to Europe (it used to be via Amsterdan), but not sure now. I still have a stash from my trip last summer.
Thanks all. I was actually hoping for chocolate dipped strawberries- the classy kind, not the insta fodder from borough mkt. had hoped to find them in Selfridges but no. Anyway looking at the queue outside Cards Galore in the station tonight, I’m not the only one leaving it until the last minute….
The ultimate gift would be to make them yourself – dipped in @meta’s 100% dark chocolate would be divine!
Thanks for the recommendation, @meta, I am always looking for good-quality dark chocolate which still tastes like a treat! But you generally have exquisite taste as I recall from previous posts …
Wow the Hotel Chocolat hate is big. They are not the same as when they were a club sourcing chocolates from different chocolatiers every month rather than a high street brand, but it’s a bit undeserved. They are hardly Thorntons.
At risk of being on topic for a travel forum: Rabot in St Lucia, which HC owns, is an excellent place to stay and eat. Just opposite is the equally excellent place to stay and eat, Ladera.
Answering the favourite chocolates question though: Elly Seidl in Munich.
Not as high-falutin’ as some, but there’s a nice shop in Malaga where you can buy turron, etc, bit also slabs of chocolate by weight – my favourite is the dark chocolate with raspberry pieces. They also do single-origin bars at excellent prices.
Not as high-falutin’ as some, but there’s a nice shop in Malaga where you can buy turron, etc, bit also slabs of chocolate by weight – my favourite is the dark chocolate with raspberry pieces. They also do single-origin bars at excellent prices.
Ooh that sounds good – I’ll be back in Malaga next week, what’s the place called?
@NorthernLass I know the place! It is lovely.
@masaccio that was just a marketing ploy, they were produced in the same factory. They just sourced beans from different places and called it artisanal. High quality beans is essential, but it’s the process that makes them shine.Carpo is good and feels like the real deal as well!
@masaccio that was just a marketing ploy, they were produced in the same factory. They just sourced beans from different places and called it artisanal. High quality beans is essential, but it’s the process that makes them shine.
I have no idea what that means, but their chocolates have definitely changed over the past 20 years. I do miss the Chocolate Tasting Club.
Wow the Hotel Chocolat hate is big. They are not the same as when they were a club sourcing chocolates from different chocolatiers every month rather than a high street brand, but it’s a bit undeserved. They are hardly Thorntons.
Never forgiven HC for clawing back a substantial amount of avios via the BA estore 19 months after purchase.
Banned from my shopping list forever.
@tootsci, I can’t recall off the top of my head, Malaga is small so I just wander around until I come across it! It’s not far from the cathedral IIRC, I will have a look at google maps and get the name.
Thanks! If it’s La Pinocha I just found on Google maps that’s near the cathedral then those stacks of chocolate bars look most inviting!
@tootsci, it is Torrons Vicens, on calle Cister, across the road from the cathedral! I don’t think I’ve tried La Pinocha, I’ll have a look in May.
Fab, perhaps I’ll have to sample both and report back (hard work but someone’s gotta do it! 😁)
@meta – absolutely nothing wrong with being a chocolate snob although I would be inclined to use the word connoisseur given the negative connotations of ‘snob’ whereas connoisseur is definitely a good thing. Having been brought up in Belgium and France, people’s lack of interest in quality food and wine in this country is a bit tragic.
I haven’t been to São Tomé, but I have sampled your friend Monsieur Marcolini’s grand cru from there and it’s great. I’m intrigued by your mention of Kitchoan and shall visit when I’m next near Piccadilly.
We went to a fairly ordinary (€45 set menu) restaurant near Nice last week serving French food but prepared by a Japanese chef. The quality of the ingredients, the precision he brought to the preparation and the exquisite presentation were remarkable as was the charm and professionalism of his Japanese wife front of house; rather put the French to shame. We are in Paris next week and coincidentally visiting another Japanese run/owned French restaurant that sounds very promising. While we are there I will aim to visit Patrick Roger. Thank you for the two names!
The quality of chocolates and patisserie in China made by Chinese people who have mostly trained abroad is quite staggering. They obviously understand using the very best ingredients but are also so technical and patient yet so creative and with a brilliant eye for presentation that they are completely outgunning Europeans.
PS sorry, but we do like Läderach! Swiss chocolate is remarkably different to Belgian chocolate.
In Paris you should also visit Mori Yoshida’s patisserie. His flan puts all the French pastry chefs to shame.
And yes, the Japanese mostly do better French food than the French themselves.
@masaccio that was just a marketing ploy, they were produced in the same factory. They just sourced beans from different places and called it artisanal. High quality beans is essential, but it’s the process that makes them shine.
I have no idea what that means, but their chocolates have definitely changed over the past 20 years. I do miss the Chocolate Tasting Club.
Beans come from a variety of sources/countries. What HC did was to present this as being local and artisanal. However the process of turning these beans into a chocolate bar was nothing but mass produced. There is nothing local about it.
Beans come from a variety of sources/countries. What HC did was to present this as being local and artisanal. However the process of turning these beans into a chocolate bar was nothing but mass produced. There is nothing local about it.
I tend to only be interested in pralines when it comes to ‘fancy’ chocolate so unless CTC as it was before they rebranded to HC were lying about the individual person responsible for the chocolate, we could be talking about different things.
Based on this thread, I might order a box of Läderach since they’re similar prices to Chococo which we quite liked.
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