The Little Chocolate Shop

A while ago, I saw a Twitter friend (@BziB) talking about a new chocolate goodies' shop that her sister Michelle had opened. My curiosity was immediately piqued and I congratulated her on the opening. The sweetheart that @BziB is, she offered to send some samples across and I was thrilled that I would be one of the first people to be writing about it. And there it was, waiting on my desk this morning, a beautiful li'l batch made by the lovely Michelle!

A Sophia’s (HAFT) alumna, Michelle has worked in one of the most prestigious hotel kitchens in the country at the Taj Group of Hotels. She specializes in pastry and confectionery, and has continued to make and bake passionately even after she left the Taj. For a while, she has whipped up treats for friends and family, but she dreams of owning a café eventually. The little Chocolate Shop is the first step in that direction. She believes that because pastries and chocolates are indulgences, they should always be made only from the best, healthiest ingredients.

The little Chocolate shop was started on the first of May, 2013 and operates out of a kitchen in Goregaon. And it was from there that a beautiful pack of four goodies and a small pack of savouries was sent to me. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into them! The pack consisted of a wholewheat chocolate brownie with walnut toppings, a gooey chocolate almond brownie, a butter caramel chocolate tart and a mini Banoffee pie, accompanied by a small pack of Garlic Herb crackers.

I started with the Garlic Herb crackers first, and found them crisp and subtly flavoured, just the way I like them. I think I detected some cheese in it too, but I could totally be imagining it. The herbs used in savouries like these are all home-grown by Michelle, who believes in delivering only the healthiest possible treats to her customers.



Then came the Mini Banoffee pie, which I thought was a splendid idea. These bite-sized goodies are perfect for weight-watching, sweet-toothed people like me. Imagine all that yummy, chocolate-sprinkled banana-cream-toffee goodness in your mouth at once! What's not to like, right? :)

I tried the butter-caramel chocolate tart next. The crusts of both the tarts were beautifully crumbly, and in my book, that's what makes for a perfect tart. The tart crust was filled with butter-caramel sauce, with a layer of chocolate on top. As I bit into it, my mouth was filled with the sauce, causing the most beautiful explosion of flavours with the sweet of caramel and the slight salt of butter. It was easily my favourite of the four things.





































I tried the brownies next, starting with the gooey chocolate-almond variety. Perhaps because it was a day-old, the brownie had hardened a little. Tasty as they were, I did not find them 'gooey'. But I can imagine it going superbly well on a Sizzling Brownie platter with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce!

Lastly, I tried the Wholewheat Chocolate Brownie, topped with chopped walnuts. Considering there are few, if any, 'healthy' dessert options, this kind of brownie should resonate with the health-conscious. It had a dense, cakey consistency and was not excessively sweet. The chopped nuts added more character, making it quite a mouthful. Again, a little on the hard side, but I know many people like their brownies like that. A perfect choice, I repeat, for weight-watching dessert lovers.

Apart from these, Michelle makes lovely things like Baby Meringues, Dairy Free Pavlovas, Mango Tarts, Marzipan Cupcakes, and Rainbow Cookies among other things. You can check out their menu here.

Currently, The little Chocolate Shop takes only custom orders, but they will open a cafe shortly. They  currently deliver to locations between Bandra and Malad (other locations on request) in Mumbai. You can address your enquiries to Karina Varma on karina@thelittlechocolateshop.in and can check out their FB page too for latest updates on all good chocolat-y things.

RATING: 3.5/5

Cadbury Crunchie

I think I had taken no notice of this product for so many years because the packaging resembles a 5 Star , and I make no secret of my dislike for the latter. Not that Cadbury Crunchie is available everywhere as it has to be imported from the UK. But the product has been around from as far back as 1929, when it was produced by J. S. Fry & Sons. Fry merged with Cadbury eventually and Crunchie became a Cadbury product. Crunchie has been a popular chocolate abroad and several limited edition flavours like orange, lemonade and champagne have been introduced over the years.

Crunchie is basically a milk chocolate bar with a honeycomb toffee centre. A honeycomb toffee, also called sponge toffee or cinder toffee is a sugary toffee, which is light, rigid and has sponge-like texture. For those who want to know more about the toffee-making process, head here.

Needless to say, the toffee is the most important component of this chocolate and it offers the most wonderful texture. I prefer the hard, crunchy toffee many times more than the sticky, soft caramel so many people seem to prefer.

However, the end taste is rather sweet, with the milk chocolate and the honeycomb toffee coming together. Since I am not a fan of overly sweet chocolates, Crunchy is not something I would buy often. But for lovers of sweet confections, a 50 g pack for INR 50 might be a good treat.

RATING: 3/5

La Confiteria Delaviuda Milk - Lait

From what I could gauge from the translation of the brand's website, La Confiteria Delaviuda is a Spanish brand, that was established in 1927 in Toledo, Spain, by Dr. Manuel Lopez and his wife, Maria Rojas. While confection-making was Lopez' family tradition, he didn't live long enough to carry on. After his death in 1939, the business fell upon his widow's hands. Maria, along with her children, determinedly carried the business forward and came to be known as the 'sweet widow' for her quality confections.

Today, the brand sells a variety of chocolates and obviously sells in many parts of the world, landed as it has in a supermarket shelf in Mumbai.

After my tryst with sugar-free dark chocolate, this sugar-free milk chocolate was the perfect find. I wanted to see how milk chocolate would compare with dark chocolate sans the sugar. I was disappointed. The sugar-free Milk - Lait La Confiteria Delaviuda chocolate has a very strong aftertaste of the artificial sweetener, Maltitol. Although Maltitiol, a sugar alcohol, is a popular sugar substitute of its sweetness and low calorific content, it leaves an unpleasant taste behind, at least as far as this European chocolate is concerned.

That apart, I love the package design with a fail-safe solid colour combination of blue and red with white - like the UK or US flags. The bar is plain looking, without any branding. The bar isn't splotchy looking like it is in the picture - that's just fridge-frost. Also, a 100 g bar costs INR 195 - too steep unless you're a diabetic chocoholic. All in all, a product you'd like to give a miss.

RATING: 2.5/5

Butlers Honeycomb Crisp Milk Chocolate

The best thing about running this blog is that everyday I go to bed knowing that there will be more chocolate tomorrow! THERE ARE SO MANY BRANDS AND VARIETIES OUT THERE! Every time a friend returns from a trip abroad or I from the supermarket, there is something new to be eaten, enjoyed and written about. Oh, the world is a sweet, sweet place.

This sweet offering, for instance, has come all the way from Ireland. Butlers was founded in 1932 by an Irishwoman Marion Butler, who initially called it Chez Nous. The small company was based in Dublin and was bought over by Seamus Sorensen in 1959; the Sorensen family still owns this brand. The Butlers brand was born in 1984. Today, the brand's luxurious chocolates are sold in over 35 countries globally, and it is best known for its cafe chain format.

Among its many varieties, is this milk chocolate with an intriguing ingredient - honeycomb! Honey in food, yes. But honeycomb!? I was most curious about how it would taste. The honeycomb (10%), along with rice crispies (5%), has been added to this chocolate for crispness. The result is a wonderfully crunchy bar of chocolate with a hint of honey. But crunch and smoothness apart, the bar is pretty regular.

A consumer won't know what honeycomb tastes like from this bar. I was also disappointed with the excessively sweet milk chocolate. Overly sweet milk chocolates are my biggest problem with Indian milk chocolates as well.

Milk chocolate lovers will quite like this product, but I see no reason why anyone should pick this up over a regular Cadbury Crackle, especially when a 100 g bar costs almost INR 220.

RATING: 3/5

Godiva milk and dark chocolate pearls

Another fine example of the Beglian chocolate legend is the brand Godiva that makes some of the world's most luxurious chocolates. Originally a Belgian company founded by Joseph Draps in 1926, it was bought over first by the American Campbell Soup Company in 1972 and then by the Turkish Yıldız Holding in 2008. Godiva is currently owned by Yıldız Holding - Turkey's largest consumer goods manufacturer. Godiva is known the world over for its gourmet chocolates, especially their gold ballotins.

I was given these two tins of Godiva pearls - milk and dark chocolate - by a friend a few days ago and I was really keen to see what the Godiva reputation was all about. The nifty looking tins are of the flip open type and contain 43 g of pearls - 80 to 100 pearls maybe. They're perfect to slip into purses and other such and generally show off to people. I LOVE THOSE TINS!

Glazed on top, the chocolates melt in one's mouth rather quickly and taste quite good. Notice how I don't say 'great', because they.. um.. aren't. Yes, the chocolates are smooth and appropriately sweet, but they don't make for a memorable taste experience. It may also have to do with eating smaller quantities - one or two pearls at a time - that don't offer enough gustatory information. Incidentally, the pack also lacks information on cocoa quantities and such. The point is, Godiva's milk and dark chocolate pearls are underwhelming.

What is not underwhelming is the price; quite the opposite actually. One teensy, albeit adorable, tin costs almost INR 400, from what I gauged from the Internet! But I'm not writing Godiva off yet. I shall leave my judging for another day when I get hold of a gold ballotin for which the brand is so famous. But I'm certainly never buying or gifting any more Godiva pearls.

RATING: 2.5/5

Baker Street Choco Nut Cookies

I saw this attractive box of cookies at a local supermarket and picked it up to see how much it would fare on a scale of local bakery ka maal to multinational-made biscuits. The store had a number of products from this new brand and I was surprised at the variety. Of course I chose the Choco Nut cookies, because CHOCOLATE!

The makers turned out to be some Sarjena Foods Pvt. Ltd. from Mumbai and one ought to laud them for churning out a fair variety and taking over supermarket shelves almost overnight. Yes, I know those spaces can be bought, but they've managed to hang around for a while now. On my subsequent trips to other supermarkets, I saw more Baker Street products. Also, hat tip for a wonderful choice of brand name, an ISO certification, and packaging, which has all the trappings of fancyass brands - you know, nutrition chart and all. Only the ingredients list had no mention of nuts in the said choco NUT cookies. :D

That, however, makes the cookies no less good. Although more bakery than multinational, the cookies were rather appealing in terms of quantity and quality. A 200 g pack costing INR 45 (INR 50 outside Mumbai)  has about 20 cookies that are crunchy, nutty and somewhat chocolate-y. They're a little greasy to touch, but taste good enough for one to ignore that. Apparently, the brand also exports to the US, Canada, Australia, the Middle East and the far East, if their website is to be believed. I won't go as far as to say, they're export quality, but they sure are a good attempt by a homegrown brand to make better than average quality stuff.

RATING: 3.5/5

Chocosophy news: Kit Kat Final 50, chocolate taster and chocolate masters

The Kit Kat Final 50 Art Project

Okay, riddle me this. What does art and chocolate make together?
"SWEET!" Duh.

Yeah, so Kit Kat pulled off this fabulous art project in Australia to 'immortalise' its Final 50 bars of the Limited Edition Kit Kat White Chocolate bars.

Artist Mike Watt was invited to make 50 paintings from 50 bars of Kit Kat Limited Edition White Chocolate bars. Watt crushed and melted the chocolates, giving him 'white chocolate paint' to work with. Check out the video below to see how he did it.

Here are some of Watt's sweet work and you can see all 50 in their FB album.

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Welsh woman bags 'chocolate taster' job

There's actually a job of a 'chocolate taster' and this woman has it! Jane Ballinger, from Glyn Ceiriog, Wrexham, beat 77,000 contestants to win the post of 'honorary chocolate taster' for Cadbury for a year. Much like Charlie in the chocolate factory, Jane will get a year's chocolate supply for free and will be consulted for taste before Cadbury's innovations are released to the public.

I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant!!!!!

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Denis Karaca winner of Chocolate Masters Asia Pacific Selection

Australian chef  Denis Karaca took home the top honours at the World Chocolate Master Asia Pacific round. The World Chocolate Masters is an initiative of the three leading gourmet chocolate brands, Callebaut, Cacao Barry and Carma. Karaca was followed by second place Lei Fu Veng from Macau at the competition, that was held in Taipei. Both Chefs won a full travel package to compete in the World  Finals which will be held in Paris  between 28th and 30th October 2013.

Frey Dark Lemon & Pepper

I remember being SUPER EXCITED when I spotted this one at The Cocoa Trees and thinking 'Wow! But lemon and pepper are ingredients of soup. DAFAQ does anyone put them into chocolate!?' Even though I was less than impressed with my first Frey, I was willing to give the brand another go just for coming up with a flavour so innovative.And I'm so glad I did.The best-selling Swiss brand has more than salvaged its reputation.

The Frey Dark Lemon & Pepper chocolate is one of the most exciting chocolate products I've recently tasted. And it comes close to my Lindt Wasabi and Chilli chocolate experinces.

The dark chocolate contains lemon granules, black pepper and 55% cocoa among other things making for an exquisite combination. The primary taste is that of lemon, an unmistakable tang, that comes from thickly interspersed granules/crystals of lemon. These crystals are crunchy and release the lemony taste in bursts as you take the first bites of the chocolate. The chocolate itself is smooth, dark and with the right amount of sweetness. The taste of pepper is not evident in the beginning, but strikes in the end. The mild and pleasant burn of pepper can be felt in the throat after the chocolate has been swallowed. This tangy-sweet-pungent sequence makes for a brilliant taste experience.

One of the companies that import and market Frey products in India is Cosmo Fine Foods from Chennai. This 100 g pack cost me INR 225 and I'm so going to repeat this manner of shameless indulgence. You should too.

RATING: 4/5

Bernique Sugar Free Dark Chocolate

I chanced upon this curious brand of chocolate at a local supermarket in Mumbai and picked it up because one rarely sees a dark chocolate variety that is also sugar free. Most Indians would find that combination unpalatable. But I wanted to see what a weight management, diabetic friendly chocolate tasted like.

Bernique is one of the many chocolate brands manufactured by the Malaysian company Francestle (nope, no website!). Its other brands include Alfredo, Chaumet, Checkers, and D Cocoa, of which Checkers and D Cocoa are value-for-money brands, while the other three are more high end. Alfredo and Bernique have a lot of varieties. Bernique's range includes sugar-free milk chocolate, Tiramisu, milk chocolates with fruit & nut, hazelnuts, almonds, and even white chocolate.

Established in 2009, Francestle produces Halal-certified chocolates and they are sold in countries like Japan,China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Africa, India, and Vietnam among others. Besides their own brands, the company makes chocolates on contract for private labels. The brand is known to use 100% pure cocoa butter for its chocolates - at least the high end ones.

Elegant yet fuss free in its packaging, the Bernique Sugar Free Dark Chocolate is appealing in an elemental way. The chocolate bar is basic looking too, with no branding on it. You might as well be eating chocolate compound as far as appearances are concerned.

The chocolate itself is rather pleasant to taste and has a wonderfully smooth texture. The pack doesn't mention the cocoa percentage, but I would peg it around 55-60%. It isn't bitter nor does it have any strange aftertaste as happens with most sugar free products due to artificial sweeteners.

A 100 g pack costs INR 210. While it is quite steep, it would make for an ideal gift for a chocolate-loving diabetic or a calorie-counting freak.

RATING: 3.5/5

Nestle Aero

I finished the many pending posts of Chocosophy yesterday after much badgering by chocolate stakeholders at home. Because without my photographing them first, no one gets to open a new chocolate bar. This baby had been sitting in the 'collection' for quite some time and boy, I didn't know what I was missing!

Bubbly chocolates are an absolute joy. There are many brands making this kind of chocolate today, but Nestle was the pioneer with Aero. It has come up with many variations over the years like mint, orange, white chocolate and even biscuit, but the USP of the product remains its amazing texture.

Aero is basically an air chocolate, which is made using a complex process invented by one Mister Rowntree in 1935. Head to Wikipedia to know more about this process. The bottomline is, the air bubbles in the chocolate increase the taste experience manifold and look like coarse foam material on the inside - see this?

I was so mesmerised by my first air chocolate experience that I almost didn't notice how sweet the milk chocolate bar was. Aero also apparently has a couple of dark chocolate variants - plain and orange, and it would be quite something to taste those. Other Aero products include caramel and truffle bars and even hot chocolate!

If you haven't tried an Aero or any air chocolate yet, do. The laws of chocolate addiction compel you to! At INR 65 for a 41 g bar, it is every bit worth your money and more.

RATING: 4/5