The Rabot Estate, Borough Market

Posted by in Features on April 16 2010 | Leave A Comment

A little bit of St Lucia came to London’s Borough Market this morning. A new chocolate shop, bringing a little warmth to a rather cold spring day.

If Rabot Estate sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the name of Hotel Chocolat’s plantation on the West Indies Island. The new shop aims to bring the best of the Estate’s cacao directly to heart of London’s foodie district. But this is no ordinary Hotel Chocolat shop.

The decor is rustic to say the least. The place is furnished with tables and display cases apparently made from unfinished offcuts of wood, while barrels, packing containers and cacao sacks are strategically placed throughout.

The products on sale are primarily Rabot Estate branded – broken slabs in a wide range of flavours, stuffed into plastic bags seems to be the main order of the day. But there’s also a lot of Hotel Chocolat branded products on sale as well. Although they’re trying to create a distinct brand and image for this venture, it’s good to see they’re not completely hiding their Hotel Chocolat roots.

The Rabot Estate is also a cafe of sorts, selling a variety of simple cacao-based dishes and drinks, both sweet and savoury. The non-cacao ingredients for all the dishes are all sourced from the market itself, which is a nice touch. Everything I tried was delicious, but the unsweetened cacao tea was a particularly useful pick-me-up given the weather.

It’s the cafe-aspect that’s the most exciting for me. I’ve got a few samples of the packaged chocolate that I’ll be reviewing soon, but I think it’s the freshly prepared dishes that are going to get people coming back regularly. I’m looking forward to paying another visit in a couple of months to see how things have developed.

You can find the Rabot Estate shop on Stoney Street in Borough Market, close to London Bridge Station. Here’s a handy map, if you’re planning on visiting.

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Comments On This Post

  1. Katherine

    Hiya,

    I found the store a couple days before it opened (and have since visited a couple of times). I wanted to know a little bit more about it, particularly the Hotel Chocolat link, so thanks for the info.

    I noticed that their menu doesn’t carry a ‘traditional’ style hot chocolate – i.e. one that is already sweet. Do you think that will work for the greater mass of non-chocaholic sweet tooths?

    Also, did you try the chilli chocolate tea? 😉
    I’m not sure it’s going to work as a coffee substitute for me but it sure had a kick!

    Katherine

  2. Maggie

    Oooh, another reason to go to Borough Market – as if Artisan du Chocolat’s misshape bags were not enough 😉

  3. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Katherine: I don’t know about the general masses, but I think the kind of people that shop in Borough Market will probably be game for giving it a go. I bet if you asked for a sweet hot chocolate, they’d make you one anyway though. 🙂

    Didn’t try the chilli chocolate tea, but had plenty of the non-chilli variety, which they were handing out. Was very nice. I’m going to go back there and eat once they’ve had a chance to settle in a bit.

  4. eva

    dear sirs
    I visited rabot estate shop in borough market last september and I would like to know if I can buy any cocoa pods like the ones you display in shop, red, yellow, green etc
    kind regards
    eva

  5. Mark Smith

    Your site doesn’t seem to work with Pinterest? It would be great to pin your photos on my ‘Favorite Chocolate Stores’ board.

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