The problem I usually have with chocolate covered items is the quality or type of chocolate. And if the chocolate isn’t right, I get bored. This Dark Chocolate Covered Banana packet from Kopali Organics was essentially an impulse buy; probably I was most interested in finding another rare chocolate/banana pairing. But happy I became to also find the chocolate half quite satisfactory.
Kopali Organics fits well in stores like Whole Foods based on all the eco-empowerment type phrases on the package. They have both Fair Trade and USDA Organic certification and heavily emphasize working with farmers and the environment, ultimately to produce a nutritious and conscious produce. The name Kopali comes from the Nahuatl word for incense, usually associated specifically with tree resins; the tree, of course, takes on all of its symbolic meaning. All good and admirable so far.
You’ll notice that these individual pieces don’t have a shiny finish. For the banana element, both dried banana and rice flour are added in. So a medium thickness of chocolate surrounds small pieces of chewy banana. No crunch, but it isn’t gummy, either. As far as the chocolate I praised, its sweetener is evaporated cane juice and its flavor earthy. It isn’t too dark, does have a light sweet effect, and has enough flavor complexity to keep me interested. Of course, the banana infuses itself into even the solid chocolate, causing part of that complexity.
Kopali Organics has scored on many important levels with this product. They have given me the elusive banana pairing in a way that is neither false nor sticky-sweet nor overly pretentious. It’s a product that tastes good apart from its healthy, eco-friendly tenets. And I think the world is growing more and more appreciative of such tenets. Kopali also makes chocolate covered espresso beans, goji berries, mulberries and cacao nibs if you need more variety. The banana’s worthiness, at least, as a chocolate snack I can vouch for.
The Lady of the house and I recently passed a significant milestone: We’ve been married 25 years. It feels like about 5. On the actual anniversary there were far too many other commitments, so we needed to defer a celebration for a few weeks. Finally, though, we managed a 4-day weekend in one of my favourite places in South Australia, McLaren Vale.
This region is less than an hour’s drive south of Adelaide. Not only is it very close to the southern coastal beaches, but it is also an award-winning winemaking region and to cap it off, there is plenty of excellent food around. A 4-day weekend, therefore, includes visits to far too many wineries, the farmers market in nearby Willunga, and of course Bracegirdles House of Fine Chocolate.
Willunga Farmers Market – Lavender Chocolate Brownie
The Willunga Farmers Market (Saturday mornings, about 8:00 am – 12:30 pm) is, mercifully, not full of tat. A farmers market means fruit, vegetables, bread, wine, olive oil, lamb, beef, and some venison. Not to mention plants, and the occasional farm / plant products. There is a huge emphasis on fresh, and organic produce seems to be the biggest thing in town. My biggest surprise though, was the chap from the Fleurieu Lavender selling chocolate brownies and chocolate fudge – with lavender in. What’s with that?
The brownies are not cheap, at about $2 for one of those squares you see, and he must have thought I was very strange to buy one, as well as photograph his platter. But the taste and texture? Good, in fact: sublime.
These brownies are crunchy on top, and sticky / slightly soft / gooey on the bottom. The texture was so varied that I asked if they had nuts in – the answer is no, there are no nuts. The secret is in how they are cooked to get the crunch on top. He would not reveal the secret either. (I’m going to take a guess at using a water bath in the oven, but it’s only a wild guess.)
And the $64 question: Can we tell there is lavender in the brownies? Answer: No. But there is a slightly unusual rich fruitiness. Maybe this is the lavender, maybe not. It is, however, very very good – one of the best chocolate brownies ever.
Bracegirdles House of Fine Chocolate
I’ve been meaning to visit Bracegirdles for about the last 2 years. The McLaren Vale outlet has recently moved to share with Market 190 – so not only can you buy delicious chocolates but you can get breakfast, full meals, and such like.
We dropped in at about 11 am on a sunny Saturday morning – there were families eating outside, kids playing and running around, people lazing over plates of bacon and eggs, with dogs sleeping at their feet.
The Lady of the House selected a milk hot chocolate and from the large selection of hand-made chocolates, we eventually chose four to try. Our selections took so long that we must have annoyed many others coming in and queuing behind us. Eventually we pushed to the back of the throng while we futzed about.
As you can see from the picture, the hot chocolate looks excellent. This is everything a hot chocolate should be: hot, milky, very rich and luscious. I thought I could pick a tiny hint of mint in there as well – maybe deliberate, maybe just from the chocolate used. Either way, good.
Our final chocolate selections were a Jaffa (dark with orange lines), a Dark Swiss Rock (knobbly dark with nuts peeking out), an Opal Finger Lime (green with blue speckles), and a Raspberry Dreamer (orange / red).
We also requested a knife, so that sharing could be done in a vaguely civilised manner. This, and again taking photographs must have meant the staff wondered about the weirdos who had come in to photograph and dissect their chocolates. Let them wonder! We were not going to let on.
The carnage:
Tasting notes from the chocolate selection:
Jaffa: The chocolate is dark and very pleasant. Inside is a vibrant orange flavoured ganache which jumps out and sings, and then just melts gracefully away. The chocolate and the ganache are not excessively sweet. This is a delightful modern take on the classic Australian Jaffa confectionery.
Dark Swiss Rock: The label in the shop gave the game away, but we didn’t go back and read it until after. This is a mix of caramelised slivered almonds mixed with dark Belgian chocolate. Of course, we had to figure this out because of not reading the label beforehand. This has a fantastic texture: the almonds cry out with flavour, and have a wonderful crunch. We’d guessed roasting or coating the almonds in toffee, and were pretty much right. Great flavour, the best chocolate with almond I’ve ever tried.
Opal finger Lime: The hard shell, looking like a speckled bird egg, is mainly for appearance. The dark chocolate of the shell does grow and enhance the flavour, but the ganache inside is where the magic lies. This starts with a rich chocolaty aroma. To taste, it begins soft and richly chocolaty, then melts with a huge burst of rich intense lime flavour which goes on and on. As wine writers would say, it has great length. These contain a Finger Lime jelly. Suddenly I can see why the fuss is made of this Australian fruit. Brilliant flavour.
Raspberry Dreamer: The shell, again, looks like it is mainly for appearance. I don’t actually think this is the case, though, because the shell is a milk chocolate which melts reasonably quickly and helps change the flavour of the ganache. The ganache has an intense flavour which leaps out and grabs hold of you – then shakes you as it builds over time. It’s intense, and almost like orange in some respects. Whilst not kicking quite as hard as the finger lime, this is most impressive – many raspberry flavours have either no discernible taste, or are horrible. The label in the shop says it is a natural Raspberry puree, and the flavour proves this to be true. Just plain delicious.
My pick of the bunch: The Dark Swiss Rock.
Will I be back? You bet. In fact, been back already to buy some other chocolates which will be reviewed here soon.
Our regular readers (hello and thank you) will probably have read Dom’s article about the Lindt event he went to. It turned out to be part of the official UK Launch of this new bar from their ‘Excellence’ range, which has been flavoured with wasabi. If you don’t know what wasabi is yet, it’s a Japanese horseradish which is normally served with sushi and is quite capable of blowing your head off.
Looking back through our archives, it’s almost a year to the day since my review of Elisabeth’s wasabi truffle was posted, and that was my second taste. Since then quite a few wasabi/chocolate combinations have come our way, so it really isn’t too much of a surprise to discover that Lindt have launched their own version.
One thing that has often been said about Lindt is that you do get what’s written on the package. Their bars may not be high-end, artisan made, or exclusive but they are a cut above your average high street/supermarket fodder and we feel that they do offer the slightly more adventurous consumer an opportunity to dip a toe into slightly more upmarket (and occasionally more unusual) chocolate.
That said, I don’t think any of us here would agree that 47% cacao content is ‘dark’ chocolate, but that’s the percentage that Lindt’s dark bars have. As is often the case, a good deal of the other 53% of this bar is sugar – almost half in fact – and this is readily apparent when you waft a piece of the bar under your nose. It’s a familiar smell to me – light cacao notes and a lot of sweetness.
When you pop a piece of the bar into your mouth the wasabi is apparent from the off. The chocolate begins to melt and that slightly earthy, mustardy flavour creeps in to mingle with the dark cacao notes. I found that the sweetness of this bar tended to detract from the wasabi somewhat – it never really gets to shine, and perhaps some of this has to do with the fact that wasabi ‘flavouring’ was used.
My previous wasabi/chocolate experiences were somewhat spicier (and darker) than this bar, and much more to my own personal preferences (i.e. much more cacao, much less sugar and real wasabi) but saying that, I appreciate that Lindt’s bars are not aimed at the connoisseur. These are the bars that the UK supermarket’s top end ‘Best of’ and ‘Finest’ ranges seek to emulate (and occasionally surpass in terms of content) and as such I can see this being something regular Lindt lovers would have a go at – probably for the novelty value at first, but perhaps as a regular treat once tried.
Speaking from my own personal experience I prefer more cacao, much less sugar and a little more wasabi, but that’s just me. If you fancy something a bit out the ordinary & don’t happen to live near a chocolatier, then this might just tick that box for you.
I’ve written about the chocolate afternoon teas at The Podium restaurant at The Hilton on Park Lane before, but when they got in touch to say they’d revamped their offering and asking if I’d like to come back and try it, I jumped at the chance. I grabbed a friend and we headed down to Park Lane on a shockingly sunny Sunday for a relaxed afternoon of indulgence.
The Podium Restaurant hasn’t changed since my last visit. I like it because it has a nice balance of style and comfort. It’s smart and sophisticated but also family friendly. That’s a contrast to the ultra-stylish afternoon tea I enjoyed at The Chancery Court Hotel, which is a stunning venue, but very formal and probably isn’t the kind of place you would take a young family.
When we arrived, we were offered water and a complementary glass of champagne. The champagne is not normally included in the price, but the restaurant have been kind enough to include a free glass for Chocablog readers (details on how to claim that at the end of this post).
Once we’d settled in with our drinks, a nice man came around with two wooden boxes containing jars of tea for us to choose from. One box contained caffeine-free herbal options if that’s your thing, but we both opted for a fully caffeinated option. The tea arrives in pots with a choice of milk or lemon, and some cute little egg timers. The waiter helpfully let us know how long we needed to let our teas steep, and before we knew it, the food started to arrive.
The sandwiches at The Podium are the same as on my previous visit. You’re presented with a long plate with five amazing looking open sandwiches; smoked salmon & horseradish, honey rost ham & Pommery mustard, prawn mayonnaise and baby gem lettuce, cucumber with cream cheese and egg and cress. They looked good before, but if anything I would say they were even more refined than my last visit. They were all beautifully presented, fresh and delicious.
If you have special dietary requirements, there are plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free sandwich options available if you ask the waiter beforehand.
Of course, it was the sweet stuff we were really interested in, and as soon as we’d finished, the waiter arrived with a tower of delicious treats. On the bottom layer were the scones – a choice of plain, raisin or chocolate-chip, while the top two layers contained a range of chocolate cakes and patisserie.
The scones were wonderful. Still warm and incredibly light and fluffy, they were perfect with the clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam. There was also a chocolate spread for them if that’s your thing, but when it comes to scones, I’m a traditionalist.
The first thing you notice about the cakes is just how colourful they are. There are lots of candy pinks and yellows going on, and the whole thing looks a little like a sweet shop.
The middle tray has the freshly baked cupcakes and pastries. There’s a Battenberg cake, Sachertorte, raspberry cupcake and red velvet cupcake. There is a lot of sugar here so everything is quite sweet, but they’re tasty nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed enjoyed the richness of the Sachertorte, but that’s more personal preference than anything else.
The top tier is home to the miniature fancies, and the first thing you’ll notice is that they sit on a tray made from solid chocolate. The Podium’s chefs use Valrhona chocolate throughout, and this sizeable chunk of chocolate is actually very tasty. Don’t forget it – and if you find yourself unable to finish, one of the waiters will happily put it in a doggy bag for you to take home and enjoy later.
On the tray are a white chocolate & cherry cheesecake, red velvet & orange tuile, milk chocolate cremeux, pistachio macaron with Valrhona Manjari filling, iced shortbread butterfly, orange & chocolate profiterole, and finally a lemon & rasberry marshmallow cone and meringue lolly planted in a tall glass of pink and white swirled sugar.
The latter was initially a bit of a disappointment as it looked amazing and my friend and I had both thought the glass was filled with sherbet powder. If I could make one change to the whole tea, it would be to change the sugar for sherbet so the cone and lolly could be dipped in it.
That said, they were very nice, with the flavour of the cone being reminiscent of those old penny ‘fruit salad’ sweets. Lots of childhood sweetshop memories here.
The rest of the selection was pretty good, although my personal preference would be for a little more of the dark side. But my tastes probably don’t match with the average chocaholic, who probably has a sweeter tooth than me.
As with my previous experiences at The Podium, the service was excellent, with staff always on hand when needed, but never in the way. All in all, we had a very pleasant and relaxing 2 hours and left feeling full and satisfied.
I’ve now experienced several different chocolate afternoon teas around London, and I think this one has a great balance of style and fun. There may be more sophisticated venues, but The Podium is probably the most relaxed and welcoming. I always enjoy my time there and I’d happily recommend it.
‘Confessions of A Chocaholic’ Afternoon Tea is available at The Podium Restaurant at The Hilton on Park Lane. 2pm – 6pm Daily. £29.50 per person.
22 Park Lane, London W1K 1BE. Tel: 020 7208 4022
www.podiumrestaurant.com
Quote ‘Chocablog’ when booking for two and receive a complimentary glass of champagne each.
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